At last: Frank Miller’s Ronin to big screen

Mike Gold

ComicMix's award-winning and spectacularly shy editor-in-chief Mike Gold also performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking rock, blues and blather radio show on The Point, www.getthepointradio.com and on iNetRadio, www.iNetRadio.com (search: Hit Oldies) every Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern, rebroadcast three times during the week – check www.getthepointradio.com above for times and on-demand streaming information.

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8 Responses

  1. John McCarthy says:

    Don't let Todd see that Ronin is in development — he might sue on behalf of Samurai Jack.;-)

  2. John McCarthy says:

    Don't let our friend Todd see that Ronin is in development — he may decide to sue on behalf of Samurai Jack!;-)

  3. M. Sean McManus says:

    I don't understand what Samurai Jack has to do with this, but maybe I should read Ronin again. I guess it's the time traveling Samurai– I don't remember if Aku was in Ronin.

  4. John McCarthy says:

    The bare bones of the comparison is the set-up: a samurai with a magic sword battles a demon in Japan's past. In Ronin it's Agat, in Jack it's Aku. Each demon is on the ropes from the samurai and initiates a back door escape. Agat binds both himself and Ronin to a sword where they are trapped until NYC in the 21st century. Aku simply banishes Jack to the future, where/when Jack finds himself in a New World far removed from his previous experience. In both cases, the demons are in positions of power high above the teeming masses where they can plot and strike at their enemies from a distance. It's at this point that both stories really begin. If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna run out to Borders and see if I can lay my hands on some Jack DVDs. (Gotta do sumthin' to ease the wait for Ronin: The Movie.)Oh, BTW –and this is kinda cool– if you do a search for Ronin on Amazon, Miller's graphic novel is the first hit, with DeNiro's movie at #2. Score one for the home team!

  5. Russ Rogers says:

    "When the medicine comes, the girl skillfully removes the bullet and seals the wound."I felt like some of the most exciting and interesting action was brushed aside by that tiny bit of narration. And Jean expects Margo to do a lot of running around by herself, especially since Margo was just attacked.On the positive side, I really liked LJ's story about getting stabbed by a twelve year old! It makes getting shot by the ten cent sap more believable. Heroes can have off days too. There's a sense of realism that completely deals with my qualms about last weeks episode.I can understand the need to get out of that alley and to some place safe. I'm a little surprised that the sound of several gun shots didn't draw anyone, like the police. I guess this is a VERY rough part of town.But I don't agree with just leaving the ten cent sap to just wake up and shuffle off. LJ, Jean and Margo didn't even rifle the sap's pockets; they don't even know who he is! Jean had a scalpel in her hand and she didn't even muse about making the sap a eunuch?Kibitzer's Korner: I would've liked to see LJ wake up the sap. Tell him that the newspapers will be printing a story about how this man took time away from cruising the alleys of Lowertown to assist Lone Justice fight a cheap rapist. Have Lone Justice tell the ten cent sap that because he will now be known as LJ's friend, the police will be very interested in his business. And then let the sap plead that he's a respectable, married businessman and can't have his name in the papers, mixed with tawdry affairs! "My wife will divorce me! I'll be disinherited!" I just want to see the sap get SOME kind of Justice.OK, if you add Jean taking out the bullet and LJ shaking down the ten cent sap, you end up dragging this 4 page episode out to 7 or 8 pages. That's no good. Oh well. I can't have everything.I really enjoyed this episode. I like Jean as a character. I like that LJ pulled off his mask but is a little reluctant with his name. I look forward to seeing what life is like in the Camp, next week.

    • MARK WHEATLEY says:

      When I was just starting out writing stories very often my tales would not start at the beginning and march straight through to an end – no – instead they would start out and then go sideways – even backwards! Every time something interesting came along I would tell that little bit of the story. But it made for a very unfocused story. These days I do my best to keep my eye on the core drama and keep it moving. And even at that these stories that Bob and I are doing tend to get very long. This one is going to break the 200 page mark with ease. Hopefully it won't hit 300!

  6. Russ Rogers says:

    I certainly understand the need for focus, but Lone Justice leads my tangential mind to flights of fancy. Like, wouldn't it be cool to see interludes (like the interludes in EZ Street or maybe just a back-up feature) of Lone Justice's wilder, over-the-top adventures (like fighting the Deranged Caruthers or the Radio-Apes) drawn in a Bill Finger, retro-30s style!And I imagine this scene between the cops and the Ten Cent Sap!Cop: "The paper says you helped your friend Lone Justice fight a rapist. Lone Justice is a fujitive from the law. Where can we find him? Y'know, it's a crime to aid a fugitive!"Sap: "But I didn't help Lone Justice! I shot Lone Justice!"Cop: "You shot him while he was fighting a rapist?"Sap: "Nah! Lone Justice was fighting me! It was all self defense."Cop: "So, you're the rapist?"Sap: "That's what I'm saying, Officer!"

  7. MARK WHEATLEY says:

    Oddly enough, this plays like a scene from the new FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER graphic novel that I'm working on for the Fall of this year.