Tretakoff Musings
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Catching Up With Comics, Digital Style
I've confessed to my secret of being a comic book geek before. What I have not confessed previously is that I am a lapsed comic book geek: the last time I bought a comic was more than 5 years ago, and that was for a set of Green Arrow's, autographed by one of my idols, Kevin Smith (yes, THAT Kevin Smith: he's not just a director; he also occasionally dabbles in comic book writing...brilliantly). But other than that, the last time I seriously stepped foot in a comics store and snapped up a dozen titles was well over a decade ago.
Why? It was a combination of factors: the costs of the books were skyrocketing, the storylines were getting stale, the spinoffs on top of spinoffs were diluting the character base...the list goes on. There was a time that my month was not complete without happily dropping $20-$30 on a stack of issues, and greedily consuming them. But the biggest reason I stopped was the physical nature: I already had boxes and boxes of comics, lovingly bagged and preserved, and I was tired of the volume of space they took up. I still have the boxes of them all, and I'm sure they are quite the collection; I actually inventoried them years ago, and was impressed. But that was it.
Then came the renaissance of comic book movies. I was hooked again. I started to get that old feeling, but couldn't overcome my paper problem. I looked for a digital solution, and Marvel Comics gave me one: Marvel Digital Comics. Not just scanned, these were the original pages, put up by Marvel, and each panel encoded in such a way that the screen would not just put up a whole page, but allow you to move, panel by panel, through the whole issue, in just the manner you would read the actual book. This holiday, Lani and Pete thoughtfully gave me an annual subscription, and I dove in to the collection of over 5000 Marvel titles.
After a week of delightful immersion, here are my impressions:
The Good:
Comics are, by definition, epics. There are seminal events in comics that have ramifications throughout multiple series. Frequently, you will find references to these events, and you are lost if you haven't been keeping up. In the physical world, the comic publishers bind these key event in a trade paperback for about $20 and release them, so you can have a one stop locale to catch up, but this is non-existent in these digital comics.
Most of these events are natural contractions. It's a familiar problem in comic books to introduce dozens, if not hundreds, of characters for short runs to serve a specific storyline. To do this, they need a standard mechanism: after all, it's kinda hard to keep recycling the "alien comes to earth" or "bitten by a radioactive ," or "scientific accident gone wrong." In the DC Universe, this was always done with the old "alternate Earth" explanation; in Marvel, it's Mutants, which started with the X-Men. Over time, these characters grow so numerous, and both the audience and the readers tire of the same explanations, it becomes obvious there needs to be a major pruning done. DC did this in the early 1990's with the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline, which wiped out dozens of superfluous and unneeded characters. In Marvel, they did the same in the last decade with a storyline called House of M, nicely encapsulated in an 8 part minseries.
Yet how did I find this out? Well, it started with my friend Charles trying to catch me up on the doings in the comic world with a short 10 minute synopsis. My head spinning, I turned to Marvel Digital Comics. Now, this being one of the premier events in the last decade, don't you think they might make an effort to guide readers to it? Or the Civil War storyline, which influenced the last scene of the recent Iron Man movie? Or the death of Captain America, which even the venerable New York Times covered? Or World War Hulk? Or the "Illuminati," which forces all comic readers to re-evaluate 30 years of comic book storylines? The list goes on, but none of that is offered by Marvel. Instead, I was forced to scour Wikipedia for the clues to what books to read, and what issues, in hopes of piecing these major storylines together. Bottom line: this is a great service, well worth the price of the subscription, but it is unnecessarily daunting for the casual comic reader or, in my case, the lapsed one. Give me a guide, folks; point me in the right direction.
As advertising revenue declines, and economic pressures rise, this medium faces an upcoming crisis. Digital comics are a great counter to that: they cost far less to produce, offer a rich experience that's akin to the traditional one, and can be counted on for subscription revenue that does not have to be shared with specialty retailers. By adding guides for the "newbies," they can easily go beyond the hardcore comics nerds, and appeal to those same people gladly shelling out hard cash for movie tickets to The Incredible Hulk, or picking up the special edition DVD of Iron Man.
I'd love to see three innovations to make this really take off:
1. DC Comics, get with the program. You already offer PDF previews; move into the digitized world and start capitalizing on Batman, Watchmen and Superman movie popularity with this new medium.
2. With the explosion of smartphones, let's see this medium expand to the handheld. The big screens and powerful graphics capabilities of today's iPhones, Blackberries, and Windows Mobile devices are ideally suited to display panel-based stories. Plus, reading them on the go is where people love to consume smaller, quicker printed media. Japan already does this regularly with manga; let's see it hit the small screen.
3. Digitize your compendia of graphic novels that are really collections of major storylines, and offer them. Want to charge an extra buck or two for them? Ok, you've got it. But the key is to realize that you put these on the shelf of Barnes & Noble to attract the casual reader; tap into that same vein online. And yes, point people to them.
The experience of digital comics is definitely a breath of fresh air for me, and has rekindled my fascination for these modern day myths. I would just like to see it flourish, and, with a few small, but important steps, it can go from an experiment to a whole new online revolution. Imagine being able to post the latest digital cover to your Facebook account, with a comment reviewing it, and letting your friends be able to discover it. Much like MP3's made the whole iPod/iPhone revolution, just think what this media could do for both online and handhelds.
Ok, back to hunting through old issues. The Avengers were disbanded? There are only 198 mutants left? Iron Fist is now Daredevil? Whew, I have a lot more to catch up on!
I've confessed to my secret of being a comic book geek before. What I have not confessed previously is that I am a lapsed comic book geek: the last time I bought a comic was more than 5 years ago, and that was for a set of Green Arrow's, autographed by one of my idols, Kevin Smith (yes, THAT Kevin Smith: he's not just a director; he also occasionally dabbles in comic book writing...brilliantly). But other than that, the last time I seriously stepped foot in a comics store and snapped up a dozen titles was well over a decade ago.Why? It was a combination of factors: the costs of the books were skyrocketing, the storylines were getting stale, the spinoffs on top of spinoffs were diluting the character base...the list goes on. There was a time that my month was not complete without happily dropping $20-$30 on a stack of issues, and greedily consuming them. But the biggest reason I stopped was the physical nature: I already had boxes and boxes of comics, lovingly bagged and preserved, and I was tired of the volume of space they took up. I still have the boxes of them all, and I'm sure they are quite the collection; I actually inventoried them years ago, and was impressed. But that was it.
Then came the renaissance of comic book movies. I was hooked again. I started to get that old feeling, but couldn't overcome my paper problem. I looked for a digital solution, and Marvel Comics gave me one: Marvel Digital Comics. Not just scanned, these were the original pages, put up by Marvel, and each panel encoded in such a way that the screen would not just put up a whole page, but allow you to move, panel by panel, through the whole issue, in just the manner you would read the actual book. This holiday, Lani and Pete thoughtfully gave me an annual subscription, and I dove in to the collection of over 5000 Marvel titles.
After a week of delightful immersion, here are my impressions:
The Good:
- Great selection of titles, with both limited and regular series available, from the last 30 years.
- The viewer is smooth, and powerful, with almost no glitches.
- Thoughtfully, you can move to the next issue in a series as you read them, rather than having to go back to the site and select the next.
- The ability to browse the catalog and create a "must-read" list is incredibly helpful. Though it would be nice if it took it off you list once you read a title from your list.
- Good search capability, and nice options for reading and zooming.
- Incredibly good quality. Forget crappy paper and over saturated colors; this is pristine.
Comics are, by definition, epics. There are seminal events in comics that have ramifications throughout multiple series. Frequently, you will find references to these events, and you are lost if you haven't been keeping up. In the physical world, the comic publishers bind these key event in a trade paperback for about $20 and release them, so you can have a one stop locale to catch up, but this is non-existent in these digital comics.
Most of these events are natural contractions. It's a familiar problem in comic books to introduce dozens, if not hundreds, of characters for short runs to serve a specific storyline. To do this, they need a standard mechanism: after all, it's kinda hard to keep recycling the "alien comes to earth" or "bitten by a radioactive Yet how did I find this out? Well, it started with my friend Charles trying to catch me up on the doings in the comic world with a short 10 minute synopsis. My head spinning, I turned to Marvel Digital Comics. Now, this being one of the premier events in the last decade, don't you think they might make an effort to guide readers to it? Or the Civil War storyline, which influenced the last scene of the recent Iron Man movie? Or the death of Captain America, which even the venerable New York Times covered? Or World War Hulk? Or the "Illuminati," which forces all comic readers to re-evaluate 30 years of comic book storylines? The list goes on, but none of that is offered by Marvel. Instead, I was forced to scour Wikipedia for the clues to what books to read, and what issues, in hopes of piecing these major storylines together. Bottom line: this is a great service, well worth the price of the subscription, but it is unnecessarily daunting for the casual comic reader or, in my case, the lapsed one. Give me a guide, folks; point me in the right direction.
As advertising revenue declines, and economic pressures rise, this medium faces an upcoming crisis. Digital comics are a great counter to that: they cost far less to produce, offer a rich experience that's akin to the traditional one, and can be counted on for subscription revenue that does not have to be shared with specialty retailers. By adding guides for the "newbies," they can easily go beyond the hardcore comics nerds, and appeal to those same people gladly shelling out hard cash for movie tickets to The Incredible Hulk, or picking up the special edition DVD of Iron Man.
I'd love to see three innovations to make this really take off:
1. DC Comics, get with the program. You already offer PDF previews; move into the digitized world and start capitalizing on Batman, Watchmen and Superman movie popularity with this new medium.
3. Digitize your compendia of graphic novels that are really collections of major storylines, and offer them. Want to charge an extra buck or two for them? Ok, you've got it. But the key is to realize that you put these on the shelf of Barnes & Noble to attract the casual reader; tap into that same vein online. And yes, point people to them.
The experience of digital comics is definitely a breath of fresh air for me, and has rekindled my fascination for these modern day myths. I would just like to see it flourish, and, with a few small, but important steps, it can go from an experiment to a whole new online revolution. Imagine being able to post the latest digital cover to your Facebook account, with a comment reviewing it, and letting your friends be able to discover it. Much like MP3's made the whole iPod/iPhone revolution, just think what this media could do for both online and handhelds.
Ok, back to hunting through old issues. The Avengers were disbanded? There are only 198 mutants left? Iron Fist is now Daredevil? Whew, I have a lot more to catch up on!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Watchmen and Star Trek...Oh My.
The hell with the Xmas season for movies; give me Spring! We have not just one, but two incredible epics coming to the silver screen. First, the latest trailer for the Watchmen has been released. With every trailer, my amazement grows: the graphic novel that everyone said could never be turned into a movie (including me, as late as yesterday) looks to not only be true, but simply fantastic. See for yourself:
The other is J.J. Abrams' reboot of the Star Trek franchise, with a prequel taking place at the Academy. The first real trailer has been released for the film, and it is...breathtaking:
Now, I know purists of TOS (that's The Original Series, for those not familiar) will no doubt have significant issues with several of the elements in this trailer (the Enterprise being built on Earth? Spock as a violent Sylar-like combatant?), but this looks freaking awesome.
2009 is already shaping up to be a magnificent year for films!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Iron Man: Shellshocked
After partaking of the much anticipated Iron Man this last week in a surreal theater, packed with DLP technology and nearly every seat occupied by a bizarre confluence of bears, I came away with all of my hopes realized, and almost all of my fears allayed. Warning to those that have not seen the film yet: there's gonna be some serious spoilers here, so if you are not inclined to have the experience ruined, see the film before reading this one.
Suitably (ahem) warned? Ok, here we go.
What I liked:
- The movie took a cue from two highly successful comic book films: Spider-Man and Batman Begins. In Spider-Man, the movie worked so well because the director focused the attention on sharing the experience of what it would be like for a kid to suddenly have these powers. It wasn't the costume, or the bad guy: it was the sudden freedom to be able to do whatever he wanted, when he wanted. Peter Parker's scream of delight as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop was a primal expression of freedom. In Batman Begins, the director focused on making the seeming impossible a reality: how did Batman come to be? He focused on the psychological, but also on the reality of the real-world technology that would be required, grounding the character. In Iron Man, director Jon Favreau intelligently stayed away from the minutiae of weaponry and navigation systems, and focused on the feeling of a man who suddenly can fly; the rest was almost immaterial. That primal sense of reality and utter rush of Robert Downey Jr. as he takes flight in the Mark 2 suit was simply perfect, and instantly conveys both feelings.
- The actors were perfect, and perfectly used. Robert Downey was not only ideal as Tony Stark for this film, but his background makes him almost eerily suited for the evolution of the character. Jeff Bridges brought Obadiah Stane to a 3rd dimension I never thought possible from the comics. I was shocked at how good Gwynyth Paltrow was as Pepper Potts; I expected a throwaway role, but she made the character and her portrayal all her own and markedly important. And even though I agree that Terence Howard's voice was not what I would have expected for Rhodey, he was still very impressive in the limited screen time he had; I think he'll be much more important in the already-greentlighted sequel.
- The effects were better than I imagined. They made the armor make sense, far more than the comics ever could.
- The humor was perfect: just the right mix of fun, sarcasm, and lightening. So many times, it's a balance that is poorly executed, but they pulled it off so well.
- The in-jokes were great. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s involvement, and let's hope you stayed past the credits for the best cameo yet. They were good for the comic book geek, and the newcomer as well.
- I have to say, I was really impressed with the product placement: for a movie that clearly needed a few of them to get the budget paid, they were hardly Bond-like in their obviousness. Audi, Cisco, and more were well done.
What I did not like:
In the words of Charles Barletta, "everything was perfect, until those last 4 words." As a newcomer to comics, you may not understand the frustration fans have with the movies' penchant for trying to compress complicated, convoluted storylines. Let's just say that those last 4 words seem to imply a compression of 30 years of comics. Now, I am hopeful that it will turn out to be the ultimate in-joke by Favreau, a noted enthusiast, and that the sequel will open with the line, "Just kidding, folks," or they choose to break with the comics and go a different route altogether. Please, respect that there is much to mine there.
Overall, it is definitely my second favorite comic book movie (Batman Begins was, frankly, the ultimate), and I highly recommend the theater experience. Of course, it's immediately one to own.
After partaking of the much anticipated Iron Man this last week in a surreal theater, packed with DLP technology and nearly every seat occupied by a bizarre confluence of bears, I came away with all of my hopes realized, and almost all of my fears allayed. Warning to those that have not seen the film yet: there's gonna be some serious spoilers here, so if you are not inclined to have the experience ruined, see the film before reading this one.Suitably (ahem) warned? Ok, here we go.
What I liked:
- The movie took a cue from two highly successful comic book films: Spider-Man and Batman Begins. In Spider-Man, the movie worked so well because the director focused the attention on sharing the experience of what it would be like for a kid to suddenly have these powers. It wasn't the costume, or the bad guy: it was the sudden freedom to be able to do whatever he wanted, when he wanted. Peter Parker's scream of delight as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop was a primal expression of freedom. In Batman Begins, the director focused on making the seeming impossible a reality: how did Batman come to be? He focused on the psychological, but also on the reality of the real-world technology that would be required, grounding the character. In Iron Man, director Jon Favreau intelligently stayed away from the minutiae of weaponry and navigation systems, and focused on the feeling of a man who suddenly can fly; the rest was almost immaterial. That primal sense of reality and utter rush of Robert Downey Jr. as he takes flight in the Mark 2 suit was simply perfect, and instantly conveys both feelings.
- The actors were perfect, and perfectly used. Robert Downey was not only ideal as Tony Stark for this film, but his background makes him almost eerily suited for the evolution of the character. Jeff Bridges brought Obadiah Stane to a 3rd dimension I never thought possible from the comics. I was shocked at how good Gwynyth Paltrow was as Pepper Potts; I expected a throwaway role, but she made the character and her portrayal all her own and markedly important. And even though I agree that Terence Howard's voice was not what I would have expected for Rhodey, he was still very impressive in the limited screen time he had; I think he'll be much more important in the already-greentlighted sequel.
- The effects were better than I imagined. They made the armor make sense, far more than the comics ever could.
- The humor was perfect: just the right mix of fun, sarcasm, and lightening. So many times, it's a balance that is poorly executed, but they pulled it off so well.
- The in-jokes were great. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s involvement, and let's hope you stayed past the credits for the best cameo yet. They were good for the comic book geek, and the newcomer as well.
- I have to say, I was really impressed with the product placement: for a movie that clearly needed a few of them to get the budget paid, they were hardly Bond-like in their obviousness. Audi, Cisco, and more were well done.
What I did not like:
In the words of Charles Barletta, "everything was perfect, until those last 4 words." As a newcomer to comics, you may not understand the frustration fans have with the movies' penchant for trying to compress complicated, convoluted storylines. Let's just say that those last 4 words seem to imply a compression of 30 years of comics. Now, I am hopeful that it will turn out to be the ultimate in-joke by Favreau, a noted enthusiast, and that the sequel will open with the line, "Just kidding, folks," or they choose to break with the comics and go a different route altogether. Please, respect that there is much to mine there.
Overall, it is definitely my second favorite comic book movie (Batman Begins was, frankly, the ultimate), and I highly recommend the theater experience. Of course, it's immediately one to own.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Marvel In Jokes
With this week's release of Iron Man, yet another Marvel Comics hero makes the leap to the big screen. The track record thus far has been blockbuster or miss: Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and X-Men have been unqualified hits; Daredevil, The Hulk, and Ghost Rider less so. I'm pulling for Shellhead, and Charles tells me my hopes are justified from his lunchtime excursion today.
One hallmark of a Marvel movie is the cameo of beloved Stan Lee, the creator of so many of these characters. Cameos are a Marvel hallmark, as are clever in-jokes. For instance, in this summer's new Incredible Hulk movie, starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, Robert Downey Jr. makes an appearance as Tony Stark from Iron Man! Heck, this is getting just like the comics! As for Stan Lee, he finds a cameo in all of these films, and this article indicates Iron Man is no exception. In fact, there's a whole YouTube collection of the cameos of Stan The Man; check them out below. My favorite? One I missed: in the otherwise forgettable Hulk, a cameo of not only Stan, but he's alongside the original (and still the best) Hulk, Lou Ferrigno!
Enjoy, True Believers!
With this week's release of Iron Man, yet another Marvel Comics hero makes the leap to the big screen. The track record thus far has been blockbuster or miss: Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and X-Men have been unqualified hits; Daredevil, The Hulk, and Ghost Rider less so. I'm pulling for Shellhead, and Charles tells me my hopes are justified from his lunchtime excursion today.One hallmark of a Marvel movie is the cameo of beloved Stan Lee, the creator of so many of these characters. Cameos are a Marvel hallmark, as are clever in-jokes. For instance, in this summer's new Incredible Hulk movie, starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, Robert Downey Jr. makes an appearance as Tony Stark from Iron Man! Heck, this is getting just like the comics! As for Stan Lee, he finds a cameo in all of these films, and this article indicates Iron Man is no exception. In fact, there's a whole YouTube collection of the cameos of Stan The Man; check them out below. My favorite? One I missed: in the otherwise forgettable Hulk, a cameo of not only Stan, but he's alongside the original (and still the best) Hulk, Lou Ferrigno!
Enjoy, True Believers!
Sunday, March 09, 2008
I Am Iron Man
Yep, it'll be here before iPhone Firmware 2.0. Iron Man brings the iconic Marvel superhero to the big screen, and not a moment too late, as this trailer shows:
Starring 4 Academy Award Winners (Robert Downey Jr., Terence Howard, Gwynth Paltrow, and Jeff Bridges), and directed by the always reliable Jon Favreau (hey, not only is the guy an actor and director, but also was in Daredevil!), this movie looks like it'll work on multiple levels. First, it updates the Tony Stark mythos from the comicbook Vietnam Ware era to today. Second, Tony Stark always struggled with the demons of addiction; Robert Downey Jr.'s battles have certainly been public. And finally...did you check out those effects?
Oh yeah...bring it on, Shellhead.
Psst...wanna learn about Iron Man? Check out the Wikipedia page, or learn how the movie came to be at this great site.
Starring 4 Academy Award Winners (Robert Downey Jr., Terence Howard, Gwynth Paltrow, and Jeff Bridges), and directed by the always reliable Jon Favreau (hey, not only is the guy an actor and director, but also was in Daredevil!), this movie looks like it'll work on multiple levels. First, it updates the Tony Stark mythos from the comicbook Vietnam Ware era to today. Second, Tony Stark always struggled with the demons of addiction; Robert Downey Jr.'s battles have certainly been public. And finally...did you check out those effects?
Oh yeah...bring it on, Shellhead.
Psst...wanna learn about Iron Man? Check out the Wikipedia page, or learn how the movie came to be at this great site.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
So WANTED
Um...how did I miss this? A movie, starring the always amazing Angelina Jolie, plus James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman, called Wanted, based on the comic of the same name. Angelina, back in action as a kickass assassin, with great effects and Matrix-like overtones? Uh, count me in as one of the Wanted.
See for yourself!
Um...how did I miss this? A movie, starring the always amazing Angelina Jolie, plus James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman, called Wanted, based on the comic of the same name. Angelina, back in action as a kickass assassin, with great effects and Matrix-like overtones? Uh, count me in as one of the Wanted.See for yourself!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Adventures of an Anal Retentive Comic Geek
As Charles says, "What are bros for?" He chortles, as he sends me an URL that is guaranteed to cater to my not so recently supressed past, as well as the vein of obsessive compulsion that runs through me, causing me to quake and realize that its time to come clean about my deepest, darkest secret...
Hello, my name is Josh, and I am a comic book collector.
Well, "collector" implies a bit of present tense, so it's not entirely true. With the exception of the signed Kevin Smith original Daredevils and Green Arrows I picked up in the last couple of years, my collection is firmly rooted in what I consider comics' heyday, the 1980's. Like all of my ilk of that time, the X-Men and their spinoffs dominate my collection. but that is also the time of Frank Miller's Dark Knight series, which changed comics (and movies) forever. It's the time of Alan Moore, who brought V for Vendetta to a public who clearly had no idea what to do with it. And it's the time for the rise of the alternate universe, where anything is possible.
Like all collectors of the time, most of my comics are polybagged and boxed (though not boarded, to my chagrin). I occasionally consider selling them off, as the collection is good; I tried to, some years ago, but the cataloging required lots of spreadsheets and value estimates. Thus, I held on.
Now, the Web threatens to take my obsession and make it go full blown again, Phoenix-like. Comic Collector Live allows you to catalog your comic collection, with all of the key indicators, in classic Web 2.0 free style. I can see many hours spent, transferring my Google spreadsheet to this, and identifying the holes in my collection. Instead of selling, I could be coerced into...gasp...buying!
Hello, my name is Josh, and I am a comic book collector.
Well, "collector" implies a bit of present tense, so it's not entirely true. With the exception of the signed Kevin Smith original Daredevils and Green Arrows I picked up in the last couple of years, my collection is firmly rooted in what I consider comics' heyday, the 1980's. Like all of my ilk of that time, the X-Men and their spinoffs dominate my collection. but that is also the time of Frank Miller's Dark Knight series, which changed comics (and movies) forever. It's the time of Alan Moore, who brought V for Vendetta to a public who clearly had no idea what to do with it. And it's the time for the rise of the alternate universe, where anything is possible.
Like all collectors of the time, most of my comics are polybagged and boxed (though not boarded, to my chagrin). I occasionally consider selling them off, as the collection is good; I tried to, some years ago, but the cataloging required lots of spreadsheets and value estimates. Thus, I held on.
Now, the Web threatens to take my obsession and make it go full blown again, Phoenix-like. Comic Collector Live allows you to catalog your comic collection, with all of the key indicators, in classic Web 2.0 free style. I can see many hours spent, transferring my Google spreadsheet to this, and identifying the holes in my collection. Instead of selling, I could be coerced into...gasp...buying!
Go Speed Racer!
I had only peripherally heard that there was a live action Speed Racer movie being made. An Anime come to real life? Yet it's being done by done other than two of film's greatest auteurs, IMHO, the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix, Bound, V for Vendetta, etc.). Charles pointed me to it this AM, ruining the productivity of my day.
And yet, feast your eyes on the Mach 5. Do I care who's in it? No (but Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, and Cristina Ricci are). Do I care what the script is? No (but it looks actually good). Will I see it on the basis of this car alone? Yes.
2008 is Go!
And yet, feast your eyes on the Mach 5. Do I care who's in it? No (but Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, and Cristina Ricci are). Do I care what the script is? No (but it looks actually good). Will I see it on the basis of this car alone? Yes.2008 is Go!
Monday, March 12, 2007
Alan Moore's Triumph?
If you know Alan Moore, you know that image to the left, and it chills you to think this might actually make it to the screen. Can it finally be that Alan Moore will get the Hollywood respect?
Who the heck is Alan Moore? V for Vendetta is one of his. So is the original (not the Hollywood version) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. His works are absolutely as influential as Frank Miller or Neil Gaiman in the world of graphic novels. Alan Moore wrote many of the most startling visions of the late 80's, and pretty much claimed the world of graphic novels. But nothing, nothing, defined Alan Moore's work better than the amazing series, Watchmen. It's uncompromising, unrelenting, utterly adult, and perfect for the medium.
Alas, for Alan Moore fans, we've waited for his amazing writing to grace the silver screen. LXG was an abomination, making him so violently disgusted with Hollywood, he swore off any future participation. V was a triumph, but he even disavowed that. And Watchmen? It's been considered "unfilmable." But the director of this week's hit Frank Miller adaptation, The 300, is making a savvy attempt to plead his case, with that image up on the left inserted into a web-only 300 trailer: Rorschach, in all his grim Watchmen glory. Smartly appealing to the fanboys, this director made a success out of another "unfilmable" movie this weekend; perhaps he can try with the greatest Moore epic of all?
And yes, I do own the original Watchmen series, along with the original Frank Moore Batman Returns and the infamous "Death of Phoenix" X-Men, along with about 1000 others. I'll be glad to post an inventory, if you're interested.
If you know Alan Moore, you know that image to the left, and it chills you to think this might actually make it to the screen. Can it finally be that Alan Moore will get the Hollywood respect?Who the heck is Alan Moore? V for Vendetta is one of his. So is the original (not the Hollywood version) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. His works are absolutely as influential as Frank Miller or Neil Gaiman in the world of graphic novels. Alan Moore wrote many of the most startling visions of the late 80's, and pretty much claimed the world of graphic novels. But nothing, nothing, defined Alan Moore's work better than the amazing series, Watchmen. It's uncompromising, unrelenting, utterly adult, and perfect for the medium.
Alas, for Alan Moore fans, we've waited for his amazing writing to grace the silver screen. LXG was an abomination, making him so violently disgusted with Hollywood, he swore off any future participation. V was a triumph, but he even disavowed that. And Watchmen? It's been considered "unfilmable." But the director of this week's hit Frank Miller adaptation, The 300, is making a savvy attempt to plead his case, with that image up on the left inserted into a web-only 300 trailer: Rorschach, in all his grim Watchmen glory. Smartly appealing to the fanboys, this director made a success out of another "unfilmable" movie this weekend; perhaps he can try with the greatest Moore epic of all?
And yes, I do own the original Watchmen series, along with the original Frank Moore Batman Returns and the infamous "Death of Phoenix" X-Men, along with about 1000 others. I'll be glad to post an inventory, if you're interested.
