comment #1

Rich S. says ...

It still looks to me like he's doing The Shadow visits Sin City, rather than The Spirit.

The Spirit is going to be very tricky to bring to the big screen correctly. I love some of Miller's work, but he'll have to convince me on this one.

comment #2

jse33 says ...

A mid-January release? Hmmm...

comment #3

AH says ...

Here's the caveat: previews mean nothing at the end of the day. This looks like a re-tread of Sin City, which came out three years ago and looked cheap then. So, this does not look like an impressive effort.

comment #4

Rothchild says ...

Cloverfield has changed everything. We're going to start seeing a big movie every year in January.

jse33:

The date was picked before they started filming. If it was supposed to come out in August and was moved, then yeah, the movie would be fucked.

comment #5

BurmaShave says ...

Really doesn't look anything like Eisner. Why not not just make SIN CITY 2 without Rodriguez?

comment #6

Jamieson says ...

I think the teaser trailer is pretty awful. It looks like a guy running along beams on a soundstage. If only Miller had had a more interesting mentor than Rodriguez and could think outside the (green) box in terms of set design.

comment #7

K. Bowen says ...

I'm a total sucker for posters like this.

comment #8

chicagodad says ...

Actually, while I'm not a big fan of the look from a design standpoint, (I think Eisner used color brilliantly) the teaser's kind of whirlwind, freewheeling movement did evoke Eisner's work for me.

There was always something about the Spirit that seemed about to overbalance and careen out of control during a chase. I think the fact that he hasn't got cat-like agility is part of the charm of the character.

His main power was basically the ability to take hellacious beatings and keep dishing it out. The fight scenes in this thing have the potential to be brutal. And it should be straight fisticuffs, no ninja/martial arts hanky-panky.

I am a little worried, because I don't think Miller can do the goofy-ass charm of the character based on his earlier work.

So basically it's a mixed bag for me as far as expectations

comment #9

breadlymoore says ...

"Cloverfield has changed everything."

Hardly. That January weekend has been pumping out coin for years now.

comment #10

chicagodad says ...

Oh. And I hate the typeface on the poster.

comment #11

Rich S. says ...

chicagodad, which typeface do you mean? If you're talking about the logo, I agree. But the working of the tag line into the cityscape is straight out of Eisner.

The thing that causes me the biggest worry is the costume. The Spirit just wore a blue suit with a white shirt, a red tie, a hat and a mask. And though some of his stories tended towards noir or horror, the artwork was never very serious. The all black outfit makes no sense to me at all.

comment #12

chicagodad says ...

Rich, I definitely mean the logo typeface, not the architectural stuff.

And I agree with the sentiment about the tone. The original strips weren't potboiler noir stories for the most part. Reducing it to that will be a disservice to Eisner's really amazing commentary on the human condition that he worked into the stories.

And the costume. There was even an article I remember reading about the strip titled "Blue suit, blue hat, blue mask, no socks."

The feeling that Miller actually thought it's a good idea to somehow "improve and update" Eisner's look of the character leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

comment #13

Jamieson says ...

"The feeling that Miller actually thought it's a good idea to somehow "improve and update" Eisner's look of the character leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

Absolutely share your sentiment here, chicagodad.

comment #14

christian says ...

Black is the new blue.

comment #15

Cinéphile says ...

Miller should leave other people's funny book characters alone. SIN CITY is his original creation, and I like it, but Miller's revisions on popular characters have been degrading.

In one of his DARK KNIGHT graphic novels, Superman raped Wonder Woman (and she liked it). In ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, Batman abuses Robin on a regular basis. Batman also kills. Miller has tainted great characters, and I shudder to think about what he's going to do with The Spirit.

comment #16

D.Z. says ...

"You know going into a Miller film that every frame will be luscious and immaculate"

Someone hasn't seen Robocop 2.

Rich: I was thinking Dark Man myself.

Cinaphile: "Batman abuses Robin on a regular basis"

But I thought that's how they like to roleplay.

comment #17

Circumvrent says ...

Uh, D.Z. Robocop 2 isn't a Miller film.

comment #18

D.Z. says ...

Circumvrent: He wrote the script, though.

comment #19

Circumvrent says ...

Yes, but he has no control over how lucious, or immaculate, the frame is.

comment #20

frankbooth says ...

He has an animated necktie! That's sooooo cool!

Does it sing? Punch people? Wipe his nose when he sneezes?

comment #21

The Winchester says ...

DZ: He's definitely a Robocop 3 fan, though.

comment #22

gpcreative says ...

The Spirit's suit is supposed to be black. The only reason it was blue in the comic was because of the cheap comic book printing process back in the day. Back then they commonly substituted blue for black.

comment #23

BurmaShave says ...

DZ if you insult ROBOCOP 2 again I will put you in the ground. Behhhhaaaaaaaaave yourself!

comment #24

storymark says ...

I beileve DZ has proven, once again, that he will say anying, no matter how retarded, just to get what he apparently feels is an "Ah-Ha!" moment on anyone, no matter how fleeting the sentation is before he's shot down by someone with a clue.

Like a junkie class clown, jonesing for his next fix of attention.

comment #25

Rich S. says ...

"The Spirit's suit is supposed to be black. The only reason it was blue in the comic was because of the cheap comic book printing process back in the day. Back then they commonly substituted blue for black."

I could almost go for that. But Miller also gave his Spirit a black shirt. That can't be explained away by printing errors.

The same thing should have applied to The Phantom, who was supposed to be red. The lavender color of his costume was also caused by a printing error. But when they made the movie, they kept the costume lavender, despite the fact it looked so silly, because that's what people had become accustomed to. Today, they would make his suit black rubber.

comment #26

chicagodad says ...

I'm with Rich, gpcreative. Regardles of why, the iconic look of the character is blue suit, blue hat, blue mask, white shirt, red tie, gloves, brown shoes, no socks.

Eisner never changed it when he was doing new material and the ability to have the "correct" color was available, so why should Miller?

The super-extreme chiaroscuro look worked great for Sin City, but the art in the Spirit was consistently some of the most lavish, lovingly detailed, fully realized work in the history of comics. It served to very consciously ground the strips in a way no masked adventurer had ever been.

comment #27

Jean says ...

Let's see what he can do as a director. He didn't really direct Sin City so much as be an on-set advisor / inspiration. That was really Rodriquez's baby. As for the Robocop movies he wrote, he's stated that so much was changed from his original script (he's said that there was a free-for-all in ad-libbing during filming) that we can't really blame him for those crappy movies. Though I do agree on one comment above - forget The Spirit, hurry up with those new Sin City movies...!

comment #28

gpcreative says ...

#chicagodad: Hey, I'm not defending Miller, just saying what the facts are. I didn't even like Sin City, so, the Spirit? Ehhh. I also would have appreciated a different look.

comment #29

chicagodad says ...

gpcreative, I didn't take your comment as Miller apologism, sorry if the response came across that way.

And I have to say that after thinking about this and the back and forth of commenting, my expectations for this are officially in the toilet.

But hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.

comment #30

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