Buffy

So there've been some... developments in the Buffy comic series lately, apparently big enough to get quasi-spoiled on io9 and ONTD. For the sake of discussion, let's refer to it as Buffy running for president with the spirit of Cordelia in an NES cartridge for VP.

Anyway, with all the hubbub over this, it kinda makes me wish the internet was around for other tie-in novels...

Star Trek: "HOLY SHIT, DUDE, MCCOY HAS A DAUGHTER!" "CRAPSTICKS, SPOCK IS GETTING MARRIED!" "NERTZ, I THINK KIRK AND SPOCK DID IT IN THEIR MINDS!"

Star Wars: "HAN SOLO HAS A BROTHER? AND HE'S EVIL? AND LAME?" "MANKISSER, THESE LIZARD DUDES ARE FUCKING UP EVERYBODY!" "BALLHAND, LEIA'S STEPPING OUT ON KIRK WITH A SPACE PRINCE!"

Doctor Who: "LOOMS."

Chronicle isn't based on a comic book

I think that actually places it in a subgenre of superhero movies all its own. For a conventional comic book movie, one based on Captain America for instance, you want to see 'Captain America' by the end of the first act. That's the name of the movie, after all. Superhero movies which 'hold back' the costumed heroics and superpowered action until the last reel, like Fantastic Four and Hulk, usually get the cold shoulder.

The flipside is that there's a tried-and-true approach to the superheroes in question, and a pre-existing love for the characters. Christopher Nolan didn't have to make up a story wholesale or sell anyone on Batman—he got to cherry-pick his favorite approach to the character from a number of comic books.

Chronicle doesn't have any action scenes until the end of the movie, but it does have its own sequences of the characters discovering their powers and goofing off. It's a very character-centric approach that wouldn't work with the built-in expectations of a preexisting superhero.