At this time last week I had just seen Deadpool the night before and thoroughly enjoyed it in all of its next level wrongness. And, not even 24 hours later, every studio was suddenly emboldened to back more mature themed comic book fare. But, let’s jump in the way back machine, let’s call it 1994. There was an R-rated comic book movie that actually spawned a short lived TV series: Time Cop with then hot property Jean-Claude Van Damme. And let’s move forward to 1995 and the movie Tank Girl that starred Lori Petty, Naomi Watts and Ice-T. Now let’s move to 1998 and the movie that, in my opinion, kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Renaissance, Blade. Each of these movies did pretty well during their runs and, although some looked down their noses at their comic book roots, no one could deny their success.

Now, with the coming of the MCU comic book movies have largely been seen as, at the most, PG-13 properties, with a few exceptions (looking at you History of Violence and Road to Perdition). DC has held to this standard, too, for the most part, except for Watchmen and V for Vendetta, both coming from Vertigo, their more mature line. Comic book movies seemed to have found their niche and thrived, but last weekend turned the genre on its ear, in the best way possible! The numbers don’t lie and the geeks of the world have spoken loudly.

I’m not about to say that every mature comic deserves a movie, not in the least. The story comes first. That is why Deadpool is such a huge success. It was made by fans, for fans. It knows who and what it is and is unashamedly true to itself. I will gladly see this movie again and more of its ilk, if the quality is there. In the meantime, I will jump in and do my part as the Geek Revolution morphs into the Geek Renaissance!