* Craig Thompson says “Habibi production is stuck in limbo.” In a good way, I hope?
* Mike Mignola tells CBR some more about his forthcoming Hellboy plans, including collabos with Kevin Nowlan, Richard Corben, and his own bad self. I especially enjoy the news that he may start treating Hellboy like an altcomic in terms of numbering; rather than label things “issue #2 of 6” or whatever, he’ll just start from #1, and they’ll come out when they come out, and the stories will finish when they finish. Hell yeah.
* Murderers’ Row: Sammy Harkham, Gabrielle Bell, Anders Nilsen, Kevin Huizenga.
photo by Dan Nadel
* Tucker Stone has his “WE are the walking dead!” moment. This is a great column on some of the year’s worst comics, worth both reading and just scanning through the horrifyingly awful panels Tucker picked out to illustrate. And seriously, stop buying terrible comics. (I do straight-up enjoy those last two images, though.) Moreover, right near the top of the piece Tucker rattles off a rock-solid best of 2010 list that covers superhero comics, alternative comics, and “fusion comics” alike. (Via Kevin Melrose.)
* Hey, Closed Caption Comics’ Ryan Cecil Smith has his own blog! (Via Tom Spurgeon.)
* This episode of a geek podcast named Bear Swarm! leaves no doubt that it is an episode of a geek podcast with a name like Bear Swarm!, if you know what I mean, but it also features a lengthy, geekish interview with George R.R. Martin about the Song of Ice and Fire novels, so I do recommend listening to that part.
I don’t think I’ve been nearly attentive enough about restraining this tendency in myself: the tendency to summarize, to grade. To say, “This movie was fantastic in ways x, y, and z, but ultimately failed/succeeded because q.”
It’s that “ultimately” which I need to work harder to avoid. Art is not an exam! You don’t pass or fail.
* Mark Bagley is returning to Ultimate Spider-Man, one of my favorite superhero titles for years and years on end now. I think it’s safe to say that his work for DC showed that Ultimate Spider-Man is where he belongs, although let’s be honest, David LaFuente creams anyone else who ever drew that book.
* In further news related to the good Brian Bendis comics, They’re making a TV show out of Alias. I’m not confident it’ll be any good, based simply on the track record of adaptations of any and all genre comics. It occurred to me yesterday that I could list all such adaptations I consider to be genuinely creatively successful on one hand and still have fingers to spare.
* Pure Sean crack: Ta-Nehisi Coates slags superhero movies for their smallness, praises The Lord of the Rings for its bigness. I’m telling you, I remember so vividly the 20-minute sneak-preview I was able to attend after the Cannes Film Festival, when they were screening the Mines of Moria sequence for critics. I went with a skeptical friend, and we left astonished. The instant Legolas fired that arrow and we traveled with it as it traversed that vast chasm and hit that orc, who then plummeted into the abyss, I realized: They’ve gotten the scale right, for the very first time in the history of fantasy cinema.
* Speaking of Coates, I understand why American fiction writers used to be so smitten with the idea of ex-Confederate soldiers righting the wrongs inflicted on them and theirs by Union thugs. I don’t understand why they’d still be smitten with it today. Or maybe I do, sad to say.
* Finally, a little Real Life Horror (and let’s face it, for the next two years that could be the name of any given Congressional Beat column) for your weekend: My congressman, the odious, racist (and not incidentally IRA-supporting) Peter King, will be heading up a McCarthyite committee to “investigate” American Muslims come the next Congress. Fuck this asshole, fuck anyone who thinks this is a good idea, fuck this failed-state country of ours, hallelujah, holy shit, where’s the Tylenol.
Tags: A Song of Ice and Fire, books, Carnival of souls, comics, fantasy, Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin, links, movies, real life, TV
For further insight into Mr. Bagley’s return, may I self-indulgently refer you to my interview with the man himself, in which he basically echoes what you just said: http://marvel.com/news/story/14876/mark_bagley_returns_to_marvel
Oh man, that’s what I thought I was linking to!
Wow, less than 5 of *any* genre comics have been successfully adapted? Is that adapted to TV only, or across all mediums? And does genre comic count Superhero, or do you mean comics within longstanding genres BESIDES superheroes. I’d love to know what makes that list of 3 (given that you have a number less than 5 with “fingers” plural remaining :P)
BTW, I’ve been away from comics internets for a while, to focus on school, but I’ve just come back in a fit of procrastination, and have to say you are doing some really outstanding writing. Hats off to you sir.
I think the only first-class live-action (movie or TV) genre-comic adaptation is the first Tim Burton Batman movie. I like Iron Man, and I just remembered Sin City. Beyond that I think there is some fun stuff in a lot of flawed movies, and then oceans of hamhanded nonsense like the Raimi Spider-Man movies.
Also, thank you!
No, thank you!
Film wise, I think there’s a good chance you’re forgetting some films that aren’t full of superheroes but have their origins in (genre) comics. Both History of Violence and Road to Perdition are originally comics, which are both excellent films, as is Old Boy (though it I haven’t seen). I’m torn on V for Vendetta, but think it has some good moments. Men in Black, surprisingly, is a comic book spin-off, and that shit was gold. And Global Frequency, a Warren Ellis comic, had a pilot made that was leaked online that was decent enough.
As for Superheroes, I’m pretty shocked. (Actually, did you write a piece on this a while back? The failings of superhero movies? Or was it Spurgeon, and you just linked/commented?) I just saw Kick-Ass, and was absolutely amazed how good I thought it was. And I’m pretty suprised that among Batman Begins/Dark Knight, non-Nolan Batman films, Superman [all films], Hellboy, X-Men films, and Watchmen there’s not one you enjoyed.
Bah, just re-read “fun stuff in alot of flawed movies” which might cover alot of that list. Though my own approach would be that there’s some flawed stuff in a lot fun movies.
There are maybe a couple of exceptions in there–I enjoyed Watchmen and The Dark Knight in different ways–but for the most part, no, I don’t think very much of the movies you listed that I’ve seen; some of them I think are total disasters. Except A History of Violence, which I love, but from what I understand about the comic the movie is a very different and far superior beast. To me, when an adaptation transcends the limits of its source material, it’s different from taking strong, interesting source material and making a genuinely great adaptation out of it. At this point, creation by committee, the amount of money involved, and the need to pander to what executives believe are the desires of fans (most of whom have pretty lousy taste) stack the deck against successful adaptations of genre comics. Miracles do happen, though!