Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT

Atomic Glee · Nov 17, 2008

As the cherry atop the cake of terrible, I wonder if the Spirit will get to utter a variant of Miller's Batman's, um, infamous dialogue?

BAZ · Nov 17, 2008

Actually, I've always been a big fan on Miller's, starting with the Dark Knight Returns. Then I went back and got his Daredevil stuff.
When Sin City came out in '92 It just blew me away. The stark art style, and "hard boiled" dialogue was a treat (to me).
I'd spent MONTHS looking at Geoff Darrows amazing artwork in "Hard Boiled", but felt the story a bit lacking.
The monstrosity that is the "Sin City" movie is embarrassing! It's SO bad, it's made me numb to anything "Frank Miller's....."
"300" was an awful movie too.
"The Spirit", sadly I think, will ALSO be awful. Strange when we look back at a turkey like "The Shadow" and think it's good (I do!)

MK · Nov 17, 2008

.

I am surprised...and glad to read that there are others that are less than thrilled with the look of The Spirit.

I saw Sin City already. I felt like I needed a bath afterwards. I don't plan on subjecting myself to that again.

J. M. Stovall · Nov 18, 2008

Cooke's Spirit is set in the present.

Lance Uppercut · Nov 18, 2008

When you look at all these fictional characters and the you look at the sad pool of contemporary actors the disconnect becomes all the more clear.

IMO: The ideal type of talent to play The Spirit needs to be someone like a young James Garner.

Frank Miller's work lacks subtlety and there's more to mature storytelling than profanity and violence . . . his idea of sexual innuendo/tension is about as refined as a Hustler centerfold.

The Wingnut · Nov 18, 2008

Miller has all the subtlety and nuance of a jackhammer operating at 5 am in a residential neighborhood on a Saturday morning.

Great if you're into the whole chaos and disorder thing. Horrible if you like Eisner's approach to vigilantism and storytelling in general.

Potential...wasted.

BAZ · Nov 18, 2008

Lance Uppercut said:
Frank Miller's work lacks subtlety and there's more to mature storytelling than profanity and violence . . . his idea of sexual innuendo/tension is about as refined as a Hustler centerfold.

I think you're referring to his movies more than his comics.
His Daredevil run (especially the storyline collected as "Child's Play") was very thought provoking, and gritty. Quite a change from most Marvel comics at the time.
The first three Sin City stories were my faves, later ones DID become hackneyed and slightly......boring!

Lance Uppercut · Nov 18, 2008

I'll grant you that Frank Miller's work on Daredevil (in the early 80's) was quite a departure in comic storytelling at the time. My personal feeling is that he's not honed his narrative craft at all since then. He regurgitates a lot of genre material without really bringing anything unique to the table.

His illustration style, poor use of color and lack of complex composition also leave me cold . . . he's no Will Eisner.

BAZ · Nov 18, 2008

Lance Uppercut said:
His illustration style, poor use of color and lack of complex composition also leave me cold . . . he's no Will Eisner.

I believe Miller was unhappy with the colouring on Dark Knight himself, but then for the sequel he uses Lyn Varley again and it's like a three year old ate crayons then vomited them on his pages!
The stark art in Sin City is, in my opinion, startling.
Breaking down sequential art to abstract shapes, again, was a departure from the cross-hatched, uber-digital coloured carnivals being offered at the time from Marvel, Image etc.
And, you can easily see just HOW influenced he was by Eisner in this work!

Lance Uppercut · Nov 18, 2008

When Miller first started gaining notoriety, I enjoyed the stuff he was doing. I felt it was a big departure . . . until I started digging deeper and discovering several other artists that had been employing similar techniques to better effect for many years.

If you've never see or read it, Jim Steranko did a great graphic novel (in 1976?) called Chandler:Red Tide. A superior effort that gets my highest recommendation.

BAZ · Nov 19, 2008

I'm gonna have to look for that Steranko one.
I spent a lot of time (and money) amassing all the "Strange Tales" and "Nick Fury" comics Steranko did. As well as the Capt America run.
I'm a huge Kirby fan, but Steranko's work was so "slim" and sexy, yet still had a Kirby "psychedelic" feel.

resortes805 · Nov 24, 2008

BAZ · Nov 24, 2008

Rob Liefeld....hee hee hee hee
Should have stuck to delivering pizzas!

Matt Crunk · Dec 26, 2008

Well, I just returned home from an opening day, midnight showing of The Spirit. Not everyone's taste to be sure, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. (the wife hated it )

I was never a fan of the comic. I knew the name and the image but never read it. Knew nothing of the character himself except that he seemed (at least superficially) a lot like The Shadow. But Miller's vision is a feast for the eyes, if not the intellect. The noir atmosphere of Central City, with it's foggy, water tower infested cityscapes looked fantastic, as did most of the neo-40's costuming. I even liked the story and thought it quite developed considering it was based on a comic book/strip.

The converse shoes were a pure Frank Miller touch. I got it. Didn't bother me at all. It's a comic character, folks. Would sprinting across the city's powerlines in wing-tips been more believable?

Makes me wish Miller would lend his talents to a straight period detective noir sometime. Hey, I can always dream can't I?

-MC

Matt Crunk · Dec 26, 2008

Sefton said:
Hmmm...I didn't like Sin City and if they're changing his iconic blue to black it gives me a bad feeling about what else may be changed. Too bad they never filmed the version that Harlan Ellison wrote. It would have been great.

See, having never been a fan of the comic, I went in without any expectations except that I was going to see Frank Miller's work. I already knew what to expect from Miller, and was not disappointed.

As for the suit color, I think black was the only color that could have worked in this context. I'd always assumed, from what little I'd seen of the character, that the "blue" suit was indeed supposed to be black, in the way that the graphic language of comics usually represents black items (The Bat Man's cape, Superman's hair) with blue ink. But, to have this character running around the dark city in a royal blue suit and white shirt would have rendered him even more unbelievable than he already is.

I was never able to take Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy seriously because of the bright yellow fedora and coat.

PADDY · Dec 26, 2008

Might be tempted...

But SIN CITY didn't hit the mark with me, so I'm slightly unsure about going to see this other comic book movie, but...just maybe...[huh]

Doctor Strange · Dec 26, 2008

Even though I usually hate style-over-substance flicks (I hated Sin City), I was all set to go see it in a theater yesterday... but after the film received just about the worst reviews I've ever seen, I decided I should wait for cable!

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/spirit2008

mike · Dec 26, 2008

I am a huge comic book fan, but am embarrassed to say I never knew where to dive in when it came to the Spirit. I love golden age era Marvel Comics with the original Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, the Angel, etc... So I assume the original Will Eisner era Spirit run would be fantastic, can anyone suggest a collection to get?

(please note: no mention of the apparent train wreck of a film in this posting!

)

Matt Crunk · Dec 27, 2008

Doctor Strange said:
Even though I usually hate style-over-substance flicks (I hated Sin City), I was all set to go see it in a theater yesterday... but after the film received just about the worst reviews I've ever seen, I decided I should wait for cable!

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/spirit2008

I have a confession to make: The first time I watched Sin City I didn't care for it much at all. I thought the graphic style was too distracting and the stories themselves weren't all that great. But then I watched the DVD special features on the making of the film. Once I understand exactly what Rodriguez was trying to do with it visually, I watched it again with brand new eyes and loved it. In fact it's now one of my favorite films.

I went into The Spirit knowing Miller's previous work and expecting a visual style very similar to that of Sin City. What I got was exactly that, plus a story that I thought was better than any in Sin City. It's not noir, nor is it nostalgia, but it's strong a nod to both.

Like I said, it's not for everyone. But if you plan to see it at all, I think it's worth seeing on the big screen.

D.W. Suratt · Dec 27, 2008

This was one of those movies that could have been good but wasn't. If you must see it, at least wait for the dvd so you don't waste as much money.

Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT

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