Movies and comic books share a connection that runs pretty deep. Whether it's the overabundance of comic book blockbusters at the cinema over the past decade or the direct influence certain milestone movies have had on specific comic book series -- like Chris Claremont's "Alien" swipes in "Uncanny X-Men" or Christopher Priest's "Pulp Fiction" fascination on display in the early issues of "Black Panther" or the way "The Matrix" defined the look of the entire Ultimate Universe -- or even the customary movie adaptations in comic book format, it's a relationship that's impossible to ignore.

Any kind of close look at the creation of Batman (and the Joker) and their connection to the cinema -- among other direct "influences" -- helps to reinforce that film and comics are inextricably linked.

So that's what I'll talk about this week.

Only I'm not going to talk about the way "Citizen Kane" influenced Will Eisner's "The Spirit" or how "Star Wars" provided the basis for Bill Mantlo's "Micronauts" or "The Terminator" begat Cable in "The New Mutants." Those are direct and obvious and if the writers and artists of those comics involved could have blasted the covers with "Inspired by the movie ____________" they just might have. Well, Will Eisner wouldn't have, but the rest? Maybe. If they could have gotten away with it. Just look at "Micronauts" #1 and tell me that Baron Karza doesn't look more like Darth Vader than Marvel's Darth Vader does.

But I'm not going to talk about those kind of direct parallels -- at least not entirely. Instead, I'd like to highlight three movies that cinephiles know well, and some of you have probably seen. In the case of these three films, not a lot has been written about their influence on comic books, even though the influence is exceedingly deep and meaningful.

These are three films that have helped to change the course of the comic book industry by influencing pivotal creators on early and important projects and as their work has rippled through the direct market mainstream over the decades, those early film influences triggered other second-and-third-generation homages by later writers and artists, many of which may not even have been aware of the films that started it all.

So here we go, in exaggerated fashion suitable for a comic book rack...

THREE MONUMENTALLY INFLUENTIAL MOVIES THAT CHANGED THE DIRECTION OF THE COMIC BOOK INDUSTRY FOREVER, SORT OF

Movie #1: "Mary Poppins" (1964), Directed by Robert Stevenson

Grant Morrison would have been four years old when the film version of "Mary Poppins" hit theaters, and I don't recall him ever talking about his experiences watching the film at a young age, but there's little doubt that not only did he see the movie, it formed a kind of fundamental substructure of his views on fiction and reality.

Look, when Morrison first launched the American leg of his career -- the kind of stuff I once wrote a book about, if you'll recall -- one of the exciting things about his arrival was that he didn't bring a traditional set of influences to the superhero comics he was beginning to write. He'd cite the Brothers Quay and Maya Deren and William Burroughs and Jorge Luis Borges and all of that was thrilling and new to American comic book readers who had experienced infinite riffs on "Star Trek" plots and retreads of comic book stories retold a million times in the same basic ways.

But here's the thing: if you peel away all the artsy and pseudo-esoteric and literary influences Morrison brandished about -- and I do think he was fascinated with all that stuff for real at the time, so it wasn't just a pose -- you can still get to the essence of his work from one simple point of origin: "Mary Poppins."

Does that seem ridiculous? Or that I'm mocking his work?

Because it's not ridiculous, nor is intended as any kind of mockery.

"Mary Poppins" is no great movie, though it is beloved -- I actually think it's almost unbearable to sit through as an adult, with its rambling narrative, almost arbitrary stakes and too-long musical numbers as it nears and then passes its second hour -- but it is a movie that deals directly with two of Morrison's most dominant obsessions: fiction vs. reality and rebellious poverty vs. fascistic wealth.

Bert, played by Dick Van Dyke, is the trickster character who holds the most interest for those seeking Morrison's creative roots. He's the gateway between worlds -- he can travel to the realm of fiction with Mary Poppins and he also acts as a kind of conduit between the chimney sweeps and the upper crust. He also talks directly to the audience, in another bit of gateway guidance.

He's such a quintessential Morrisonian character that I simply can't imagine that the young Grant Morrison wasn't deeply influenced by this film at an early age. Many of the unusual techniques -- and much of the thematic focus -- that Morrison would bring to "Animal Man," "Doom Patrol" and "The Invisibles" trace back to elements of "Mary Poppins" quite directly.

And, of course, there's that recent volume of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" with a deus ex Mary Poppins of its own.

Still, it's the Morrison connection that's more influential, since we're now reading comics written by an entire generation of creators who grew up on Morrison's work. But it's "Mary Poppins," I think, that's underneath so much of it.

Movie #2: "Charley Varrick" (1973), Directed by Don Siegel

"Charley Varrick," directed by Don Siegel, was an influence on Matt Fractions "Last of the Independents" graphic novel.