Box Office: Dog Bites Frank Miller

Top movies over the holiday weekend:


Bomb-arooney:


Via Rotten Tomatoes:

"Not all new releases clicked with moviegoers this holiday weekend. The one casualty was Lionsgate's stylish actioner The Spirit which bowed to an estimated $6.5M over three days and $10.3M across four days. Playing in 2,509 locations, the PG-13 pic averaged a weak $2,593. Graphic novel king Frank Miller made his solo directing debut after co-helming the 2005 hit Sin City with Robert Rodriguez which opened much stronger with $29.1M over three days."

What insights can we glean from this startling turn of events, especially as it relates to how the Frank Miller film got its butt kicked by the heartwarming doggie flick Marley and Me?

1. Please do not overestimate the jadedness of the typical American film-goer. I'm speaking to you, oh great purveyors of dark superhero flicks. America is already depressed and angry enough without your help telling them what a shitty, amoral, and corrupt world it is.

2. Judging by the weak box-office results for The Spirit against that of the surprise success of The Valkyrie, maybe people prefer to see swastikas in a strictly historical context, and not as a heavy-handed campy fashion statement (even if it they are worn on a curvy Scarlett Johansson).

3. Speaking of camp, the ghost of William Dozier called, and is wondering why this Eisner chap keeps getting referenced as the main inspiration for The Spirit instead of himself, Lorenzo Semple Jr., and Stanley Ralph Ross.

4. Frank Miller as director of this film was, as Walter Sobchak might say, "out of his element."

Finally, one OS reader emailed me and asked, simply,

"When did Frank Miller become the Caligula of comics?"

A Spirit movie that would have at least broke even:

Early Buzz On "Spirit" -- Worse Than Battlefield Earth?

Aint It Cool News correspondent Jondough has viewed Frank Miller's "The Spirit" movie and writes:

"...now I’ve seen something that has taken the top prize from “Battlefield Earth.” I mean, I honestly thought that would never happen."

and, to Frank Miller:

"You clearly don’t have any idea what you’re doing. Someone, ANYONE, over at Lionsgate should have known this. Fuck, it’s their JOB to know this. But they didn’t. They somehow bought the idea that you “co-directed” (hah) Sin City, which even if it WERE true, doesn’t mean you directed the movie... Seriously, how on Earth could they know that your idea of direction is to place the camera on a tripod and have your two actors walk back and forth for five minutes in front of a dimwit committing seppuku?"

Read reader comments at Aint It Cool and Rotten Tomatoes...

As for me, I would have to see the film. But from the trailers, "The Spirit" seems far more an homage to Miller's style of film-making than to Will Eisner.

Occasional Links: Kabinet Of Komic Book Kuriosities

Welcome to an extra-special dose of weird for your Friday morning...

First up, it's Scans Daily's "DC's History Of Gender-Bending." Love that "Wonder Man" depicted on the cover below -- how come he gets to wear a bodysuit but his female counterpart has to be half naked?





Next, from the unofficial Marvel Appendix, we have "The Many Faces Of Howard The Duck." This was notable for me by having that famous anthropomorphic character "Doucheblade."



Continuing the never-ending story of perennial Archie third-stringer Big Ethel, Stupid Comics has a profile of a Christian comic book that sees the character mysteriously turn into a beautiful fashion model -- only to realize that she'd rather be buck-toothed with bad hair and close to Jesus rather than be famous and pretty.


Not to be outdone by the recent Stan Lee fine arts tribute, artist Paul Slater is offering prints based on his interpretation of "American Gothic" :



The Worst "Spirit" Comic Ever Drawn?


That honor might go to this series of 1947 promo strips for The Spirit in the Minneapolis Star Journal. Needless to say, Will Eisner did not go anywhere near these.




I know what YOU need...it's coming to me...yes, you need an illustrated history of Grunge from Gen 13 semi- and fully-nude and in bondage. Am I right? Am I right? From Wizard Universe...er, I mean Shirtless Superheroes.


Video: Archie Meets The Sex Pistols