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Dostoevsky’s Batman, originally uploaded by 160507.

The Again With the Comics blog features an out-of-print classic: Dostoyevsky Comics. R. Sikoryak adapted Crime and Punishment starring Bruce Wayne. Thanks to Butch for the link.

Meanwhile, I was surprised to enjoy Beowulf, as I’d expected a howler. The Zemeckis and Gaiman-Avary project is a clever deconstruction that has a feel for the epic. The blustering and swaggering, the dick contests, victory laced with sadness, glory with regret. It understands that the epic is in love with death. I’m pretty sure that’s not the Beowulf I was required to read in school, and as Don pointed out, I’m sure Professor Tolkien will not approve. I remember my resentment at having to read Beowulf (although the part where Grendel eats the men in the hall was fun) and the boring discussions in class—that was several hours of my life I’ll never have again. I feel like I got back 90 minutes. There’s still a problem rendering faces—at times they look like animated corpses—and movement, but the CGI is improving.

However, if there’s only one movie you can catch in theatres this week, it’ll have to be Superbad. There’s a classic.