I’m kinda half-hearted about the whole thing really. Graphic novels are not up for debate as to their relevance and poignancy and their weighty and often gritty realism. Anyone who bothers to actually pick one up and look through it will soon discover that there are things you can talk about or just show in art that you simply cannot, at least in the same way, through “mere” written text. What may take paragraphs to explain can be drawn in one single panel.
This doesn’t in any way imply that comics are “better” than novels. I would never say that. Not in public any way. haha. But seriously, I find them to be separate but equal entities, which is more than what many many lit professors would give credit for.
Anyway, I know I wont make any converts to this, and it isn’t even close to my goal or interest to try. I’m just explaining my own respect and reverence for a format that often goes overlooked and belittled as “kids’ stuff.” Some of these stories are anything but for kids.
Oh, speaking of kids, if you haven’t aready, you should pick up The Graveyard Book which is really quite delightful reading for kids of all ages. Won the Newberry award if that kind of thing means anything to you. Starts out a little scary and has some bits throughout that may not make it the best choice for bedtime reading. Especially if your kid has an overactive imagination and is prone to nightmares. But it is mostly very pleasant and each chapter can more or less be read as separate standalone stories. No surprises here, it’s by Neil Gaiman. It’s not as great as Coraline (the book, not the movie) or Mr. Punch. But it’s up there.
I’ll have a full report another time, but here is a quote from Watchmen that I particularly like. Straight out of the book and almost verbatim in the movie. I don’t know if I’ve ever really seen a movie that is more closely aligned with the original source than this one. So let’s just say I was pleased. A few changes that were interesting, but more on that, as I said, another time. Here’s the quote (and a special note to Graham, this totally made me think of you and something you posted recently.)
“Thermodynamic miracles, events with odds against so astronomical they’re effectively impossible, like oxygen spontaneously becoming gold. I long to observe such a thing.
“And yet, in each human coupling, a thousand million sperm vie for a single egg. Multiply those odds by countless generations, against the odds of your ancestors being alive; meeting; siring this precise son, that exact daughter; until your mother loves a man she has every reason to hate, and of that union, of the thousand million children competing for fertilization, it was you, only you, that emerged. To distill so specific a form from that chaos of improbability, like turning air to gold, that is the crowning unlikelihood. The thermodynamic miracle…
“But the world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget. I forget. We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another’s vantage point, as if new, it may still take the breath away.
“Come, dry your eyes, for you are LIFE, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg; the clay in which the forces that shape all things leave their fingerprints most clearly.”
so it turns out that this trailer may very well be the only thing you get to see. still waiting for the rest of the rulings on the case, but the rights to distribute thing can be a sticky issue in hollywood. they could be sitting on the can of film for years. wait, do they still have cans of film??
According to the LA Times article above, Alan Moore, the author, has no great love for Hollywood and is laughing about the whole lawsuit thing, calling it irony. I think he’s right, though a bit over the top. He claims that his work is “unfilmable” and too complex for Hollywood to grasp. Could be, but the director, Zack Snyder (who also wrote and directed 300) is a faithful comic book fan and I feel fairly confident he won’t completely foul it up a la The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which was an insult to us all. I don’t think any of those guys even read the script much less the books.
I suppose I feel obligated to say, “hey, now you have time to go read the book.” Click here for the Amazon link. I will give a firm disclaimer at this point that it is not for everyone. Just geeks and those who appreciate the dark side.
In the meantime, I will be watching the trailers (there are a few more on youtube) and re-reading the graphic novel for the 3rd time.
