I thought the whimsical Eli Stone, Valentine, and Cupid deserved a chance, and we’ll never know if dramas such as biblicalallegoryKings would have lived up to their potential. Space operas BSG and Stargate: Atlantis ended with a whimper, although each promises to have more spin-offs with The Plan/Caprica and Stargate: Universe, respectively.
Thanks to HBO and Showtime’s free preview weekend, Janice and I caught the second
season premiere of vampire melodramaTrue Blood and the dark comedy Nurse Jackie. While neither was particularly realistic, both showcased the quality of writing that
distinguishes HBO from its many competitors.
I can’t say the same thing for Frank Miller’s live-action adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit. As a fan of the recent comic book continuation by Darwyn Cooke and others, I was
disappointed that Miller chose to emphasize over-the-top violence rather than the wry humor of Eisner’s blue-masked gumshoe.
HBO’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and PBS’s latest Poirot have been solid, if not overly faithful to the source novels, according to Janice, who somehow retains plot details of numerous mysteries for years (I suppose my own knowledge of comic book continuities is similar).
As a longtime fan of Green Arrow and Black Canary, I’m disappointed at the cancellation
of Birds of Prey, which focused on the DC Universe‘s superheroines. However, as part of Grant Morrison‘s trippy replacement Batman storylines, perhaps Gotham Girls will be good. Of course, most big changes are only temporary in these fictional universes, as writers must balance decades of continuity with most readers’ desire for their favorite characters to be unaging.
Although most of my attention has been focused on the job search during the past few weeks, I have had some time to catch up on reading and filing.
I recently finished Brad Geagley‘s Day of the False King, the first of two historical mysteries set in Ancient Egypt. I had previously read his Year of the Hyenas, partly because Janice recommended it and partly for running my Pathfinder: “Holy Steel” teleconferencing game. I liked both novels for their plots and archaeologically accurate descriptions.
I have a bookshelf worth of Arthurian stories, references, and analysis, and I prefer the more realistic versions of the tales to the tragic fantasy of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, the musical Camelot, or John Boorman’s Excalibur.
With this summer’s spate of mostly successful movie adaptations of comic book superheroes (Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Hellboy 2: the Golden Army, and especially Dark Knight), many fans have demanded that Frank Miller’s dystopic Dark Knight Returns (DKR) be made into a live-action movie. However, here are my top 10 reasons why it shouldn’t be done:
1. It’s dated. Although Watchmen may prove that a film making sociopolitical commentary using metahumans set in an alternate 1980s can be successful, DKR is filled with parodies of people such as President Ronald Reagan that may not resonate with current audiences. Not everyone has fond memories of the end of the Cold War and urban vigilantes such as Bernie Goetz.
2. Its influence is already pervasive. As a move away from the campy Adam West television show of the late 1960s, DKR‘s grim approach to the caped crusader has been cited in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, numerous comic books (especially Mark Waid and Alex Ross’ similarly apocalypticKingdom Come), and even Batman Begins. Comic book writers have broken Batman’s back and are about to kill or retire him, however temporarily. A live-action version would almost be redundant at this point.
3. It has already been done — in animation. Episodes of The New Batman and Robin Adventures and the more recent The Batman directly alluded to Miller’s work, and the cyberpunk Batman Beyond owed its aged but still-determined Bruce Wayne to DKR. The Dini/Timm cartoons successfully balanced the detective, martial artist, and superhero aspects of Batman.
4. It could be done better — in animation. Warner Brothers’ direct-to-video efforts, including Justice League: The New Frontier, Batman: Gotham Knight, and the upcoming Wonder Woman, have been faithful to the source material and not constrained by effects budgets or live-action’s need for realistic style. Also, they’ve been free to pick and choose from DC Comics’ admittedly convoluted continuity, while a blockbuster movie could define the character — for good or ill — for a generation of potential fans.
5. Frank Miller is overrated. Although DKR is widely regarded as a classic graphic novel, his sequel, DK2: Dark Knight Strikes Again, wasn’t as good, and his All-Star Batman and Robin has been misogynistic, over-the-top camp (ironically, what DKR was supposedly turning away from) and not shipped on time. We’ll see if his version of Will Eisner’s classic masked gumshoe The Spirit is more of the same or truly innovative storytelling.
6. Other Frank Miller works are better. I’ve been impressed at the faithfulness of the film versions of his original noir crime drama Sin City and quasi-historical epic 300, and I’d love to see cyberpunk samurai storyRonin done well.
7. It would conflict with Christopher Nolan’s films. In terms of box-office returns, Warner Brothers will likely weigh this over the other considerations. Although similar in many aspects to DKR, Batman Begins was more directly based on Miller’s restrained Batman: Year One, just as Dark Knight owes much Batman: The Killing Joke and Long Halloween. Nolan has constructed his own version of the Dark Knight that eschews camp for psychological sturm und drang.
8. Other superheroes deserve some attention. As much of a Batman fan as I am, I’d like to eventually see well-done versions of Green Arrow, Flash, Aquaman, and Green Lantern, among other DC heroes. Why should Marvel have all the fun?
9. Why destroy a universe when it’s just being built up? With live-actionSuperman, Wonder Woman, and Justice League projects stalled for the moment, a deconstruction of the DC pantheon before it has been filmed seems premature at best, and self-defeating at worst.
10. It’s not my favorite incarnation. As I’ve noted before, I’ve enjoyed various versions of Batman in comics, television, and film, but I’m particularly fond of the 1990s animated series led by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini. There’s certainly room for multiple interpretations of Batman, such as fan filmBatman: Dead End (just as with his fictional precursor Sherlock Holmes), but we should remember that the hyperviolent, armored warrior on crime is but one of them.
This is just my personal preference, and I realize that many people will strongly disagree with me, but such passions demonstrate how much life the 70-year-old character still has!
Friends, it’s hard to believe that autumn is passing so quickly! As expected, on Saturday, 11 November 2006, Janice and I raked leaves before the unseasonably pleasant weather ended. On that Sunday, we caught Flushed Away — the Aardman/Dreamworks computer-animated comedy, featuring Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet as mice and rats, was better than we had expected.
We also had dinner with Thomas K.Y. at Acapulco’s, a nearby Mexican restaurant, for the first time since his family vacation in Japan. We’ve been going to Newbury Comics quite a bit lately, partly because with the demise of Tower Records and Virgin MegaStores, it’s the last good (and local) chain for discounted music CDs, movies on DVD, and pop culture trinkets.
On Monday, Nov. 15, Janice and I met with former co-worker and fellow genre fan Jacqui M.D. We chatted about our competing employers, Heroes, and the careers of actors who have worked with Joss Whedon. After dinner at Bertucci’s, she stopped by our place for the first time before heading back to her hotel.
This past Saturday, Nov. 18, Janice and I visited the shops in Harvard, Central, and Porter squares in Cambridge, Mass., including Pandemonium Books and Games. We also ate lunch at one of my favorite places near Harvard University: Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage, where I usually get the “Viagra burger,” which contains blue cheese. As Wallace & Gromit might say, “How about some cheese!”
There has been no cheese to speak of in recent strong episodes of Veronica Mars, Heroes, Avatar: the Last Airbender, and Doctor Who, IMHO (in my humble opinion, for those who are netspeak-impaired). With the revisionist Battlestar Galactica moving to Sunday nights and the Stargates coming off of hiatus, my television viewing schedule will change yet again.
On Sunday, I went to Super MegaFest at the Sheraton in Framingham. The genre entertainment convention was a bit of a bust, with fewer vendors and several last-minute cancellations by guests such as professional wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer‘s Juliet Landau, and Firefly/Serenity and Justice League Unlimited/Stargate SG-1‘s Morena Baccarin.
However, it was still a decent show, with “Elvira, mistress of the dark” (nee Cassandra Peterson), Star Trek and Batman‘s Yvonne Craig, and Happy Days‘ Erin Moran, as well as wrestler “Captain” Lou Albano. Since relatively few of these cons have been successful in the Boston area, I try to patronize those I can get to. The more literary (and pricey) speculative fiction gatherings of Arisia, VeriCon, Boskone, and Noreascon tend to be in the winter/early spring.
That afternoon, I met Thomas and Greg D.C. at the AMC Framingham 16 to screen Casino Royale. We had tried to get together to see The Prestige a few weeks ago, but those plans fell through. Greg and I mostly liked the latest James Bond flick, which marked a return to a more serious tone than the Pierce Brosnan or Roger Moore versions.
The new James Bond
Casino Royale (based on the first Ian Fleming novel, and not to be confused with the David Niven spoof of the same name), opens with an impressive free-running stunt sequence and tries to explain Bond’s attitudes toward women, his superiors, and his lethal occupation.
Thomas felt the film was too predictable, and Dexter V.H. preferred the more glamorous espionage/action movies of the past. However, I’d give newcomer Daniel Craig and the franchise relaunch (not unlike Batman Begins) about an 8 out of 10.
Here’s my list of Bond movies and ratings:
Doctor No (Sean Connery, 1963) ****
From Russia With Love (Connery, 1964) ***
Goldfinger (Connery, 1964) ****
Thunderball (Connery, 1965) ****
You Only Live Twice (Connery, 1967) ***
Casino Royale (spoof with David Niven, Peter Sellers, and Woody Allen) **
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (George Lazenby, 1969) ****
Diamonds are Forever (Sean Connery, 1971) **
Live and Let Die (Roger Moore, 1973) ***
The Man With the Golden Gun (Moore, 1974) ***
The Spy Who Loved Me (Moore, 1977) ***
Moonraker (Moore, 1979) **
For Your Eyes Only (Moore, 1981) ***
Octopussy (Moore, 1983) **
Never Say Never Again (Connery, 1983) **
A View to a Kill (Moore, 1985) *
The Living Daylights (Timothy Dalton, 1987) ***
License to Kill (Dalton, 1989) **
GoldenEye (Pierce Brosnan, 1995) ***
Tomorrow Never Dies (Brosnan, 1997) ****
The World Is Not Enough (Brosnan, 1999) **
Die Another Day (Brosnan, 2002) ***
Casino Royale (Daniel Craig, 2006) ***
Before last autumn’s basement floods, I owned some first printings of Fleming’s novels, but I still have several reference books on James Bond. As you can tell from the list above, I prefer the Sean Connery/George Lazenby portrayals of the cinematic superspy, as well as stories rooted in the Cold War. However, I don’t mind updating the archetypal series, as long as the cool hero, daring stunts, exotic locations, beautiful women, and dastardly villains are left intact.
After the movie, Thomas and I had dinner at the Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse. The D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands: Halmed Desert” fantasy game is going well, but we’ll have a few breaks in the coming weeks due to the holidays and weekend one-shots. Dan A. will be running a D20 Call of Cthulhu on Tuesday, Nov. 28, and Byron V.O. and Dexter V.H. are still working on plans to visit the Boston area in early December.
The City of Heroes virtual superhero party has been meeting more regularly, although Steve M.R. had to drop out (hopefully only briefly) due to the same kind of technical problems that have afflicted David I.S. and Kim M.E.A.G. We’re still working on tactics but are proceeding in level.
This coming weekend, Janice and I will be visiting her immediate family in Upstate New York. It’s likely that I’ll be watching some of my nieces and nephews while Janice, her sisters, and their mother go shopping on “Black Friday.” Wish me luck! Fortunately, I look forward to hanging out with them and with my brother in law Gary T.L. May all of you and your families have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
Gene's Worlds 
