(Ditto?)

I’d probably be called money-grabbing because I would like to make my writing pay me.

I also believe writers (TV/Film possibly more so) have a responsibility to give our audience hope and encourage new writing. But I can’t do that unless people see my work – and I expect remuneration so I can do it more.

I completely agree with all of this. And feedback is more than getting a critique – is about ‘do you REALLY like this?’ and does it speak to you? That’s why it’s important to get a range of responses, from both sexes.

Howard’s work is also found in The Library of America and Penguin Classics, two organizations dedicated to preserving the very best in American and World literature, Penguin including the Solomon Kane story “The Footfalls Within” in their collection. All this, in addition to decade’s worth of scholarly exploration into Howard’s metaphor, symbolism and meaning, Kane no exception. Not bad for a guy who created “two-dimensional characters.”

“And now we have Solomon Kane the movie. Which is a good romp, but sadly does all the obvious things with the source material without adding any particular flair.”

Well, apart from the vital dichotomy of Kane’s personality between the pagan and the Puritan, the inner conflict between his Christian-driven ego and adventure/violence-driven id, his utter lack of seriousness broken by occassional glimmers of acerbic wit, and the other myriad contradictions that make up his personality. The film did some things, like his night-and-day different temperament to good people and evildoers, but aside from that and the costume, it might as well have been a different character.

That said, I agree with your assessment of the film. Capably done, but the story and characterisation (which was based on a really sketchy interpretation of one or two lines in the Kane poems) left a lot to be desired. Hopefully it’ll do well enough for an actual Howard story to be adapted.

Personally I love the movie of Watchmen – it’s the movie of Mark Millar’s Wanted that I think is an insult to its source material. But hey-ho, these things are subjective. Moore’s genius is beyond doubt – I’ve recently read FROM HELL, which sets new standards for inventive storytelling.

There is one current TV drama which – like the early comics – refuses to credit the writers (or cast or director – only the production company and the BBC get a credit.) There is a cunning rationale to explain this, but the not-so-nice effect is to make the writers anonymous. The Writers Guild fought it but lost.