She Likes to Watch

Women of “Watchmen”? Meet the lovely ladies of “The Spirit”

Remember my rants and raves about “Watchmen”?

This week, I’m turning the focus to another comic book-turned-blockbuster, “The Spirit.” It’s based on Will Eisner’s innovative series about a masked crime-fighter who essentially returns from the dead.

As director Frank Miller explains in this MTV Splash Page featurette, The Spirit (played by Gabriel Macht) has “quite an eye for the ladies.” That’s pretty evident in every trailer, poster and promotional clip for the film, which bank on the eye candy appeal of actresses like Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes.

The women of “The Spirit” are:

• Sand Saref (Eva Mendes): A spy, jewel thief and former lover of the Spirit
• Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson): A sexy secretary allied with The Octopus (Samuel Jackson)
• Lorelei Rox (Jaime King): A singing siren known as “The Angel of Death”
• Plaster of Paris (Paz Vega): A knife-wielding femme fatale
• Morgenstern (Stana Katic): A cute cop with a very big gun
• Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson): The daughter of Police Commissioner Dolan and the Spirit’s “one true love”

It’s hard to tell it’s Eisner or Miller speaking when the Spirit rhapsodizes “All I see is women, amazing, lovely creatures.” As fans of “Sin City” and “300″ know, ol’ Frankie has a certain taste for luscious babes in revealing outfits … and he doesn’t really care who knows it.

That’s frankly (haha) what bothers me about “The Spirit.”

While “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder seems to have a pretty healthy respect for his subject material, Miller appears to be molding “The Spirit” in his own image — mixing the guns, grit and bold cinematography of “Sin City” with Eisner’s beloved comic.

He’s upping the sex, upping the violence and potentially upping the ante. And the inclusion of certain actors (Johansson, Jackson) could heap on the cheese.

It just makes me nervous, albeit all the more eager to see “The Spirit” on Christmas Day.

Ya shoulda been at Comic-Con, bub.

Comic-Con 2008 is over.

From all reports, it was a mixed year for the pop culture convention. There were the usual celebrity appearances, glimpses of upcoming blockbusters and major geekouts over popular franchises.

Still, nobody came out with a huge, ultra-secret, blow-the-top-off-your skull surprise.

This year, the big buzz surrounded comic-book projects like “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” Frank Miller’s “The Spirit,” the highly anticipated “Watchmen” movie and “The Dark Knight,” still kicking butt at the box office.

We also saw sequels aplenty, including “Terminator: Salvation” and TV’s “Terminator: The Sarah Chronicle Files,” “The Lost Boys: The Tribe” and and “Tron 2″ (that’s right, “Tron 2″!!). Not to mention several remakes, such as “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “Death Race” and “Land of the Lost.”

For more details, I turn to the professionals. Click on the links below.

Science fiction fans got the scoop via io9.com, which reported on hits like “Lost,” “Chuck,” “Dr. Who” and “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”

Meanwhile, Kotaku.com kept the score for video game fans, posting updates on such titles as “Ghostbusters: The Video Game,” “Afro Samurai” and the latest in the “Resident Evil,” “Street Fighter,” “Mortal Kombat” and “Spider-Man” franchises.

Film-centric sites MovieWeb.com, RottenTomatoes.com and IGN.com also hit the convention floor.

It’s a lot to take in, so read slowly and rest often.

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Thanks to reader Robot Downey Jr. for the tip.