Remembering Death, Dream and the Dark Knight
Can’t sleep as usual so a good time as any to make a post.
I finally saw Batman: The Dark Knight last night and don’t worry, this is not a review of the movie although I will tell you it was amazing and I loved every minute of it and Heath Ledger is something else and I want to watch it ten times more — nothing you haven’t heard from everyone else so I wont bore you with my two cents. 
The Dark Knight Returns
Can I bore you with talk of the amazingly cool movie previews instead?
I’m really excited about:
- Watchmen by Alan Moore (Whatever did you think of that clip?)
- The Spirit by Frank Miller
- Hellboy although I probably have to concede this to DVD night. Too many must-see summer movies too little time…sigh.
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (fine, it’s not a comic book but I am excited…)
Seeing the trailers of graphic novels turned movies brought back all the memories of these comic books I devoured and dreamed of years and years back. My friend Anna and I used to spend all our money on them and forego eating — they were not cheap. (Comic-book addiction inherited from a hooked long-ago boyfriend, who happily also gifted me with an abiding love for running and hiking mountains.)
First novel in 10-part series
I really hope these comics-turned-movies turn out better than the Sin City movies, which were quite good but not great. Robert Rodriguez did perfect visual justice to Frank Miller’s noir graphic novels of the same title but didn’t quite capture the dread, menace, and loneliness of the cast-out characters, nor the engulfing inky darkness in the novel’s pages. Maybe Miller’s vivid stylization didn’t translate well onto the big screen, because the movie felt more contrived, artificial, and hard to connect with emotionally. (I will say the movies were sexy. ) But they weren’t as disquieting…and that’s saying a lot because I am easily freaked out. Elijah Wood was creepy as the cannibal Kevin, but I almost laughed out loud as he got eaten by his own starving wolves. When Frank Miller revealed him in the novel it was such a chilling development I couldn’t sleep for days.
Other really great graphic novels that became mediocre movies: Daredevil, Electra, Constantine ( I really don’t quite get why they got Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and Keanu Reeves, perfectly likeable actors but as Anna would say, 2-D. If our superheroes are to be in movies, they need to be fully fleshed out and hot-blooded human. Stardust was cute but cute in comics is colorless as Casper. (Okay, Mickey Rourke with his beat up face was gifted casting as Marv, and 300 was nothing if not riveting.)
Marv
Anyway, it’s so great that “The Dark Knight” delivered — while not specifically based on a graphic novel, the title and many of its story themes recall Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns,” a classic and one of my all-time favorites. In it Batman is retired, bone-tired, and jaded, a middle-aged has-been ten years after hanging up his suit. Gotham is in chaos, and he is vilified by a public terrorized by a gang of masked goons. Joker is out. Wikipedia the rest or better yet, go buy the novel. It is — sorry to sound like a ditz at a loss for words — an awesome read. I wonder if it will ever get made into a movie…
As for Sandman and The Endless — I’ve been waiting years for a movie to be made about this family of immortals and how they muck up the universe. The Sandman’s diner story arc where Dr. Destiny manipulates the minds of patrons to commit murder, mutilation and suicide is pure horror, a powerful start to a World Fantasy Award-winning 10-part graphic novel series you won’t easily forget. I lived with many of the characters in my head for years (yes it sounds off the weirdo alert but you HAVE to read Neil Gaiman to understand.) A couple of years back I tried to read them again but couldn’t — they are that disturbing and the jig was up for the dark phase of my youth. Still, my vote remains with Johnny Depp as Morpheus.
Other books I hope they make into movies:
Jean Giraud’s Moebius series
ElfQuest by Wendy Pini (randy little elves!)
Death: The High Cost of Living - I hear writer Neil Gaiman’s been tapped by Guillermo del Toro to direct!
More Hellblazer!
I no longer channel Death or wear ankhs but the fantasies live on…
Dream's perky sister Death
Morpheus aka Oneiros aka Dream aka Sandman
The Endless Family Picture of Dysfunction
wow, i thought i was the only neil gaiman freak.. And yes, Johnny depp as Morpheus for sure.. Who else???
Other than that I pretty much agree; the fantastic worl of cartoons will alway be more gritty, dark and devious than we can ever display with mere actors of fate.. “quote: me”
You must have been helluva bored for writing all of the above, but thanks anyway, was good read.. As regards the movie “Spirit”, it was good, but how can you ever filmatize Will Eisner’s work…
Cheers E