Just got vols. 6, 7, and 8 of Preacher in the mail. Eff Tee Double-U.
As I’ve been getting into these graphic novel series, the cost of buying each trade is kind of ridiculous. A 10-part series would cost at least $120, and that’s if you get a good deal. I suppose I could buy used copies, but those aren’t that cheaper either on eBay. I’ll probably end up letting some people borrow them, then keeping them for my kids to read when they’re old enough. And Preacher… no one is old enough for that shit.
Over the weekend I went with a few friends to see the new Iron Man movie, knowing exactly nothing about the character or franchise aside from the content of the trailers. Shockingly, this comic-to-movie translation seems to have worked out really well for everyone. The film version was funny, action-packed, cool, entertaining, and the plot was far less ludicrous and contrived than other superhero flicks. Robert Downey, Jr. plays a fantastic smart ass billionaire. Tony Stark is kind of like Batman without all the emo.
If you go to see this movie, stay all the way through the credits. You’ll get the pleasant surprise of a teaser with Nick Fury approaching Tony Stark to join S.H.I.E.L.D., which foreshadows several potential films derived from Iron Man and his counterparts. Marvel Studios has done a great job building their properties into popular films, but with the exception of X-Men 2, Iron Man, and maybe Spider-man 1, none of them were much to write home about.
Now I’m not a huge fan of superhero comics. The closest thing to one that I’ve ever enjoyed is The Watchmen, which is almost the antithesis of the superhero formula. But regardless, I started reading the first volume of The Ultimates, the re-imagining of The Avengers consisting of Thor, The Wasp, Iron Man, Giant-Man, Captain America, and others. The first few issues I’ve read through have been surprisingly entertaining. The writing is pretty fantastic, along with the art, but we’ll see if it keeps my attention beyond volume one. The guys on the Totally Rad Show recommend new comic books every once in a while, but being someone who never really got into them in the first place, I have a hard time getting excited about anything based on the old-school superheros. I tend to stick with graphic novels and more realistic, down-to-earth stuff. I’m eager to read more Ultimates and see where it takes me.
IGN just put up the teaser poster for the upcoming Watchmen movie unveiled at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego. On the poster is the release date: 03-06-09. Damn that’s a long way off. If Zack Snyder can do with this what he did with 300, I’ll go out on a limb and say this might be the film of 2009. The key is really going to be story adaptation into screenplay and script. Watchmen reads a hell of a lot like a movie, but just like any novel it’ll need some distilling down to brass tacks to get it on the screen in something under 6 hours. After seeing Snyder’s live-action imagining of the art in 300, it leaves me hungry for more material to check out where he’s going with the design in this film. The fact that the poster is an image straight from the novel and in true Watchmen style really makes me excited to see how true he stays to the aesthetic of the book. The teaser photo of Rorshach that was stitched into the 300 trailer shows off some real direct-from-the-book production design, but it remains to be seen if they’ve stuck with this considering that Snyder stated that it was an “experiment to establish the mood and look” of the Watchmen project. Anyways, The Comedian getting punched in the face is a great way to kick off the film version of the best comic ever made.
