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BBC's Review Show On Tamara Drewe, Jonah Hex And CLiNT

"His tongue is in his cheek."

"His tongue has come through his cheek."

That's how the piece on comic books and comics-turned-movies on Newsnight's Review Show on BBC 2 just ended, crosstalking about Mark Millar's CLiNT. Which is a lot better than how it began.

"Is the comic strip the perfect storyboard for movies?"

The Review Show higlighted the work of Posy Simmonds and the movie adaptation of Tamara Drewe opening soon in the UK, well before it opens in the US. And Jonah Hex which is only just getting round to opening in the UK.

Adam Mars-Jones, Denise Clemency Burton-Hill, Denise Mina and Sarah Churchwell raved about the Tamara Drewe movie, how the characters looked like the comic book characters, how the colours were preserved, but there was criticism in that the movie sugar coated the book, and didn't go as dark as the original, making an out-and-out comedy from a comedy drama, Denise making a very pertinent point about how the Thomas Hardy references in the comic were included to give permission to middle class readers to enjoy it

Jonah Hex, was mostly mocked, though Denise was a lone voice enjoying the film, "The only thing that can make this film better for me was if it would have a vampire in it, and then there was!" By the tired tropes, the horrible history and the attempt to be politically topical got the most jibes with a final "Jonah Hexcreble"  to see it off.

Then the crew turned to CLiNT Magazine, with presenter Kirsty Wark terribly familiar with Mark Millar 's work. One common review criticism, that the target marget fo the comic wasn't clear, with the guests in agreement that it was trying to appeal to all markets – except them.

But the inclusion of Turf, a character with a strong female character that had the potential to appeal to young women was bemoaned in that the book was aimed at "boys between 16 and 30". And the "Hot Mums" feature was picked for irrelevent ridicule.

The Review Show won't have had the biggest audience, may be a million or so. Of course if ten percent are intrigued enough to pick it up in Asda during the weekend shop…

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