From Comics to Screen
I have a long-held theory: that for comics to successfully adapt to the screen, they need to keep the key visual elements of the comic with them, especially when those elements have been developed and refined over decades. You can bee too slavish about this (cf: Ang Lee's Hulk), but on the whole, comics are a visual medium, and they're very, very good at doing images.
So, whenever a new comics adaptation approaches, I always start my judgement with a look at how well the imagery matches those from the comics. Iron Man impressed from the start, with both armour and a Tony Stark that looked like they'd leapt straight from the pages of the comic, and certainly didn't disappoint on screen.
Now, the first wave of material on the sequel is coming, including the first photos of the movie version of the Black Widow.
How well does she match up to the iconic image test? Here goes:
From Comics to Screen
I have a long-held theory: that for comics to successfully adapt to the screen, they need to keep the key visual elements of the comic with them, especially when those elements have been developed and refined over decades. You can bee too slavish about this (cf: Ang Lee's Hulk), but on the whole, comics are a visual medium, and they're very, very good at doing images.
So, whenever a new comics adaptation approaches, I always start my judgement with a look at how well the imagery matches those from the comics. Iron Man impressed from the start, with both armour and a Tony Stark that looked like they'd leapt straight from the pages of the comic, and certainly didn't disappoint on screen.
Now, the first wave of material on the sequel is coming, including the first photos of the movie version of the Black Widow.
How well does she match up to the iconic image test? Here goes:
Here's the original Black Widow from a 1970s era comic:
And here's Scarlett Johansson as the movie version:
And the verdict? Well, allowing for make-up differences over the last 30 years - very promising indeed. Some suspension of disbelief is required (how is that hair ever going to be practical for superheroing/spying?), but otherwise very true to the source. A good sign.
Holborn Freebies
One of the nice things about working in Holborn again is fun urban moments like this:
QotD: Only in My Dreams
What life dream or goal have you given up on?
Oooh! Good one.
I've given up on my dream of being a magazine editor.
Why? Well, I did achieve it briefly, when I was editor of a short-lived magazine called GRID. It was shut down when a new publisher decided to cut a lot of new projects.
However, about the same time, I realised that the whole world was changing, and the arrival of blogs and other early forms of social media were completely reshaping the media landscape. The energy I was putting into GRID got pushed into my personal blogging projects instead, thereby setting the scene for the last three years of my career…
Time overtook the dream, and I don't miss it.
