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Friday, June 17, 2005
Holy Slighty-Drunk Ramblings, Batman!
The Batman themed episode of Little Steven's Underground Garage is up at their archives page. I had trouble getting the jukebox technology to work but I did listen to the first hour in my car, when the show originally aired last Saturday that is, and I can tell you it is worth listening to. Most of all is the slightly deranged introduction by Adam West. It starts out funny then gets a little creepy, just the way I like it. The whole show may have tied into the release of Batman Begins but this being a show about garage rock you can understand why it is the '60 Batman show that gets its due here. It is pop art mastery for two hours and certainly don't miss those Batman-inspired oddities that lead into the commercial breaks.
The show actually got me thinking, when will there be a superhero adaptation that has as much visual impact as the comics itself? Sin City comes the closest but that was turning a movie into a graphic novel (three to be exact) instead of the other way around. Where will there be a superhero movie where the filmmakers make a lasting effect that can live on for years, like the four-decade legacy the Batman TV show and its wild, campy fun did?
When I see the commercials for Fantastic Four I think "competent action movie" and that's really what most of these superhero adaptations over the past few years have been: action films of varying degrees of success. Reading comics I have sometimes felt that moment, you may have as well, that feels like lightning has hit you because of what you just saw. It happened to me when I first saw Jack Kirby's work, it happened to me when I first saw Bernie Krigstein's work and it happened to me when I first saw Walt Simonson's work. Film has also gave me a similar jolt, like when I saw Citizen Kane, Taxi Driver or Mullholland Drive for the first time. So why can't we see that shared power of visual storytelling meet in a superhero movie? Where's the director who is going to put his or her own stamp on a film and make it about more than just a corporate tie-in and instead make it something very special, as special as the Steve Ditko Dr. Strange stories or Dave Mazzuchelli's work? I suppose Ghost World comes closest (not a superhero movie, I know) but Dan Clowes was there throughout the film. I'm thinking about someone from totally outside of comics doing something with a genre comics are more than familiar with, superheroes and all the iconic glory that comes with them, and breathe a whole new life into them exactly because they are working in film and not comics.
I don't know, maybe The Incredibles is what comes the closest to what I want, but animation is something different, y'know? What I'm basically saying is: I want Martin Scorsese or David Lynch to do a superhero movie and I want it to blow people away. Probably won't happen, especially seeing how Lynch's Ronnie Rocket never materialized (look for the screenplay on-line or read about it in this book). As for Scorsese, I suppose Taxi Driver could be considered a superhero movie. That’s an essay for another time.
Now, let’s get rid of this slightly-drunk business.
Permanent Link: 9:19 PM |
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