Tuesday 14 September 2010

The Mast's 30 Days of Comicdom (Day 18): What Is Your Favourite Comic-to-Screen Character Adaptation?

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I really need to stop doing these posts late.

This is how dedicated I am to Welcome to the Mast. Maybe I'm tired, maybe seeing a friend play Halo: Reach just put me to sleep (Such a dire series), but either way, sleep or a nap is required.

The Mast's 30 Days of Comicdom (Day 18): What Is Your Favourite Comic-to-Screen Character Adaptation?

An interesting topic, this one.

What character do I feel was best taken from the page to the screen? You would be utterly surprised! This isn't who I consider to be the BEST, maybe. It's definitely one of my favourites. Who? You'll never guess. My favourite comic to movie character adaptation is...


Knives Chau from Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.

Now, I know what those of you who have read the Scott Pilgrim books are thinking, because I agree. They DID leave SO much out of the movie that it was really frustrating.

However, reading the books, I always loved Knives Chau. She gave off such an adorable, protective, cute and territorial madness. There's such an innocently obsessive nature about her that it makes he so compelling.

This is where the movie benefited, I think. The books have some real cool art, but they're black and white, and very crudely drawn. The movie afforded life to the parts of the story and characters that it DID include, that the art alone could not.

Knives was my absolute favourite. I felt everything I felt reading the books, but MORE so. Ellen Wong plays the 17 year old Knives to perfection, I think. They cut a LOT of her role and dialogue down, but what IS there is so charmingly memorable. The scene where Scott breaks up with her made me want to punch him in the face, simply because she looks SO heartbroken. The voice, also, is what carries it.

Even little touches like her meekly coming to Wallace/Scott's place and asking, "Is Scott here...?" They all make her a character you want to wrap in cotton wool and protect.

The irony is, she's a total badass. You only get to see glimpses of it in the movie, but that's a testament to how good she was.



She just thinks everything Scott does is amazing and without fault, and he shits on her heart. It's really sad.

I LOVED the depiction of her temper tantrum when she finds out Scott is with Ramona. It's honestly so perfectly female, and I know so many females who have said they've done the same. The way she just starts calling her a fat-ass and making all these terrible insults and excuses as to why Scott must like her, as if it takes away the legitimacy of his crush.

Very adorable and, whether or not others agree, I found it to be exactly as I read her. Better, because Ellen Wong carried such an inherent disarming quality over to the character that it just made her all the more of a character worthy of sympathy.

I must admit, Todd Ingram as played by Brandon Routh was amazing, too. I tell you, compared to his part as Superman in Superman Returns...he was brilliant in this. He truly was. So many people were candidates for this; R.D.J.'s Tony Stark, Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker etc. I do think those were BETTER, but this was my favourite.

I just got such a fun kick out of watching her on screen, and I think you would too. Hence why she is my favourite comic-to-screen character adaptation.

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Once again and as always, thanks to whoever reads this. I really appreciate it.

I often wonder who, if anyone, is actually getting into comics through this blog/me. If you haven't, you should.

That's me done for today. Tomorrow comes the OPPOSITE of this post, as we take a look at what my LEAST favourite comic-to-screen character adaptation is!

Be there or you're an idiot.

Until next time, peace.

-The Mast