Linda Gold (2:59 PM on Sun Sep 21, 2008)

After "All-Star Batman and Robin" I'm with you, Tony. I fear greatly for "The Spirt" , however, I doubt we can get him to leave movies of other people's work alone as well.

Rick Taylor (4:33 PM on Sun Sep 21, 2008)

I feared greatly for the Spirit BEFORE All-Star Batman and Robin #10.

Alan Coil (7:28 PM on Sun Sep 21, 2008)

For good or ill, Eisner gave Miller control of his story to be transferred to film. I'm sure Eisner knew there was a chance it wouldn't translate well, or that Miller might actually transfer it wrong. Eisner took the chance that Miller could make it into a good movie. I'd like to see the movie first before I condemn it.

All Star Batman is a very good comic book, but I do agree that it probably should not have starred the Batman character. A newly created character would have worked just fine.

There's a lot of viss and pinegar being thrown at this book, yet it seems nary a word about the wholesale slaughter of characters over in Secret Invasion. Perhaps it doesn't matter, as the characters in Secret Invasion are merely sub-human, after all. Yet every time I look at a Secret Invasion story, I think that the Skrulls are analogs of illegal aliens. Illegal aliens are sub-human, aren't they? Aren't they? Or perhaps the Skrulls are analogs for the dire threat of Muslims. Perhaps? White makes right? ???

Jeremiah Avery (7:51 PM on Sun Sep 21, 2008)

I'm not reading "Secret Invasion" so I can't really comment on it that much, other than I'm afflicted with "Event Fatigue" so I'm doing myself and my bank account a favor by not dropping money on "this will change everything...until the next big event when we cancel out the previous event" type books.

Actually, Eisner didn't consent to the adaptation of his work to Miller. At his funeral, people approached Miller to work on the film adaptation. Granted, it seemed logical, initially, due to Eisner's and Miller's friendship and Miller's earlier stance on creator's rights and being faithful to the source material. It just seems now he's doing what he wants and saying "well, Will would have wanted it this way". Maybe he would, either way I think it could have been done better (at least based upon the parts released).

I'll vote with my wallet on this film. If I don't think much of it, yet go see it anyway, I'm just part of the problem.

Delmo Walters Jr. (10:13 PM on Sun Sep 21, 2008)

Skrulls as illegals or Muslims? Quite the stretch. I don't see it. I think you give Bendis way too much credit.

ed zarger (10:25 PM on Sun Sep 21, 2008)

That slaughter of Skrulls in Secret Invasion is likely intended to create revulsion, and to build into a subsequent plot or subplot. You're supposed to be disturbed by it. I'm sure it's not a case of the creators encouraging slaughter or dehumanizing opponents.
(I'm more bothered by some characters that I like to follow, being added to X-Force and the ends-justify-the-means attitude, which I will not support.)
Despite trepidations, I too would want to wait and see the movie, before making judgements on it. (But since I only see movies when they come to TV or DVD, I'm not likely to influence the bottom line much.)

Linda Gold (12:39 AM on Mon Sep 22, 2008)

I can't comment on that since I am not reading Secret Invasion. I just hated what Miller did with Batman in "All-Star" so much I got half way through issue 2 and couldn't go on. First time anyone has driven me off a Batman book ever.

mike weber (3:22 PM on Sun Sep 28, 2008)

Did Eisner personally give Miller control, or did his estate?

Jeremiah Avery (5:19 PM on Sun Sep 28, 2008)

As I mentioned above, it was Eisner's estate that gave Frank Miller their blessing to make the film about "The Spirit", not Eisner himself.

mike weber (5:44 PM on Sun Sep 28, 2008)

I hit your comment after i posted mine.

Brecht and Weill got Marc Blitzstein; Will Eisner got Frank Miller.

Why couldn't Eisner be the lucky one?

Linda Gold (4:39 PM on Sun Sep 21, 2008)

How about really crappy writing?

Tyson Durst (5:51 PM on Sun Sep 21, 2008)

Yes, but...but, why? What happened from Year One and Dark Knight Returns to DK2 and ASBAR?

Quality issues aside, are there people who despise the former two as much as the latter two for taking iconic characters into territory that they don't think they should go?

Alan Coil (7:38 PM on Sun Sep 21, 2008)

Iconic character or not, sales on Batman are very low. If the Batman comic sold to 1% of the nation, it would have sales of 3,000,000. Current sales are in the neighborhood of 70,000. Continuing to write Batman as traditionally written isn't going to expand the reading base in any way. Perhaps new approaches is a good idea. We can't live in the past. To stay in the past is to begin dying. I'm not quite ready for that.

Mike Gold (1:47 PM on Mon Sep 22, 2008)

DC could hire the ghost of Truman Capote to write Batman -- or anything else -- and it wouldn't sell any better in our current distribution and marketing system. The circle tightens every day, and by the standards of September 2008 a sale of 70,000 copies is great. By the standards of September 1958, Bob Kane wouldn't lift his head out of his own puke to sell 70,000.

The medium cannot survive on comics shop sales. It can't even survive on bookstore sales of graphic novels and trades, but that helps. We have to support alternate means of distribution.

You know, like the Internet.

Tyson Durst (2:18 PM on Mon Sep 22, 2008)

"By the standards of September 1958, Bob Kane wouldn't lift his head out of his own puke to sell 70,000."

That quote seems like it should be on a TPB cover or a book jacket somewhere.

Isn't the circulation of ASBAR a bit higher at 100 000 because of the star creator billing?

Owesome (12:21 AM on Mon Sep 29, 2008)

I've got this working theory that it's his divorce from Lynn Varley. Completely unsupported and unfounded. But it's when I personally started to notice his rampant (creative) misogyny getting out of control. And there's an interview floating around where he refers to his 300 painter (Lynn) as a dude.

Tyson Durst (1:50 AM on Mon Sep 22, 2008)

The latest trailer makes me wonder if it's an expensive music video or an actual movie.

Matt Raub (2:09 PM on Mon Sep 22, 2008)

if you think that's bad. Look around online for the leaked fight sequence between Spirit and Sam Jackson. Awful.

Rick Taylor (7:16 AM on Tue Sep 23, 2008)

Mike - You're right...REALLY embarrassing. This one's gonna stick up the place like four day old fish.