The art was amazing in it’s time, but I now find it boring and lacking in imagination (although a lot of little details, like all of the analog clocks in various scenes are a few minutes before 12:00). Gibbons’ knowledge of anatomy seems pretty weak to me as well (and I’m an artist myself).

The characters are no more inconsistent than the average human being, and have a greater measure of depth than I think you’re seeing. Most of us are actually pretty hypocritical, but we just aren’t self-aware enough to see it. Did you read the commentary sections at the ends of the chapter? There’s a lot of additional development of the characters and their world in there.

And none of the characters being likable? I just don’t see that either. I’ll agree that most aren’t. I’m of a very different opinion of the Night Owls and Laurie, although she’s the weakest of the three. Those three characters are the truly average people who can see the insanity of what they do, and try to reconcile that insanity with living an average life. I found all three of them people I could see being friends with.

Political? Yeah, I suppose so, but having re-read it before the movie as well, I thought the commentary inherent to the story was pretty tame compared to some of what’s out now in mainstream comics (such as Identity Crisis and the Blüdhaven series).

Admittedly, now that this kind of deconstruction has become common place, the story does loose impact. With M. Night Shyamalan having thrown so many twist endings at us, the ending isn’t as amazing as it was then.

I don’t really intend to change a single mind with all of that, just explain where I’m coming from when I say I think yer nutz with yer opinion!

So they were really that put off by my reaction to the Adams biography, eh?

I’m seriously of the Moore > Salvatore and Brown camp.
I honestly don’t see them on the same literary planet.
I agree with many critics of Salvatore’s in that without the D&D connection, his stuff is flat. I’ve forced my way through many of them as I read almost anything, but he’s one of the few writers I have had to actually put down a book unfinished and just consider the time wasted as a sunk cost. I actually remember telling one of my players that I prayed that none of it leaked into my gaming.

Now, Miller’s Dark knight I concur with you is brilliant and epic, and there are so many things done well there. I also have to say as far as ‘translatability’ into the gaming world, Moore’s Watchmen is somewhat lacking, as the anti-heroes and the whole ending is NOT the way most of us want to run a game. In all, I think it served you well to mention this as a foil, and both share space in the upstairs bookshelves as opposed to the countless bins of books in the basement, but I have to admit that Moore’s deconstruction of the myth gets slightly more mileage as I grow older and more discerning.

Brown may be deficient in many ways, but I personally use a lot of history and historical puzzles in my games, so how can you not love that? I think that almost any GM could learn from that.

And while McCullough is not my favorite biographer, I love the fact you included it. Funny coincidence, as I recently reread it. Morris’ Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex really wowed me.

Ambiguity FTL…

I stopped after the first chapter because, frankly, it’s just not that interesting to me.

Now Salvatore, on the other hand, I could eat up. He may not have the most exciting setting (Forgotten Realms seems sort of stale and cliched), but what he does with the characters is amazing. And everyone knows his fight scenes are better than the movies.

Also, I can’t handle Dan Brown. Guy writes novels like he’s writing newspaper headlines. He just just admit that he writes his novels for the sole purpose of having them adapted to movie scripts (trust me, read a few professional scripts, and then read the opening chapter of a Dan Brown novel and you’ll see the parallels immediately, especially in the way he introduces characters).

Aaand I loved Salvatore when I was 16. I tried to read him again ten years later… let’s just say I’m glad I borrowed that book rather than bought it.