V is for Vitriol

"I'm not going to claim all comic books are literate — there's a lot of rubbish out there. But there have been some very literate comic books done over the last 20 years, some marvelous ones. And to actually read a comic, you do have to be able to read, which is not something you can say about watching a film. So as for which medium is literate, give me comics any day."

--- Alan Moore rants against movie adaptations and the V is for Vendetta film, MTV interview

For the nth time, the man is not pleased. He has again asked that his name be removed from the credits and signed away his share from its earnings. Can't blame him for spewing vitriol against the movie industry. From Hell sucked majorly, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, was well, from hell. *snicker* It was just too awful. But hey, I kinda enjoyed Constantine (but then I hadn't read the comic series).

I look forward to V is for Vendetta with considerable dread, seeing as how the last Wachowski brothers production I saw gave me a splitting headache (Matrix Overloaded), but we shall see. A 70% rottentomatoes rating isn't all that bad. It only means that several critics hated it, some liked it, and some were ambiguous (rottentomatoes isn't at all accurate but it's a pretty good indicator either of unanimous praise or unanimous disgust).

Tsk tsk tsk, poor Moore, such rotten luck. Neil Gaiman mentions how relieved he is that no one has done any Sandman films. If the universe is as good to us as it is to Neil, there never ever will be a Sandman movie. (I wonder if Peter Jackson would take up the challenge? Nah, I don't think even he can pull that off, much as I love him.) I am starting to get worried about Kabuki (I don't mean Japanese theater silly, but the David Mack comic series.). Even with the Mackster himself writing the script (sorry David). I can't believe I'm thinking this but, may it never come to pass.

(Idle thoughts following Neil Gaiman's Guardian article `$1M a minute to film? No problem', on movies and comics. Thanks to G for the heads-up.)

Off the shelf: Fantastical Field Guide

A couple of the creatures found in Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You, currently my favorite art book. Not that I've ever read any Spiderwick book before. When I saw this Field Guide, I just had to have it. More information and images here. For larger versions so that you can actually read the text, click here for the wood elf and here for the sea-maid. (Pardon the semi-crappy scans, I didn't want to torture my book too much.)

More info on the illustrator, Tony DiTerlizzi, can be found at his website. You might also want to check out the Spiderwick writer, Holly Black.