What You May Have Missed

As we know (and love) about Sparkles, he's not so suave when it comes to making lists; things are often left out, misrepresented, or downright fallacious in presentation, and it's not his fault. Well, mostly not.* Still, and I'm not trying to dog the dog in its doghouse, someone has to come in from time to time to clean up this mess, and that's what I'm here to do, delirious reader.

That out of the way, let's count down the top six under-appreciated comic book films, shall we?

6) Riki-Oh: The Story of Riki

Ever seen a man punch through another man's stomach? A dude's head explode when slapped? A mutated warden being pushed into a meat grinder? No? Then this is the movie for you.

5) The Phantom

Billy Zane, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and the immortal tagline, 'Slam Evil'. You do the math, friends.

4) Tank Girl

What do you get when you take an obscure British comic book, Lori Petty, and Ice-T as some kind of marsupial freedom fighter? Magic, pure and simple.

3) Captain America

If there's a movie that just screams 'low budget', '1990', and 'masterpiece', it's this steaming pile of awesome, starring none other than Matt Salinger (son of author J.D. Salinger, no less) as the titular champion.

2) Spawn

Some have called this film a letdown, what with its PG-13 violence, muddled plot, uneven soundtrack, and ho-hum performances, and they'd be completely wrong. Rent it for yourself**, and you'll know exactly what I mean.

1) Howard the Duck

I really have no way to do this film justice. I was one of the sixteen people that went to see this film in the theater, and I can still look back, after all these years, and not regret a single moment of the experience. I think my mother (who was also in attendance for the event) said it best, as she stood in line for the drinking fountain afterward, with "That movie was the biggest fucking piece of shit I've ever seen" because if a film can elicit such words from a loving mother of three, you know it's gonna be good.

Honorable Mention***

Supergirl

Just because.

* Daredevil?

** Go and rent it, right now.

*** Dis...hon...or..able...discharge!