Welcome to a very rare Friday edition of the House.
You all know by now that unlike the honest working man and The Beatles, I, Mr.Morbid, prefer to work 4 days a week, instead of the customary 5 or in some cases 8. But with my mind buzzing and working overtime about certain events and topic in the comic world, I felt I couldn't wait until monday to unload my thoughts and opinions on at least one of these topics.
What topic I'm am I talking about?? How about this already hot topic I read from Bleedingcool.com, that's proving to be so hot, it's positively incendiary!
Undercover movie execs apparently went to some random comic book stores to gage fan/store owner interest in what the ideal JLA roster would be for them if and when DC ever finally puts out a JLA movie.
So despite doing a horrible job of trying to pose as random comic fans(go figure), the topic soon took a rather nasty and unexpected turn, when the question was asked "What do you think of Frank Miller doing the JLA?"
Yeah. That was an actual question, by actual movie execs.
Quickly, but not unsurprisingly, many fans and industry professionals alike all had an opinion on this, and also not unsurprisingly, it wasn't all positive.
Take legendary comic artist Kevin Maguire for example.
Here's how he feels about the whole thing:
Kevin Maguire
NO FUCKING WAY!JUST NO FUCKING WAY!-- What Would Be Your Reaction To a Frank Miller Justice League movie?http://bcool.bz/SrDwGf
Don I couldn't have said it any better myself.
But I will expand on those thoughts with some proof provided by Miller's own work.
Of course who doesn't already know and love his legendary "The Dark Knight Returns" work right?
Well what were the JLA doing in that story? Anyone?
Nothing, because they were disbanded by order of the US Government. They let themselves, in the story, be told what to do and when to do it by a single government, even if it was our own. As we all know, that's not how the League really works, since they're supposed to be above all that, and not solely employed by or be mandated to any country's government.
On other words, they're the ultimate in independent workers.
But not in Frank Miller's world they weren't, especially Superman, who was reduced to being used as a blindly loyal government lapdog.
What's worse, is that that line of reasoning was used in Darwyn Cooke's excellently written and drawn New Frontier story.
In the very beginning of that one, Superman's used primarily as a tool of the US Government as well. But unlike Miller's Superman, Cooke's Superman quickly realizes he's been duped, and decides from there on, he's nobody's lapdog or tool.
Later on, in the 2005-08 abortion of a series Miller worked on called All-Star Batman and Robin, Miller once again ridicules and belittles the Justice League by choosing to portray them as Stupid, petty, and disorganized gods with power. Basically treating them as nothing more than jokes, as pointed by that series' Batman.
So basically, would you trust this man with DC's biggest franchise outside of Superman and Batman?
Yeah I don't so.
Let's hope enough dissenting fans and comic industry professionals let their voices and opinions be heard, so that this little scenario never, ever becomes reality, no matter how desperate Warner Bros. might be at the moment.
9 comments:
Yeah. Hell no. HELL NO. No Frank Miller on the JLA. And for all the reasons you cited. I don't want his version to be the first JLA that non-comic book fans see. More than that, it's not the version I like to read. I only pull out The Dark Knight Returns once in a blue moon, and why is that? Because it's depressing. As good as it is, it's sad, in the extreme. Because all the characters we love have taken a dive. And you want them back. You don't want to see them that way.
And I don't want to sit through two whole hours of it.
If they were serious about this, if they already didn't have concerns, they wouldn't be sending people into stores to test it. Gosh, I hope that's why they were sending people into stores to test it.
Yeah, also his name's fresh in the collective minds of the boys over @Warner Bros, due to the release of DC's new animated movie "The Dark Knight Returns" part 1. Coincedence? My ass!
On the topic of that movie, which I'm sure will be good and do well sales-wise, I wonder's bright it was to cut the comic book movie in half? It's not like Kill Bill, so there's no need for another part. It's just a cheap marketing ploy, that will ultimately make DC/Warner a shit-load of decent cash. It's there progative to do that. but you, know, damn:(
Wait, where was I again?:)
I thought the exact same thing, which is why I didn't rush out to grab it. Waiting until it shows up on the netflix cue. Also, along the same lines, while I enjoyed Sin City, and 300, I'm not at all sure I would enjoy, stylistically, a Frank Miller type JLA movie. Not sure that's what they would do, but he is kind of a prima donna, and if he got his hands into the movie, who knows what he'd be allowed to do? Hasn't DC done enough crap work with their heroes? Take a freaking page from Marvel on this one guys. LISTEN to the fans.
Well they do as far as the movies go, but the comics?.....eh. Although both old school and new fans of the Guardians of the Galaxy certainly have plenty of reason to be excited over the coming months, between the movie and new trades coming out.
The X-Men fans though? I really do feel for them:(
I got into a discussion just last night about X-Men movies with a fellow fan. He's excited about the new Wolverine movie. I'm lukewarm. I don't mind Hugh Jackman, but Marvel has let me down with the supporting cast around him. The last movie was embarrassing. Deadpool was a travesty. Gambit was a joke, and he didn't even need to be in a Wolverine movie.
If any of the Marvel franchises needs a reboot, this one is it. Unfortunately, it's not likely to get one. Most of all, because Jackman is just too darn likeable, and a decent actor. Never mind that a case could be made that Wolverine shouldn't be THAT likeable. (Yeah, I'm nitpicking. He got me riled up.) But the scripts suffer, the special effects have been abhorrent, and they can't seem to even follow continuity within themselves. Now, I actually heard one fan defend this, saying "Well, then, it's just like the comics, isn't it?"
I barely controlled the impulse of physical violence.
Yeah, it's like the BAD examples of comics.
That's like saying the Star Wars prequels were taking Star Wars back to it's roots with bad dialogue straight out of the first movie. Doesn't make it better. Just makes it the bad bits, not the good bits. Not the stuff we love.
In my friend's defense he agreed with me about Gambit and Deadpool. But then, who didn't?
Frank Miller was such a weird choice. Sure Sin City and 300 were great for Hollywood, but that vs what the League needs to be is something entirely different. Mind you Johns was heavily involved in Green Lantern, and that ended up in the good but not great bin in some pretty bizarre ways too so who knows. Sure Joss Whedon had great success with the Avengers, but he comes from screen land with a love of comics not the other way round and I think that's important. He knew what works in both fields with his his origins in the one most closely tied to the box-office.
If you ask me the League isn't the first team DC should be focusing on anyways. I know it's got quote marquee value with so many icons, but I think the team that should be headlining the DC team's to the big screen is either the Teen Titans or Legion of Super-Heroes. With the popularity of Dwilight, Hungry Hippo Games, and Untrue Like Ya-Know Whatever Blood, DC could make some serious waves with a teen drama that played off the next generation of it's global icons, or one set to brake new ground in special effects, inspired by Superman, in the 31st century.
As for the X-Men all I can say is I want the continuity cleared up, and if Patrick Stewart isn't ling with his teases he will reprise Xavier in the upcoming Days of future Past, that might just be what we get. If that also means we get Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellan meeting as Magneto's I just may need to attend the theatre in a depends under garment, cos that would pretty much cause pee-able level excitement and cool.
Just sayin.
I hear ya' on the travesty that is the current X-Men movie continuity. First Class was a damn good movie and a good start, but outside of the Magneto part, I didn't care for the roster. I don't see they didn't focus on the original five, instead of shoe-horning in Havok, Darwin, etc.
But like Dan said, if we get Sir Ian and Michael Fassbender meeting up, then count me in!
Wolverine's not bad, but I agree on just how bad they screwed up on Deadpool. I don't how the hell Ryan Reynolds was supposed to follow up and/or fix the character after the endng of that 1st movie. The same with shoe-horning in Gambit. Other than bringing in Gambit fans, agree w/you he didn't do too much for the time he appeared on-screen.
I can't offer much in the way of solutions other than, it's a MUST to have a director/writing team associated with these movies, that not only bring somethinbg new and fresh, but are extremely respectful to the source material and what came before, thus to preserve and make us mostly happy.
@Dan, good call on potentially using the Teen Titans and/or LOSH as new movie franchises. But with the current continiuty on the TT due to the new 52, good damn luck making sense of that back-story. LOSH should be fine though, and hell yes, shout-out to heroes from the 20-21st centuries are a most, especially Superman.
i don't really have much to say about this with me being so apathetic about the DC reboot and about new comics in general. Frank Miller has done some good work but i also think he's done a lot of stuff that is way over hyped. then there's stuff he's done that was great from the stand point of a good premise but some where along the line the story took a turn for the bizarre that was too much over the top for me. the Give Me Liberty series was a good example of that. as for the notion of Miller doing the JLA reboot it matters to me about as much as what's going on with American Idol.
@Shlomo, well of course I agree w/you about the whole reboot and all, but I'm telling you guys, giving Miller the keys to the JLA franchise would be just as bad, if not worse, than whatt the reboot's already doing to those characters:(
I mean, like we don't already know it'll look like Sin City, with the entire cast all colored in black amd white, with the exception of an odd hero or villain, colored in whatever. Poor Bat fans too, as all you'll hear throughout the entire movie is "I'm the Goddamn Batman!":(
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