Passing the Roshaach Test

IN 1986, still getting my feet wet in the world of comic books, I picked up a new book Watchmen. Even as a 15 year old kid not knowing much about Alan Moore beyond that he wrote some freaky Swamp Thing issues, I immediately saw that there was something different about it. Beside having a sleek design sense and taking place in a mysterious alternate where Nixon still reigned of a dystopian America, it's main characters were more more fully realized and more deeply flawed than nerdy Peter Parker ever could be. They had deep, psychological dreams of dominatrix "adversaries" and nuclear explosions and their own impotence. They dressed up in costumes and "fought crime" for complex reasons and they were in WAY over their heads with mysteries who's clues trickled out as the issues ever so, slowly nit the stands.

Now Watchmen is widely regarded as the first and perhaps the greatest comics masterpiece, perhaps of all time. And after many, many failed efforts Zach Snyder, known for his film adaption of Frank Miller's, 300, is in the midst of produces a Watcheman movie. I'm cautiously optimistic, as are many fans. But one of the things that had to be spot on for me was the look of Rorschach, the nihilistic , worn down shell of a man, that refuses to give up and continues to doggedly follows clues in his black and white world. The first shots of the main characters have been released and while not all the costumes areentirely faithful to the book, at least Rorschach is right in his grimy jacket, beaten up hat and enigmatic "face".
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One Year to Midnight (Watchmen)

Inconvenient Truths

Yesterday, I work up to NPR talking about a tyrant ruling over America. It took me quiet some time to figure out that they weren't speaking about our current tyrant, but rather King George III, in the Declaration of Independence. Later in the day I saw Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth and the footage of the 2000 election broke my heart as always. The railing at the current the administration was actually fairly minimal. But bigger then all that, was the message the Al Gore was trying to present in his slideshows and now in this film, that the time for action to prevent catastrophic global warming is now, and that using today's technology and simple steps, we, Americans have can have a profound affect on the problem. Of course that's because we, and our over consumption of resources, are a major part of the problem. Later this month, my Buddhist center is giving a serious of lectures on conscious consumption, which I'm really looking forward to.

The Superman Knocks Twice

I saw Superman Returns last night at a sneak showing my brother's company was doing. Bryan Singer has made a big damn movie for sure with some spectacular visual effects, but at the same time with a lot fewer characters then the X-Men movies, he was also able to give us a lot more intimate character moments. For instance, like Peter Parker's learning to web-swing in first Spiderman movie, Superman Returns shows us a new aspects of his origin that we've never seen before, in this case Clark's discovery that he can fly.

Additionally, Superman Returns is very much a love letter to the first Richard Donner Superman movie with numerous "in-references" that are often exact recreations of lines and scenes, but at the same time fit into the more modern story. In a sense Kevin Spacey is playing Gene Hackman playing Lex Luthor, while still doing enough to make it his own. A lot was made about using unused Marlon Brando footage, but really they were just backdrop, setting the tone for the film as a whole. But they did help tying the movies all together.

There was a major story element, that worried me a little bit just because it's a large departure from comic continuity but I'm curious to see where it goes. But who knows? Comics continuity could begin to echo the movies. The rumor is that Richard Donner will be joining Geoff Johns as a writer on Action Comics later this year.