Darwyn Cooke, whose work on DC’s The New Frontier is a high point of retro-superheroics in the last couple of years, is working on four graphic novels adapting Richard Stark’s Parker novels. I have talked about the Parker novels before, and it’s exciting to look out for how Cooke’s hardboiled-yet-cartoony style will interpret the character. Of course, the man has already proved he can take on noir, he’s the one with the balls to take on Eisner’s Spirit series. Can’t bloody wait.
Holy Terror, Batman!, the Batman-meets-Osama ( and does unspeakably hideous things to him) yarn that Mr Frank Miller has been working on for the past couple of years will apparently no longer feature Batman. I can’t imagine why! Actually, I think I can. Miller has consistently pushed the boundaries of Batman the character. All the Batman stories he has done till date, with the exception of Year One has featured a vaguely (and in some cases outrightly) psychotic version of Batman, a crusty, loud, sweaty, muscular alpha-male who is not afraid to render a world of hurt to criminal scum. The Batman of the Millerverse, nowadays more commonly referred to as “The Goddamn Batman” is hardly as noble as the public impression of the character makes him out to be. Combine that with Miller’s slightly-misguided world-view, and it’s not very surprising why the status-quo-loving DC would be nervous about the final product – after all, this was the company that censored multiple comics under its umbrella when 9/11 happened, because they featured exploding buildings and mass deaths. Anyways, Miller apparently has a character of his own in the book – “an idea for a new series”, he says. I hope it does not take too much time to go over every panel and redraw Batman.
Speaking of Miller, I reread The Dark Knight Returns recently, after the second viewing of the movie. It’s amazing how much information the man crams into this book. The cut-scenes, the TV-show footage that provides a commentary on the proceedings, the abundance of multiple first-person narrations – there’s an insane rhythm to the writing and the dialogues that is Core Miller, and one that has been diluted ( and a wee bit corrupted) over the years. Has anyone found it difficult to take in all of that information while reading the book the first time? I had a friend complain about the excess panels per page, the information overload, I think I need to buy Absolute Dark Knight and see how that makes a difference.
A Thousand Good Things About Comics. God, I love lists like these.
so how did u like “The Dark Knight”? I was looking forward to your review. I thought it was a wonderful adaptation of “The Killing Joke” and “The Long Halloween” by the Nolan brothers. I got hooked onto reading these comix after seeing the film. Need to watch it once more! :-)
Is it the best comic book-to-film adaptation you have seen till now or one of the best?
i had been collecting comics for a while when the dark knight came out, but other than crisis on infinite earths, comics had been kind of stereotypically comic book (the ones i read, anyway). it was with great joy that my 13-year-old self picked up something so dark and dense. i welcomed the information overload. for the first time, comic books (er, graphic novels in this case) were on the same level as novels in complexity and ability to invoke genuine emotion other than of the 13 year old male variety. my first printings are now locked up in storage, but i may get the absolute dark knight for nostalgia’s sake. (though i am afraid of reading the dark knight strikes again.)
also, i’m also curious to read what you thought about nolan’s new one. other than what i thought was christian bale’s over-hammy “batman voice”, which irked me in the first one, i felt it was possibly the best comic adaptation ever put on screen.
let’s hope they dont screw watchmen up.