Maybe the silver lining to all this is that Frank becomes disillusioned with Hollywood (again) and goes back to make unconventional comics again. Right now, it looks like this is the nail in the coffin of the limping corpse of the "grim n' gritty" style of comic book deconstruction/realism that was spawned with DKR and Watchmen. The sad thing is that Miller supposedly pioneered that style, which was then beaten like a dead horse by every two-bit hack comics writer since then, until it's now the standard pose for "mature" comics, like how "alternative" is now the catch-all term for lowest-common-denominator radio schlock rock. Miller once said that if the comic book industry was the music industry, mainstream comics would be a never ending parade of Elvis impersonators... but this sort of one note neo-noir style one which he's been coasting lately is like a Kidz Bop cover of Hannah Montana, a xerox copy of pure cellophane glitz and gimmick, without any connection to the substance and spirit of the original artform. It's sad, I still remember the guy who stood up at a comic book distributor's convention and ripped into Marvel for doing exactly what he's done to Eisner's creation by way of this movie. I guess one of those cliched hard boiled lines still has some truth: everyone has their price, and apparently Miller wasn't too different from Stan the Man after all.

On the other hand, Ms. Dupont should commente on a film that actually has a bit of discourse going on, i.e. Benjamin Button...

I can't say I have ever really been a Miller fan... sure he reworked batman... and he told Wolverine's backstory... but I find he has far more misses than hits. Further, his writing is way too uber masculine (which I interpret as not really being able to write because he has no depth and just uses the same bag of tricks over and over).

OK... begin the talkback codymr bashing in... 3... 2... 1... go.

Engage 1999 Mode, and she writes a piquant, insightful review of The Phantom Menace. "Oooooo, look!... a GIRL who can write." Hoping against hope that she's a fabulous babe as well, one million AICN fanboy boners spring into action.

Engage 2001 Mode, and she writes a sombre review of A.I., and obliquely outs herself in the process. A half-million AICN fanboyners wilt in dismay. The other half-million remain as sturdy as lightsabres. Their owners believe that, like the OT hero Luke "The Freshest Boy" Skywalker, they can rescue someone important to them from the Dark Side.

Engage 2005 Mode, and she writes several comparatively tedious reviews, claims to be retiring from AICN, but never quite does. Much indifferent hilarity ensues.

Engage 2008 Mode, and... well, the jury's still out on that one.

That's all I got for now. There's work to be done this evening (glances at wall clock; checks the loads in the Buzz Maverik Limited Edition Purdy shotgun). I'm just waiting for that bitchass MF Santa to squeeze his big tookus down the chimney.

Last year, he failed to bring me the Hello Kitty Beer Dispensing Hard-Hat I asked for.

This year, he's gettin' both barrels. I shit you not.

Or... not. KurtLockwood, unlike Sidepocket, and breaking with the long tradition of talkback debate etiquette, I don't wish genocide on your entire family tree, but I will say that you're still wrong about Eisner's work on the Spirit. From a purely visual storytelling perspective at the very least, even more than half a century later, his work on the Spirit is still unparalleled. Frank Miller himself rode his coattails occasionally by swiping techniques that Eisner had perfected decades earlier. And I pity people who won't allow themselves to enjoy art from previous eras because it's not PC. You guys boycott old Tom & Jerry and Speedy Gonzalez cartoons too? Cause you and your kids are missing out on some good shit.

Goddamnit, a commercial for the Spirit just came on TV and I lost my train of thought. Man this one looks like a real stinker. It almost seems... nostalgic. Merry Christmas!

I believe a link to or a reprint of that bit o'brilliance would do much to pacify all the philistines, jihadists, and agnostics who have seen fit to choose the hemlock eggnog as this evening's beverage of choice.

Any assistance you may care to impart, thanks in advance, fuck Kwanzaa it ain't the real Xmas anyway, etc., etc.

A truly gifted artist can function in, at tops, a couple of different forms of media (Neil Gaiman managed to succeed in two), but one is usually the rule. Don't quit your day job, Frank...and next time, make sure you split the check with Mr. Rodriguez.

ignoring a classic like THE SPIRIT is like ignoring Hitchcock, Wise, Ford, Hawks, etc...not watching RIO BRAVO, THE TREASURE OF THE SERRIA MADRE, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE 39 STEPS, THE 400 BLOWS. I'm a Kevin Smith fan, but comments like yours remind me of something he said in SPIKE MIKE SLACKERS AND DYKES, and I'm paraphrasing here, "why should I watch those films when directors I watch already have"

I sweat monkeys come on the talkbacks sometimes

sweating monkeys is just weird

Merry Christmas!

In closing, may AICN cheet on you with a beer, and to you your dead raped deer, and God bless you and send you a Happy New Year!