Any good will that I may have still had for Frank Miller is now dead....

[orangewhip]

    Watched the first 5 minutes of The Spirit (yeah, I knew it was going to suck).  I have never felt more justified and in the moral right for downloading something off a torrent.  If even one penny of my money had gone to Miller for this atrocity, I would feel terrible.
     My problem isn't that it's a bad movie, it is..but that's not the problem.  The Spirit was one of the most innovative and groundbreaking comics of all time by one of the greatest cartoonists ever.
It was far ahead of it's time in style, writing, artwork, etc.  It wasn't really even an action-focused title.  And the movie opens up with this superhuman version of The Spirit running across telephone wires and shit. 
   Most people, let alone most comic fans don't know anything about The Spirit.  Now they do.  They know the Frank Miller version.  The one that was like something from Sin City.  The Spirit to them is a shitty comic book movie about a shitty character.  Will Eisner's grave is still relatively fresh, and Frank Miller squatted over it and squeezed out a greasy, stinking, foot-long turd.
   Frank Miller, welcome to my hate pit.

[Stupornaut]

Well, that confirms my suspicions. I'm ashamed to admit I haven't read The Spirit, but I've seen enough of Eisner's work to know that Frank Miller is maybe the last person you'd want to adapt it. Though I suppose Tony Scott's upcoming adaptation of New York: the Big City* might be even worse.

*(NOTE: not actually happening)

[Bryan]

Thanks for watching it so I don't have to.

The original strip is really good, but as far as I know the only format it's available in are very expensive "archive" hardcover editions that are ~$50 each. So it's not exactly designed to make it easy for the curious to wade in. Imagine that - the comics industry making it difficult for neophytes to start reading comics!

[iAmBaronVonTito]

another FOT (bigplastichead?) was twittering his dislike for this movie as well.  i havent seen it, but i didnt think it looked that bad. 


well, yes, i did...but look at those sultry ladies.  eh?

[Big Plastic Head]

Wasn't me. Haven't seen it. I DID twitter about how bad Pineapple Express was though considering how many funny people were in it. It was a turd.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

THEN IT WAS ERECHOVERAKER/MURDERSHOW....









note: i forgot i had the caps lock on, but you know what, im really that angry. 

[pete]

You know, I think I have to disagree (and I paid real human money to see it in the theaters)!  As a huge huge huge Eisner fan, I think it's certainly coming through a really thick, really weird Frank Miller filter, but I felt a lot of Eisner's Spirit in there. 

I don't think Will would have had any interest in a straightforward Watchmen-style adaptation of his work, especially considering how varied and all-over-the-place his Spirit stories were.  I mean that both in terms of actual types of stories he told using "The Spirit" as a vehicle, and the art styles.  (Kyle Baker had a GREAT post on his blog about this that seems to have gone missing).

I liked the movie a lot (uncompromisingly weird-as-hell, great great visuals, some really great lines), but I didn't love it (those awful henchmen!, a lot of the acting, I really did want to see the blue suit).  I'm glad it was made, if only to get a glimpse inside Frank Miller's crazy-go-nuts brain.  It's good to see he had the stones to just do whatever he wanted with the movie and not worry too much about reception.

Also, Stupornaut -  There are a couple "Best of" Spirit collections out there, and the archives are usually around $15 used on Amazon.  Kitchen Sink did a pretty good reprint run, and I've seen tons of old issues out there.  I'm actually about to get rid of some Spirit reprints in a mass comics purge, PM me your address and I'll mail you the couple issues I have.

[erechoveraker]

Yeah I watched it a few weeks back when I was all sick and nyquilled up, it was... amazing. Back to back with that leaked Wolverine flick, what an afternoon.

Spirit was bad on a level I don't understand, I just cannot believe someone just didn't jump in on day 3 like NOPE, WE'RE NOT PUTTING ANY MORE MONEY INTO THIS THING.

Avoid it at all costs fot, unless you know, you wanna hate something completely and thoroughly.

[erechoveraker]

THEN IT WAS ERECHOVERAKER/MURDERSHOW....
note: i forgot i had the caps lock on, but you know what, im really that angry. 

eff that, I demand everyone here type my name like they're yelling it from now on. GOT IT??

[akaJudge]

Someone noted elsewhere that, far from being Frank Miller's homage to Will Eisner, this film is Frank Miller's homage to himself.  Seems to be the most accurate summation I've seen, but I can't say for sure.  Haven't seen it yet.  The place I work sells used DVDs, and I don't anticipate having to wait to long to come across a copy to borrow.

I'm super excited to see Scarlet J. though.  I hope that doesn't make me a bad person...

[erechoveraker]

Someone noted elsewhere that, far from being Frank Miller's homage to Will Eisner, this film is Frank Miller's homage to himself. 

That sounds about right. No offense to Pete, but I don't think there's a drop of Eisner in there really, aside from names and such. It felt more like those issue(s) of Spawn that Miller wrote more than anything else, or the worst stuff about All Star Batman and Robin, aka "Oh man you just don't get it, it's Miller having FUN again!" - blech.