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Alan Moore And Michael Uslan Talk Superhero Movies
How Dangerous Is A Little Knowledge?

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Jose Fortuna
03/16/09

In reply to Alan Moore And Michael Uslan Talk Superhero Movies
There were Watchmen Watches,badges, and a roleplaying game. Alan Moore talks like he was forced at gunpoint in the late 80s to sell the movie rights.
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lightninglouie
03/16/09

@Jose Fortuna: Watchmen, like most mainstream comics, was done as "work for hire"; it is wholly owned by DC Comics. That means that Moore and Gibbons had zero control over the property from the start, including merchandising and movie rights. It was this very lack of control over his creations that led to Moore's dissatisfaction with the industry in the late '80s.
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alphanumeric1971
03/16/09

@lightninglouie: So why didn't he later on join image comics?
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lightninglouie
03/16/09

@alphanumeric1971: I imagine the whole Marvelman/Miracleman debacle has something to do with it.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
03/16/09

In reply to Alan Moore And Michael Uslan Talk Superhero Movies
I liked the Uslan interview, nice summation of the whole Batman film/TV history.

Moore is a broken record. STFU, you cranky old tiresome insane git.
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lightninglouie
03/16/09

@Evil Tortie's Mom: Better cranky old snake god worshipping Moore than most other "legendary" comics creators.
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CodenameV
03/16/09

In reply to Alan Moore And Michael Uslan Talk Superhero Movies
why did you prominently feature a picture of the Silhouette in this article, when she isn't discussed?
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Charlie Jane Anders
03/16/09

@CodenameV: Because the movie she's in is discussed.
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Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
03/16/09

@CodenameV: And because she's hot!
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Sproing
03/16/09

@Jrsy Devil's Food Cake®: Indeed.
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lightninglouie
03/16/09

@CodenameV: Silhouette = The Boba Fett of the Watchmen film universe. Never identified by name in the movie, has maybe one line of dialogue, dies ignominiously and is forgotten by most of the viewing public.
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Benguin
03/16/09

@CodenameV: That's what I was wondering, but she is a beautiful woman so any excuse to look at photos of her the better I suppose.
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miss_so_unknown
03/16/09

@lightninglouie: This is nitpicky, but Rorschach identifies Silhouette when he is breaking into Rockefeller Military Base. As he retells the fate of the Minutemen, he says that Silhouette was a "victim of her indecent lifestyle."

That being said, I appreciate your comparison. I love Boba Fett and I love Silhouette.
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Charlie Jane Anders
03/16/09

@Benguin: Honestly, I couldn't bear to put up another Rorschach, Silk Spectre, or Dr. Manhattan image. Wanted a Watchmen image we hadn't seen a lot before.
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Rasselas
03/16/09

In reply to Alan Moore And Michael Uslan Talk Superhero Movies
I like Alan Moore's work a great deal, but a two-decade tantrum about wicked ol' DC retaining the right to publish one's most famous work by continuing to publish it seems a little odd.
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UmitSea horse
03/16/09

@Rasselas: I think it has more to do with the fact that ANY of Alan Moore's material has been horrible misconstrued by the Hollywood process. V for Vendetta may have been a modest success, but the circumstances surrounding The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen would leave any person to be embittered for the rest of their lives.
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Rasselas
03/16/09

@UmitSea horse: No question -- I was referring to the note that "Moore doesn't own a copy of Watchmen, or any of his other writings that he doesn't own the rights to."
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Dejanus
03/16/09

In reply to Alan Moore And Michael Uslan Talk Superhero Movies
I still really enjoyed Watchmen precisely because of it's faithfulness, though I would have liked to see Hayter's original, modernised script.
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lightninglouie
03/16/09

@Dejanus: I enjoyed the movie, but found it oddly inert compared to the comic book. The cross-cutting works better in a 3x3 panel grid than in a movie.
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goldfarb
03/16/09

In reply to Alan Moore And Michael Uslan Talk Superhero Movies
call him a curmudgeon, bitter...whatever...the fact is that he's right.

the Uslan interview is interesting...and reveals a major flaw in the thinking of Hollywood with regard to comic books - they look like they do for reasons that have nothing to do with creativity - four colour process? - 'cause it's cheap, not because that's what they wanted...
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lightninglouie
03/16/09

@goldfarb: Yeah, well the "comics as frozen movies" shows Uslan's lack of understanding in this regard, though it's worth pointing out that movie people tend to understand everything only in terms of other movies. There's this notion that all other mediums of storytelling are, to borrow a phrase of William Gibson's, a "grubby chrysalis" out of which the final cinematic produt is refined. (Unfortunately, since movies and TV are the dominant media today, that's how most "end-users" will experience the work of novelists and cartoonists.)
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kubrickian
03/16/09

In reply to Alan Moore And Michael Uslan Talk Superhero Movies
And so where's the part of the article where Uslan talks about Batman Begins?
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Charlie Jane Anders
03/16/09

@kubrickian: I ended up quoting the part about Burton's Batman instead... I should tweak that I guess! :)
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Dug
11/28/08

In reply to How Dangerous Is A Little Knowledge?
You really hear Avi Abram's point on the audio book version of Neuromancer. I borrowed it from a library and was immediately pissed off by the narrator's atonal southern drawl, and constant mis-pronunciations of technical terms.

Then I got to the end, where the the narrator states "This has been Nueromancer, narrated by William Gibson.

I felt like I had committed some form of science fiction sacrilegious scorn. Doh.
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cmg
11/28/08

@Dug: i went to a book signing for Spook Country a couple of months ago and he read a few pages. as much as i love the man's books, he should NOT narrate.
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♥AntiSocialSocialite♥
11/28/08

In reply to How Dangerous Is A Little Knowledge?
too bad the attendees of that Science and Entertainment Exchange didn't get wind of this beforehand....

now they'll be bogging down their writing with things like facts and accuracy... sheeeesh.

honestly, as long as the writing is good/substantive and the story is compelling and original, i'm usually along for the ride.
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Smeagol92055
11/28/08

In reply to How Dangerous Is A Little Knowledge?
You shall be missed, Mr. Gibson.
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KhaiJB
11/28/08

@Smeagol92055: wrong William Gibson.... our Gibson, the writer is very much alive...
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daveNYC
11/28/08

In reply to How Dangerous Is A Little Knowledge?
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

When you have the talent to write a first line like that, the level of knowledge of the subject matter isn't very important.
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Meirelle
11/28/08

@daveNYC: I happen to love that first line. My old college roommate, though, when I recited that line to her, told me, "Gibson, I hear, is a genius. But that line right there tells me I won't like his book. Too poetic for me."

And, in my opinion, that makes Gibson even more awesome, 'cause he's all like, "Guess what? You don't like shit that's too poetic? I'll save you some time. I'll tell you right here, right now, what my writing style is."

Genius!
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