Springtime is here, Iron Man is in the theaters, but I'm already looking ahead to... Christmas? That's because that's when the Frank Miller version of the The Spirit hits theaters, and it is quite an anticipatory thing indeed.

For those of you who may not be familiar with The Spirit, let me just say that it was one of the most cerebral newspaper comic of its time. Created in 1940 by Will Eisner as the lead feature of a comic book insert to Sunday newspapers, the stories evolved from crime-fighter vs. criminal plot-lines to include such diverse themes as a momentary stoppage of time (A Time-Stop!), the tense environment of quiet sounds or the absence thereof (Quiet!) or detailed character studies of the psychosis of a criminal (The Meanest Man In The World). The artwork was executed in a dark and moody film-noir scheme uncommon in Sunday newspapers comics of the time and which suited the story-lines well.

popslant  believes that taking this character and adding the current film-noir innovation of Frank Miller should result in one of the best film releases of 2008.