Friday, December 01, 2006

That's the spirit

For all the reasons this is so wrong



this is so right.



Batman/The Spirit #1

Darwyn Cooke is clearly the master of depicting old-school superheroics. His renditions of Batman and The Spirit, as well as supporting characters such as Commissioners Dolan and Gordon and Classic Babs Gordon, not to mention the villians (too many to name!), are all spot-on, capturing just the right combination of adventure, silliness, menace, and whimsy that makes up a ripping yarn.

Jeph Loeb's script has its shining moments, usually in dialogue and characterization. The plot is workable, but the action, after the stunning opening sequence with Denny Colt, relies perhaps too often on ellipsis: several scenes are set up but never played out, including (presumably) dramatic rescues and action-packed fights. Nonetheless, it was a fun read.

Favorite lines:

Robin (being told to drive): What? But I'm only thir--!

Batman (to The Spirit): Hush.

If the new movie is half as good as this one-shot was, it'll be ten times as good as the poster makes it out to be, and probably worth watching.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, there. I stumbled in from The Keeper's blog. Nice review. I loved the way that this had the feel of a Golden Age comic book without actually being a Golden Age comic book. You're absolutely right when you say that it captures "just the right combination of adventure, silliness, menace, and whimsy that makes up a ripping yarn." (love that!)

Walaka said...

Thanks, Loren. Any friend of Keep's is a friend of ours.

Hey, I'd like to link to One Diverse Comic Book Nation - I love the perspective you explore - but I was a little confused by all the ways in. Which would be the best place to link to?

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Walaka...probably the best link is www.lorenjavier.com/adventuresofagaygeek. But, there is also the redirected link of www.adventuresofagaygeek.com as well. So, I guess both would work, but the former is the most direct one!

John said...

Why is Frank Miller being tapped to illustrate a Spirit movie? Are they going to art-direct it like Sin City?! Eek.