In a multi-part series, Comic Book Film Editor William Gatevackes will be tracing the history of comic book movies from the earliest days of the film serials to today’s big blockbusters and beyond. Along with the history lesson, Bill will be covering some of the most prominent comic book films over the years and why they were so special. This time, we continue our four week “vacation” overseas with the most notable comic film franchises Europe has to offer.

This month, not counting serials, Batman will be getting his ninth full length feature film.

Piker.

Next year, Superman will be getting his seventh full length feature film.

Slacker.

The French comic book character Asterix has had 11 feature films to his name, both live action and animated. But before we get to the Gallic warrior, let’s talk about one of last year’s most talked about imported comic book films.

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn was one of the most visually stunning films of last year, as any film written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson would be.

As flashy as it was, the performance capture film (where computers animated their digital characters over the real actors wearing computer sensors) did not do well in the United States, although its almost $373 million overseas take pretty much guarantees that the two planned sequels will get made. However, this mix of computer animation and live action was not the first animated or live-action Tintin film to hit the big screen.

Tintin was created by Belgian artist, Hergé (aka Georges Remi), in 1929 and he remained the sole writer and artist on the strip up until his death in 1983. The character is a Belgian reporter whose quest for stories takes him around the world and involves him in a number of hair-raising adventures, aided by his dog Snowy and his friend, Captain Haddock.

The character made his first appearance on film in 1947’s stop-motion animation Belgian offering, The Crab with the Golden Claws, adapted from the ninth book of the 24-book graphic novel series.  Other animated films would follow—1969’s Tintin and the Temple of the Sun and 1972’s Tintin and the Lake of Sharks. Tintin would also receive two live action adaptations as well—1961’s French film, Tintin and the Golden Fleece and 1964’s French/Spanish production Tintin and the Blue Oranges.

The Smurfs were another Belgian import to arrive in American theaters last year with the help of CGI. Only this time, just the Smurfs themselves were computer animated, voiced by such celebrities as Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry and Alan Cumming, as they shared the screen with human actors such as Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays. The 3D film opened to horrible reviews (it’s currently only 23% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes) but that wasn’t enough to keep it from being a hit. The$110 million  film made over $563 million worldwide. That was enough so that not one but two sequels were greenlighted. The Smurfs 2 is scheduled for a July 31, 2013 release and The Smurfs 3 is planned for July 24, 2015. The main cast is set to return for both sequels.

But this wasn’t the first time Peyo’s (nee Pierre Culliford) 1958 creations have hit the big screen. The blue creatures have also graced the screen in 1965’s Belgian compilation, The Adventures of the Smurfs and in The Smurfs and the Magic Flute, a film made and released in Belgium in 1976, yet not released in the U.S. until 1983.

Asterix has not had any Americanized adaptations—yet —but its 11 films mean that it’s enormously popular in Europe. Created for Pilote magazine in 1959 by writer René Goscinny and illustrator Albert Uderzo, the character’s 34 volumes of graphic novels have been translated into over 107 languages, selling more than 325 million copies worldwide.

The story takes place in a small coastal village called Armorica of Gaul (present day France) circa 50 BC. The village is able to stave off being engulfed by the Roman Empire due to a magic potion brewed by a local druid that gives them temporary superhuman strength. Asterix is the leader of the village, and his sidekick is a manchild named Obelix, whose super strength is permanent due to his falling into a cauldron of the potion as a youngster.

Of the 11 Asterix films, eight have been animated and 3 have been live action. The animated films are Asterix the Gaul (1967), Asterix and Cleopatra (1968), The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976), Asterix Versus Caesar (1985), Asterix in Britain (1986), Asterix and the Big Fight  (1989), Asterix Conquers America (1994) and  Asterix and the Vikings (2006).  The live action films include Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar (1999), Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002) and Asterix at the Olympic Games (2006). Oscar-nominated actor Gérard Depardieu has appeared as Obelix in all three live action films. Other guest stars include Oscar winner Roberto Benigni and Monica Bellucci.

Next, we take a look at the live action franchises from Japan, then tackle some heroes on the half-shell.

1. Cowboys & Aliens (Universal, 3,750 Theaters, 118 Minutes, Rated PG-13): To call this film a comic book movie would be inaccurate. Scott Rosenberg sold this premise to Hollywood nine years before it was ever made into a comic book. It went through production hell over that time, allowing Rosenberg to publish a comic based on the premise in 2006. So it is only a comic book movie by that slimmest of coincidences.

Not helping matters is the fact that the film bears only a passing resemblance to the comic book. Outside of both taking place in the Old West,  involving an alien invasion of Earth, and a shapeshifting alien on the good guys’ side, the two are as different as night and day. The comic was a pretty straight forward, us-vs.-them, genre story, with nary a mention of an amnesiatic cowboy with a space weapon attached to his wrist.

But does have Indiana Jones teaming up with James Bond. So it’s got that going for it, which is nice.

2. The Smurfs (Sony/Columbia, 3,395 Theaters, 86 Minutes, Rated PG): I have to say, this film looks like it smurfing sucks. It only has a smurfing 10% fresh over at Rotten Smurfing Tomatoes, and I imagine that will only get lower as more reviews come in. Way smurfing lower.

The cast is a mixed bag. Some of it, like Neil Patrick Harris, smurfing rock. Others, like Katy Perry as the voice of Smurfette, are dubious at best (Really, what the smurf is she doing supplying a voice?). And Tim Gunn? Acting? I thought I’d be smurfed with a smurf in my smurf, while smurfing a smurfed smurf before I saw that happen. Smurf me.

So, the plot, what there is of it, involves the Smurfs being let loose on real world New York City. The beat the heck out of NPH while being chased by Gargamel (Hank Azaria), who doesn’t want them to boil them down for gold anymore, but to “enhance his magical powers.”

3. Crazy, Stupid, Love. (Warner Brothers, 3,020 Theaters, 118 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Here is a rarity in the world of the summer blockbuster, the intelligent, adult comedy.

Steve Carrell plays a man whose life becomes unravelled when his wife asks for a divorce. Entering the single’s scene after years away, he’s helped by a studly Lothario played byRyan Gosling.

The film is chock full of good actors, including many Oscar nominees and one winner (Marissa Tomei). This film should be a pretty good alternative if you want to get away from all the flash and the noise.

I’ll be honest. Up until I saw these photos below from the upcoming big screen adaptation of The Smurfs just now, I had zero interest in seeing this film. With Raja Gosnell, the *ahem* auteur behind the horrible live-action Scooby Doo film of a few years back, in the director’s chair for this, I had no hope that it would be anywhere close to watchable.

But I must admit that these photos, via Coming Soon, showing Hank Azaria in costume and makeup as evil wizard Gargamel have peeked my curiosity. Will the movie itself, with its story of the three apples-high blue Smurfs escaping from Gargamel to the Big Apple of New York City, be any good? Who can say, but with a cast that includes Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara, Anton Yelchin, Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, George Lopez, Paul Reubens, John Oliver, Kenan Thompson, Jeff Foxworthy and Wolfgang Puck,there’s potential for the film to be at least interesting.

But will it be legen- wait for it -dary?

Neil Patrick Harris has been cast in the upcoming live action and animation combo The Smurfs. Director Raja Gosnell, the man who brought Scooby Doo to the big screen, will be using computer-generated animation to bring the little blue, three apples-high people to life to interact with live action actors. Hollywood Deadline broke the news but had no word as to what role he would be in outside of the fact that it would be an on camera role and he would not be voicing one of the film’s animated characters. Could it be Gargamel, the evil, but inept wizard who lives to make the Smurfs’ lives miserable?

Although I’ve enjoyed how Neil Patrick Harris lampooned himself in the two Harold And Kumar movies and his work on the internet series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, I’ve really begun to appreciate his comedy chops only recently, while I’ve been working my way through the season sets of How I Married Your Mother. However, Gosnell at the helm of this project does give me pause to worry. Thye phrase “from the director of  Big Mama’s House, Scooby Doo, Yours, Mine And Ours, Beverly Hills Chihuahua” doesn’t inspire much confidence. Will this streak continue with The Smurfs?