Is it best to avoid movie versions of comics we love so much, wonders Stacey Whittle?

Who’s Watching the Watchmen …and The Spirit!

My boyfriend won’t go with me to watch The Watchmen, I can completely understand because had he wanted me to go with him to watch The Spirit I wouldn’t have. When you love something in a geeky way, be it a graphic novel, book, television series or a movie, that thing becomes almost sacrosanct, it is a beloved thing to be worshipped and adored and kept always in a state of perpetual perfection. And I love The Spirit.

I haven’t read all of it, by a long stretch, Will Eisner’s The Spirit ran for 12 years debuting in June 1940 and running until October 1952. Denny Colt was a criminologist and Private Detective and in the first strip is presumed dead and decides to remain that way thinking that an alter ego - The Spirit could reach the criminals and crimes the law couldn’t touch. He was never meant to be a superhero and had no superpowers mostly it seems he was a way for Eisner to play with storytelling techniques.

If you pick up The Best of The Spirit collection published by DC, and just flick through it you will see that the visual storytelling is so different in every single story. There is a strip called "The Story Of Rat-Tat The Toy Machine Gun", which is incredibly childlike in appearance; there are no panels and the story is told by a series of pictures with the prose underneath, but can’t be mistaken for anything other then moral wrapped up in a comic. My favourite Spirit story is called The Last Trolley, it’s clever and funny and a little bit creepy, and The Spirit himself is barely in it and we can see the bad 'un set himself up for a fall.

When I heard there was going to be a film adaptation I felt extremely worried, I didn’t really like the recent Darwyn Cooke version of The Spirit. I personally don’t think it works having a '30s-style character using a mobile phone and being flummoxed by a femme fatale. Then I heard rumours about the film and felt even more concerned. Then I saw the movie trailer and decided right then I shall not waste near on a tenner on this film. Then I started reading the reviews - and I’m glad I saved my tenner.

I’m going to use it to go see the Watchmen on my own. Even though Watchmen was the first graphic novel I read as a grown-up and I do love it, it didn’t have the impact on me that The Spirit did. I was far more impressed by the storytelling and visual playtime employed by Eisner then I was by Moore. So I can happily go and much popcorn though Watchmen and no doubt I shall let you know what I think!

This is a personal article by Stacey Whittle, one of our new bloggers - read more about our volunteer contributors on this dedicated page.