Let’s just get things straight right now—comic book movies are here to stay.

With audience excitement and critical acclaim heaped on Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins (starring the gorgeously moody Christian Bale), the success of The Fantastic Four (which baffles but what can you do?) and the wonders of what the new Superman will bring, we’ve haven’t been this stoked on comic book movies since…well, we don’t know when. And as we’re still reeling over the eye-popping thrills resonating from the oftentimes brilliant Sin City a few months back, we’re happy to say that comic books are finally coming into their own.

So to honor the perfect-for-cinema genre (storyboards anyone?)—here’s my list of the ten greatest comic book movies of all time. And go ahead...argue for The Crow, Spider-man II and every other adaptation I didn’t mention (that’s another list entirely) but this is my list and I’m sticking to it. For now. Though I do regret not putting Flash Gordon here—how can you not love a movie scored by Queen?

10. X-Men— The movie that put Hugh Jackman on the map (he’s always Wolverine to me) Brian Singer’s X-Men was loads of fun but serious stuff. Eschewing the tongue and cheek-i-ness of other comic book adaptations, the origins and stories of a group of highly evolved mutants (including Halle Berry, Anna Paquin and Ian McKellan—just to name a few) served the more meaningful purpose of glorifying the outsider.

9. BARBARELLA— Barbarella? Yep. I love this movie. And not just as a guilty pleasure. Beautifully psychedelic, tremendously campy and terribly sexy (you have to love a woman who breaks the orgasmatron), a scantily clad Jane Fonda starred as the space vixen under the direction of her then husband Roger Vadim (if you’ve uh, read her autobiography, we’ll just let you think all your smarmy thoughts). Adapted from French comic-strip artist Jean-Claude Forest's sci-fi nymphet originally serialized in "V-Magazine," Barbarella is such a time capsule classic, that we’ve been hearing re-make for ages. But really, can anyone fill Jane’s boots?

8. BLADE II—Mexican director and comic book fan Guillermo del Toro (who also made last year’s tremendous Hellboy) took Marvel comic hero Blade (half man/half vampire) and infused the franchise with extra gore, extra goth and some horrifying sequences of blood-feasting that the vampire Lestat might even blanch at. Though there are those who argue over Blade I and II (the title character both played by Wesley Snipes), I’ve got a soft spot for the second (even if Del Toro may not). And I love that this was for adults—a trend to be followed later with Sin City and Batman Begins.

7. SUPERMAN—I know, I know, Superman seems so obvious. And don’t start with me about the superiority of Superman II (which, OK, it is…) but I’m sticking with Richard Donner’s apple pie adaptation of the legendary DC comic. First off, I love that Marlon Brando shows up (albeit briefly) as Superman’s father and second off, the scene chewing Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. I’ve always held Reeve special as the man of steel. We’ll see what the next vision brings.

6. SPIDER-MAN—Sam Raimi’s Spider-man was immensely popular for a reason —it was good! With Tobey Maguire perfectly serving as nerd by day, superhero by night and Willem Dafoe as the tortured Green Goblin, not only did he cast his picture right (let’s not forget Kirstin Dunst as Mary Jane and the fantastic, underrated, underutilized James Franco—someone give this guy a Vanity Fair cover!) but he allowed Spidey creator Stan Lee’s story to unfold with a realness and poignancy that was hard to resist.

5. BATMAN BEGINS—Though I love the visionary beauty of Tim Burton’s Batman pictures (especially the dark Batman Returns), Memento director Christopher Nolan trumps the franchise with his gorgeously rendered take on DC Comic’s Dark Knight by making the guy slightly nuts. Chameleon Christian Bale (who’s played intriguingly crazy in both American Psycho and The Machinist) reigns as the ultimate moody Batman while Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow can now be counted as the most frightening cinematic comic book villain. Nolan finally let Batman be what series creator Bob Kane and the brilliantly morbid revival by Frank Miller has always contended—something of a lunatic. Though I still say he should have been a little more uh, bat-shit crazy…that’s my Batman.

4. OLD BOY—Adapted from the Japanese manga written by Tsuchiya Garon and illustrated by Minegishi Nobuaaki, Korean director Park Chan-wook’s Old boy took a hold at last year’s Cannes Film Festival where some declared it, so far, the best film of the year. The tale is potently sinister wherein a regular guy is kidnapped for no reason he can understand, put in a cell for 15 years and framed for the murder of his wife. When he’s inexplicably set free, the horrifying quest to solve the what’s and why’s of his lot is riddled (almost literally) by a cat and mouse game with his sadistic former captor. A dark, violent story of murder, kidnapping, confinement and revenge, the picture is brimming with inventiveness and creative cruelty. A masterwork.

3. HULK—Ang Lee’s Hulk was not only criminally underrated, but unfairly maligned by critics who didn’t get the director’s serious (and seriously fun) musing on that green, mean fighting machine. Adapted from the Marvel comic, Lee took a repressed Eric Bana and turned him into a frightening vision of male rage and paternal alienation. Shooting with exaggerated close-ups that looked exactly like comic book panels and purposefully creating a CGI Hulk that ran through cement, sand and dirt with the agility of Shrek (Hulk trips around a lot) but with the strength of 100 ultimate fighters, Lee made one of the first truly artistic comic book adaptations. It was almost Shakespearean. Mark my words—Hulk will be better appreciated through the years.

2. SIN CITY— A collective gasp could be heard when trailers for Sin City popped up on the internet and in theaters—comic book geeks everywhere were finally given their Frank Miller due. The man who made Batman even more of a violent freak in “Dark Knight Returns” and whose noir inspired graphic novel “Sin City” was a collection of blood-soaked, deeply moody crime stories stayed away from big screen adaptations until director Robert Rodriguez convinced him that his art would remain intact. And indeed it did. Shot entirely on blue screen but exactly in the style of the comic—black and white with just splashes of color intermittently thrown in—the viewer felt almost literally like they were stepping into a comic book universe. And with all the tired cops, perverted criminals and avenging anti-heroes, the concept of good and evil remained wonderfully blurred. Though Bruce Willis and Clive Owen give smashing performances, I love Mickey Rourke’s soulful take on a brute named Marv, seeking the murderer of his beloved Goldie. Co-directed by Miller, I hope more cinema comes from his imaginative, sinister arsenal.

1. GHOST WORLD—Face it, there are those of us who relate more to the teens in Ghost World than those sisters and their traveling pants. Terry Zwigoff (who also directed Crumb and Bad Santa) GOT a very specific teen-ennui in adapting Daniel Clowes' graphic novel that was so spot on and refreshing, there are those of us (like me) who wish the film would have been released when I was suffering all the dorks in High School. But enough about me—the movie, girls aside, is simply brilliant. Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson are the acerbic best friends searching for (or dodging) their rightful place in the world while a touching, hilarious Steve Buscemi serves as their possible future (something the almost equally terrific American Splendor would later dip into). A trenchant, hilarious and finally tragic look at the drudgery and sadness of strip malls, chain restaurants, real, soulful music vs. shitty music ("Are you ready for some way down in the delta blues!") and the flatness of pop culture, Zwigoff and Clouse made a sort of Notes from the Underground for the teen set. And the best graphic novel adaptation ever. Bar none.

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