Meanwhile...

The comic blogosphere seems to grow larger every day and just like comics, sometimes it's pretty easy to get a little lost. "Meanwhile..." will act as your map pointing out what interesting discussions are happening out there while you’re reading the Great Curve.

As you may know, Shane Bailey is Deliverance-ing it up in the wilderness this week and next, so I, Brian Warmoth, who saw V for Vendetta twice on the big screen this weekend and loved it both times, will be your substitute blogonaut until his return.

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V is for Everyone's a Critic

In case you didn't know that V for Vendetta took in $26.1 million to claim the number one slot at the box office this weekend, it did. Peter David, his wife, and others saw it on the night of the 16th, and David thinks Hollywood was acceptably kind.

"Well, it's not "Sin City," a film so obsessively faithful to the source material that it might have been directed by Adrian Monk. And it features the types of cinematic flourishes and additions that looks spiffy on film and make little sense from a literary point of view (how the hell did he have the resources to manufacture and ship a couple thousand "V" masks to the citizenry?) And yes, aspects of the end have changed. Then again, one must consider that a Hollywood which had no trouble giving "The Scarlet Letter" a happy ending would have had no compunction in saying, "Is there any reason this can't be set in a futuristic America and he wants to blow up the Capitol building instead of Parliament?" So on that basis, the story itself got off pretty lightly."

I have to agree with David, too, that the "moviemakers sufficiently 'got it'" and were relatively faithful in their creation, which is more than I can say for the research done by a lot of reviewers for professional publications out there, particularly to the St. Petersburg Times, who (sadly, considering this film is very much about historical revision and cultural amnesia) refers to the "graphic novel" and the "the book" which "was released in 1989," glazing over its origination as a mini-series. It's likely I just need to accept that V will be remembered by most people as a film raising dialogue about the Bush administration instead of a literary perspective on Thatcherism, freedom to many people means submitting to the lifestyle of the most popular sect of the most popular religion, and graphic novel as a term will enter Webster meaning "anything with words and pictures" rather than a long form story told in comics, embracing story arcs from ongoing stories, Garfield and Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Meanwhile, in other less prolonged jeremiads pertaining to the comics blogosphere...

60 Minutes hates Denmark

Colleen Doran points to some evidence that CBS's reporting on the "Unholy Cartoons scandal" might have left a little responsibility to be desired.

Via Bloggity Blog-Blog-Blog

Lea V. Heidi MacDonald's Word Choices

You've probably noticed that Alan Moore's been getting a lot of publicity in places like the NYT, MTV and The Beat over the last couple of weeks despite his name being taken off the V for Vendetta credits. Lea Hernandez takes issue with Heidi MacDonald's assignation of victimhood per her comments about Moore and Hernandez.

Postmodern Barney is Going to Hell

Postmodern Barney ruminates on the "dramatic, real-world inspired Archie comic" he would like to see, which includes teen pregnancy, high school shootings, steroid use, and date rape.

Gilbert and Sullivan Lyrics Make Great Names

Chris Sims has a healthy appreciation for the Doom Patrol and makes us laugh with his eye for illustrated innuendo.

Spelling is Keey

Diamondrock requests that the blogosphere (and The Beat specifically) please respect the legally prescribed spelling of Judd Winick's name, which contains but one lonely N and not not the full two which they have creatively used to refer to the writer.

AiT/Planetlar Turns 7, Gets Drunk and Has a Good Time

The blog says they figure that because February 17, 1999, was the day Astronauts in Trouble: Live From the Moon #1 hit racks. If you missed it, there's a nifty highly readable pdf file of the book up that they've made available to you at no cost. Happy birthday, you crazy kids!

James Bond Hates Kittens

The blog named after my favorite Alan Moore song presents a classic 007 scene from Showcase #43 where the man with a license to kill appeared to be summoning the killing expertise of God and Domo-kun for a change.

Monkey Covers Sunday Makes Me Giddy

And it should make you giddy too. I nominate Yet Another Comics Blog for Best Sunday Feature About Monkeys on the Web.

Illustration Blog

Due to my embarrassingly abysmal familiarity with the visual art cyberscape, this week I'm going to link you to the Dr. Who artwork by my pal Jon. I really like his Cyberman.