Swipe File: The Book Of Eli and The Book Of Jesse

[Rich Johnston]

One is a multi-million dollar movie starring Denzil Washington for 2010, written by a comics writer, using comic book imagery and artists such as Chris Weston and Tommy Lee Edwards.

The other is a web comic (initially), published in print through Lulu and available in big name comic shops since 2005.

It may be a coincidence, but the shades, "Book Of" prefix and the tag line "Deliver Us" are a little on the familiar side.

A facebook group has been set up to protest the similarity. The Book Of Jesse can be found here...

[Donna M.]

There is no similarity whatsoever. The 'Book of Jesse' guys are trying to pull a publicity stunt for their mediocre web comic, and they're not doing a very good job. And if they were THAT concerned about making sure that small-potatoes comics creator's were getting their due, then they'd pay and credit the artist who did the original character and logo designs for 'Book of Jesse'. They know who he is.

[ManNBlack]

This is ridiculous.

[JoshAdams]

If you want to pull a swipefile report on Book of Eli, I recommend comparing it to the video game Fallout 3. The imagery is identical. Even the story and premise decriptions on Wikipedia look the same, post-apocalyptic, lone-person/lone-wanderer searching the save humanity on his own while having to face down an scary English fella.

Anyway, the trailers show a lot of mirrored images and ideas, the palette, the iconic use of destroyed highways, dangerous scavengers, they even have a shot in both the game trailer and movie trailer which features a camera tracking behind a missile in flight which is a staple of Fallout 3's gameplay.

Moreover they feature in the movie some sort of discrepancy between Denzel's action and other people's as he takes out a number of adversaries in mere seconds before they can respond which Fallout 3 established in it's gameplay prior.

Of course, because Fallout 3 is a video the scope of the story is much more epic and wanders a lot more to maximize the hours of gameplay but the similarities are there is great numbers.


the missles in Fallout 3 are at 6:00 and 7:04
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAN0ByjSsV4"]YouTube- Fallout 3 Gameplay (Game Trailer)[/ame]

Eli's missile is at 1:03 in the trailer
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKfZrbS79To"]YouTube- 'The Book of Eli' Trailer HD[/ame]

[_OM_]

...I'm not seeing it, Rich. You totally missed the mark on this one.

...On a side note, for those that haven't heard by now, The Book of Eli is a Holy Bible. Not sure what version it is, but it totally blew my theory that it was a cookbook.

[Charlesknight]

...I'm not seeing it, Rich. You totally missed the mark on this one.

...On a side note, for those that haven't heard by now, The Book of Eli is a Holy Bible. Not sure what version it is, but it totally blew my theory that it was a cookbook.

Wait - is that meant to be a twist? The material I've seen make it clear what's the book is and I thought the twist was it actually something else.

[_OM_]

Wait - is that meant to be a twist? The material I've seen make it clear what's the book is and I thought the twist was it actually something else.

...From what I've been told about the plot, and gathered through various sources, they kept the fact that the book is The Bible a secret to throw off the fact that there really isn't a twist of any sort as to what the book is. Granted, that could be part of another bait-and-switch that the producers are pulling, and the book could be something else altogether, like the Book of the Subgenius or a Graffiti hardback of Watchmen. Either way, religious beliefs aside, I honestly can't see The Bible containing enough information to save a post-apocalyptic society. The Leatherneck's Field Manual, perhaps.

[Charlesknight]

...From what I've been told about the plot, and gathered through various sources, they kept the fact that the book is The Bible a secret to throw off the fact that there really isn't a twist of any sort as to what the book is. Granted, that could be part of another bait-and-switch that the producers are pulling, and the book could be something else altogether, like the Book of the Subgenius or a Graffiti hardback of Watchmen. Either way, religious beliefs aside, I honestly can't see The Bible containing enough information to save a post-apocalyptic society. The Leatherneck's Field Manual, perhaps.

Maybe it's issue 8 of Sonic Disruptors?

[Evan Meadow]

Maybe it's issue 8 of Sonic Disruptors?

Nah, the current crowd they want to get wouldn't get the reference.

Its actually the last two issues combined of Pirates of Coney Island.

[bottleHeD]

It's a hollow bookcase containing a quarter of Rum.