The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

Comic Book Resources has a good interview with Frank Miller, discussing the adaptation of his classic (pun intended) 300 and Will Eisner’s The Spirit, with Frank saying he intends to draw on Will’s earlier, ‘scarier’ work. As with Sin City and 300 the plan is to shoot most of The Spirit on a digital set in order to try and faithfully recreate Will’s remarkable graphic imagery. Hmmm – we’ve had many a movie-comic book combination over the decades, right back to the great Flash Gordon (no relation, alas) but Sin City, 300 and now the planned Spirit seem to be making a new sub-genre; instead of a live or animated adaptation of the comic work we’re actually seeing something which actually is the comic in moving picture form (or near as can be), partaking of live action, animation and effects. Certainly Sin City showed that this can create an extremely authentic filmic version of the comic work (which is quite satisfying since both mediums have alway been heavily visual) as well as offering non-comics reading movie goers some ravishing imagery to experience.

The only thing which worries me is that if we have too many films made this way audiences will become blase about them, in the same way that CGI has gone from “lifelike dinosaurs, wow!” to a more jaded acceptance of the most amazing visuals because regular cinema-goers are so used to the fact almost anything imagined can now be visualised. This, of course, is where the best work will still triumph, not because of innovative visuals, but because of good characterisation and a narrative which draws in the audience; as long as the cutting edge imagery is used in the service of the tale it will work. Since the tale of the 300 Spartans has been told and retold for millennia I think it is fair to assume this is a story which does engage people and I’m really looking forward to this incarnation of an ancient tale.