Kevin Smith is not at all happy with the state of comic-book adaptations. The director of Clerks and Chasing Amy is upset over Warner Bros.’ rejection of his script for Superman Lives (a.k.a. Superman Reborn), which stars Nicolas Cage. “I was tapped because I knew comics,” he tells the Philadelphia Inquirer, “and I could bridge the two audiences.” While Smith’s original script stayed true to the Superman comic series, the new one is filled with one-liners and jokes. “The studios don’t listen,” says a frustrated Smith, who cites Batman & Robin as a prime example of a big-budgeted movie brought down by a bad script. “It’s a slap in the face to comic-book fans,” he says of the flick. Smith himself has a very simple philosophy about what makes or breaks a comic-book movie. “It’s the guys in tights kicking ass,” he says.