Comic Creators Comment on Batman Movies

[The Laughing Fish]

Here are excerpts by Dennis O'Neil, Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan from the San Diego Comic Con panel in 2014.

O'Neill makes fun of the Batwing sequence in B89, apparently comparing it to a cartoon:

He shows up in a Batplane. Where does the Batplane come from? It comes from the Acme Corporation.

Graham Nolan dismisses all the Batman films, and wasn't impressed by the Chris Nolan series:

They've never made a Batman movie. The Christopher Nolan movies, it's James Bond movies. If you substitute Batman for James Bond and Q for Morgan Freeman's character, it's the same story. We never see Batman as the world's greatest detective. He always solves everything with technology, and it's not even technology he created. It's given to him by some other guy. And that's the biggest beef I have with these Batman movies.

Dixon on his opinion of the best "Batman" movie ever made:

For my money, the best Batman and Robin movie ever made is 'Die Hard 3. You have Batman, Robin and The Riddler. It was much better than the crappy Riddler they made in the movie the same year.

Source: http://www.cbr.com/sdcc-oneil-dixon-jones-celebrate-batman-in-the-80s-and-90s/

[Silver Nemesis]

Frank Miller (on Batman Begins)

I thought they did a really, really good job. I mean, I walked out of that movie with a smile on my face; I thought it was a really strong interpretation of the character, and they knew what to borrow from and how much. I got a major kick out of the fact that they used that bit where he calls on the bats to attack the cops and that sort of thing, and I loved Gary Oldman's interpretation of exactly the Jim Gordon that I'd written in Batman: Year One. But it was [Christopher] Nolan's movie and [Christian] Bale's movie, and I just simply absorbed it and enjoyed the hell out of it.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2005/08/20/frank-miller-interview?page=2

[The Laughing Fish]

I quoted that Miller comment last year, but he seemingly had a change of heart later on as he dismissed all Batman films.

PLAYBOY: There's a consensus that Daredevil and Elektra, two movies adapted from comics you wrote, were lousy. Do you agree with that opinion?

MILLER: When people come out with movies about characters I've worked on, I always hate them. I have my own ideas about what the characters are like. I mean, I can't watch a Batman movie. I've seen pieces of them, but I generally think, No, that's not him. And I walk out of the theater before it's over.

PLAYBOY: Does that include the Christopher Nolan Batman movies?

MILLER: It includes all of them. I'm not condemning what he does. I don't even understand it, except that he seems to think he owns the title Dark Knight. [laughs] He's about 20 years too late for that. It's been used.

PLAYBOY: Nolan's last two Batman movies each grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. Does any of that money make its way to you?

MILLER: No. If money's owed me, I wouldn't put it on him or any other author. To be sitting here whining and mewling and puking about that sort of thing...let other people do that.

Source: http://comicbook.com/blog/2014/08/19/frank-miller-walked-out-on-christopher-nolans-batman-movies/

As I mentioned a year ago, there are three possibilities why he didn't mentioned that he enjoyed BB:

• He forgot about it.
• He liked it the first time he watched it, but then he had a change of heart the second time.
• He was paid to give it a good review back in 2005. It's a cynical suggestion, but shills are common in Hollywood. Who knows, perhaps those in the industry who claimed to like B89 and BR when they first came out secretly didn't like them after all, and felt more comfortable to voice their distaste much later.

http://www.batman-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=2477.100

[The Laughing Fish]

Despite Dennis O' Neil making fun of the Batwing sequence in a quote from Comic Con 2014, he wrote a retrospective article that more or less pays tribute to Burton's film in that same year:

About 25 years ago I was walking from a screening at a Third Avenue theater onto a bustling Manhattan street with a Time Warner executive. My companion thought the movie we'd just seen, a movie that would be opening in a few days, was too dark for a summer entertainment and so would probably fail. Later, another kind and generous exec told me that there had been a snafu in getting the comic book adaptation I'd written to market and that my royalties would probably be impacted by the screen version of the story beating the comics version to the public. He said he'd try to get me a little extra money to ease my loss. It was a very generous offer, but in the end, an unnecessary one. The royalties were quite satisfactory, thank you.

And the movie? A hit. A big, juicy and – okay, we'll admit it – dark hit.

It was directed by Tim Burton, starred Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton and was eponymously titled Batman. Short, punchy. Fit on any marquee inn town.

It wasn't Batman's first venture into theaters. In the 40s there had been two serials, aimed at the Saturday matinee kid audience, and in 1966, a comedic take on the character adapted from a television show. I guess that those efforts did whatever they were supposed to do. But the 1989 Batman... that was something else. I don't have the profit/loss statements – I guess those Warner folk misplaced my phone number, back then in the 80s – but I'll happily guess that the BurtonBat exceeded box office expectations, maybe by a long stretch.

Why do you think that is? Batman wasn't the first big production that took the superhero genre seriously. There had been the four Superman movies, with A-list directors and actors. And Supergirl. (I'm not counting Superman and the Mole Men, which sprung from yet another television program, nor the movies-of-the week, yet more television programming.)

But Burton's stuff seemed to me to have been a game changer. Again, why? Maybe because it was a tipping point, which is defined by the excellent writer who popularized the term as "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point." The writer, Malcolm Gladwell, says that "...ideas and products and messages and behavior spreads like viruses do."

So maybe the idea of superheroes as a legitimate genre, equal to westerns and crime drama and the rest of the generic amusements, had been seeping into our collective psyche for years. But the genre wasn't quite validated until...voila – it was! Tim Burton and his collaborators delivered what audiences didn't realize they were waiting for – a movie that had enough familiar elements to be acceptable as mass entertainment, but was also not quite like anything that those audiences had seen before, which made it a novelty.

It was a winning combination, one that's unlikely ever to be repeated. And a bonus: I rewatched the movie last night and can report that is holds up well. After all these years, it still does the job. Does it darkly, but does it. Nice.

Source: http://www.comicmix.com/2014/06/26/dennis-oneil-tim-burton-and-the-bat/

It's surprising, I thought his view on Burton had completely dimmed nowadays.

[The Dark Knight]

Here are excerpts by Dennis O'Neil, Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan from the San Diego Comic Con panel in 2014.

O'Neill makes fun of the Batwing sequence in B89, apparently comparing it to a cartoon:

He shows up in a Batplane. Where does the Batplane come from? It comes from the Acme Corporation.

This is O'Neil's opinion, and that's all well and good. But I find this viewpoint unimaginative and lazy. I don't even see it as a valid criticism. In this comic book film that features a character named Batman, Batman created his own suit. He also built his own car and plane. The plane, piloted by Batman, came out of the bat cave and it flew onwards to downtown Gotham. That's it. We don't need every single thing spelled out to us to make clear cut conclusions.

[The Laughing Fish]

O'Neil certainly has some bizarre opinions for somebody who is a comic book writer, but judging by his retrospective review of B89, I don't quite think he meant to be malicious. It's a misguided comment for sure, but it's not malicious.

[thecolorsblend]

I think it's worth remembering that O'Neil's quote seems to only relate to the Batwing. And out of context, that line could be quippy but good natured. Or it could be part of a larger avalanche of bile and negativity.

I always got the impression that O'Neil was mildly satisfied with B89. It wasn't completely in line with his own view of the character... but then, neither is the modern version of Batman in comics either. So what's it worth?

I could be totally off base there. But I don't think I am.

And I think his picking on the Batwing thing could be a minor nitpicky remark he made about a movie he otherwise pretty much enjoys. But he has a few hang ups with a few things... which apparently includes the Batwing, for some weird reason.

[Azrael]

I think it's worth remembering that O'Neil's quote seems to only relate to the Batwing. And out of context, that line could be quippy but good natured. Or it could be part of a larger avalanche of bile and negativity.

Can't know his intentions, but one can make fun of movies they enjoy in an affectionate manner. The whole parade/batwing sequence makes zero sense if the viewer is too analytical, but if they accept this is an atmospheric fantasy/pulp movie and just enjoy the ride, it's awesome.

[Azrael]

I know this is for comic creators, but it might include quotes from others who have contributed to Batman in some way.

Marc Tyler Nobleman, author of Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman (discussed here) on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Speaking on the phone from his home in Maryland, Nobleman acknowledges that the film in which Finger finally got his overdue credit may not have been the most distinguished in the franchise. "That credit was the best part of the movie," he says.

source: BostonGlobe

[thecolorsblend]

No offense. But exactly when did Nobleman become an acknowledged and accepted authority on Batman? Was I taking a leak or something when that happened?

He did a good thing for Bill Finger's legacy and I'm not taking anything away from that. But guys like Graham Nolan, Paul Dini, Denny O'Neil, Michael Uslan or hell even Kevin Smith have bona fides that qualify their opinions above others. Nobody disputes that.

Nobleman? Seriously, what's his pedigree?

Again, not trying to trash talk you personally. I'm just a bit exasperated.