City, Eisner, movie-goers, comic fans, anyone with even a passing

You know, sometimes the line comes to you before you even read / view the thing. Such was the way with the Spirit movie…….

“The city isn’t the only thing screaming Frank…..” was going to be my opener in any review of the film, followed by;

“……that’s the ghost of Will Eisner, anyone who’s ever read any of Eisner’s Spirit tales and most people leaving the movie theatre”

Unless, of course, I happened to think (however unlikely it may be) that it was quite good. But CBR went to see it the other day and their review is up now, with the tagline on the front page being:

“Central City isn’t the only thing screaming. Frank Miller’s intensely stylized screen adaptation of Will Eisner’s comic book classic, “The Spirit,” leaves Eisner fans with much to be desired, but Gabriel Macht’s performance will win over neophytes.”

Bugger. However, it does throw up that central question about the film: If, as everyone seems to be saying, Miller took the film on because he was determined that no one else would get their hands on it, so highly did he revere it, then why did he manage to desecrate the entire thing? Either that’s the best thing he can do and simple wasn’t up to it and completely failed to control the movie. Or he’s completely insane and genuinely thinks that Eisner would think this was exactly what The Spirit should have been like.

Back to what Chris Weston said:

Let’s face it, being a full-time critic of Miller’s work is a gift that keeps on giving.

Spirit The New Adventures Archive – finally!

Eddie Campbell brings us news of The Spirit: New Adventures finally being re- printed.

It’s currently only on Amazon but I’m sure Dark Horse will have details up at some point. This is great news, although seeing as all of the really great works happened in the first 3 issues I’m not entirely sure it’s going to be worth the £30+ price tag.

But that Alan Moore story is still one of my faves: it’s available to read here.

Frank Miller on crappy movies. Pot. Kettle. Kettle. Pot.

Rich Johnston found this one, but it had to be spread around:

Frank Miller’s anti-Wizard keynote speech at the Harveys a few years ago?

“You’ll make some pretty good money, but that creation that you took all that time writing and drawing will be remembered for all time as one really crappo movie.”

The interesting thing is that it seems like at least 10% of the first weekend’s gross from the Spirit movie will be comic fans goinng along just to see exactly how bad it is. I know that will be my reason for going.

Spirit movie. It’s just looking worse and worse isn’t it?

“I intend to be extremely faithful to the heart and soul of the material, but it won’t be nostalgic. It will be much scarier than people expect,” Frank Miller. 2006.

Well, it’s sure as shit scaring me Frank. Is it just me or does it look like a bizarro fetish Carry On movie isn’t it?

Official site for more of this trainwreck. And then a compare and contrast with Eisner’s vision of the Spirit.

Spirit The New Adventures #3 – Alan Moore & Daniel Torres

Recently I was putting together a series of articles about Uncollected comics. One of my favourite comics has never and probably will never be collected. But thankfully, down to the Interthingy and the blog Again With The Comics it’s all available online for your viewing pleasure.

It’s Alan Moore & Daniel Torres creating a 10 page Spirit story “Last Night I Dreamed Of Dr Cobra”. Under a typically gorgeous Brian Bolland cover we see the eternally youthful Denny Colt revisits Central City at some point in the far future and the pain and sadness of his loss becomes crystal clear. It’s a beautifully melancholic and incredibly moving tale and you’ll thank me (& Brian Hughes) for the chance to read it…..

PROPAGANDA Reviews: The Spirit Vol 1 by Cooke & Bone

Back in 2007 I reviewed the Batman/Spirit special and the first issue of this Spirit series (review here). I declared it to be:

“Simply beautiful. A pure labour of love from Darwyn Cooke and J Bone. Every panel drips with style, design and it’s a perfect homage to a master storyteller. This feels exactly like it should, it’s very much a worthy addition to the Eisner library.“

And now, having read this first volume containing issues 1-6 and the Batman/Spirit special I have very little to add to that. Quite simply, I doubt I’ll read anything this near-perfect in a superhero vein this year.

Darwyn Cooke and J Bone have managed to do something very special here. They haven’t tried to update, retool or reimagine the Spirit for a modern age. They haven’t made him a grim and gritty vigilante. They haven’t given him a new origin, a drug addiction, psychological weakness or sexual deviation involving animals or any of the standard revamp tricks we used to get when characters were reimagined in this way. In fact, they haven’t done anything to him at all. All they’ve done is look at what made the character work so well and given us more of the same. They’ve taken Eisner’s boy in blue and simply told some more wonderful, exciting and genuinely fun stories. It sounds easy, it sounds simple, but I can’t really imagine anyone else managing to do it anywhere near this well.

For those who don’t know the details; The Spirit is Denny Colt, crimefighter in Blue Suit, Fedora and gloves. Created by Will Eisner, back in 1940, The Spirit is quite rightly held up as one of the most perfect example of what can be done in comics. The Spirit was, quite simply, a masterpiece. Eisner’s sense of storytelling and innovative page designs are quite marvellous, the way he can convey so much and so simply is masterful and practically impossible to replicate.

In fact, a few years back, various big names in the comics biz; Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Dave Gibbons, Paul Chadwick et al all tried and failed to produce a great Spirit comic. It was interesting reading their individual takes on the character but although the comics were really good, they lacked the style and innocence that made the Spirit so great.

But not here. Cooke and Bone absolutely and completely recapture the sheer, simple brilliance of Eisner’s character. The art is perfection as well. Cooke & Bone have created a style that almost does the unimaginable; captures Eisner in spirit but creates a look and a feel all their own. Not better than Eisner, just equally different.

(Yep, it’s got all that. Art by Darwyn Cooke from The Spirit. Published DC Comics.)

The only shame is that there will only be two volumes of this. And that’s it. J Bone couldn’t commit to any more than 12 issues and without him, Darwyn Cooke couldn’t envisage carrying the book. So cherish this while you can because there’s not much left.

(Your homework for today – read Eisner’s Spirit. Cover art from the Best of The Spirit, by the irreplaceable Will Eisner. Published DC Comics.)

But luckily for you, there are a huge amount of magnificent Spirit comics available from the genius that was Will Eisner. DC has collected the entire Will Eisner strip into 24 volumes of the Spirit Archives and there’s even a very reasonably priced sampler; The Best Of The Spirit. As good as this Cooke/Bone version is, it’s nothing compared to Eisner’s original. All I can hope is that anyone reading this review, anyone enjoying this Spirit, will go out and investigate Eisner’s Spirit. Once there, they will discover a genius at work.

Spirit Sin City 2 trailer online

Now, my views on Frank Miller adapting the classic Will Eisner Spirit into a movie are on public record: November 2006, February 2007.
But it would appear that dear old Frank has ignored my advice and gone ahead with it.

We’ve had teaser trailers for a while, basically acting as a big “look at the Hollywood talent I’ve got to appear” type thing. But now we get the first official trailer. You could go to the official website but my firefox took one look at the huge amount of javascript and just started playing up. So I looked here and watched it instead. It seems my firefox has very good taste indeed.

If it looked anymore like Sin City it would have to have Marv lumbering through it. Basically it looks absolutely nothing like a Spirit film should be. It certainly bears nothing more than a passing resemblance to anything I ever saw on an Eisner Spirit page.

Trailer is on Yahoo movies here.

And just in case you needed visual proof:

Will Eisner’s Spirit. Very Good.

Darwyn Cooke’s recent version, similarly very good and I said so here.

No. Dear God No.

Still, at least I’m not alone in this. Many others seem to think the trailer isn’t the most promising start to the Spirit ad campaign. But of them all, Chris Weston’s is the funniest commentary on it:

One tries to be professional… pouring scorn upon a fellow member of the comic-strip fraternity is not deemed appropriate or acceptable behaviour…
but, man alive! Does Frank Miller make it hard.
It’s a labor not without its pleasures, though. Let’s face it, being a full-time critic of Miller’s work is a gift that keeps on giving.

PROPAGANDA @ FPI Blog – The Spirit revisited…

I reviewed the first issue and the Batman/Spirit crossover a while back, but here’s the thoughts on the first collection.

The Spirit Volume 1 by Cooke & Bone.