Kevin Smith spoke at the Produced By Conference in Los Angeles on Sunday May 31 and covered variety of subjects including his return to filmmaking with Tusk, his disappointment in the lack of female superheroes in movies, and how his daughter’s reaction to the previous issue led him to make his next film, Yoga Hosers. While on the topic of comic book films, Smith revealed that while he doesn’t believe we will ever get the chance to make a comic book film himself, he would love to create a “noir-ish thriller” starring DC’s faceless vigilante, The Question.
“I always thought if you were in an alley and f—ing Batman showed up you’d be like, ‘Oh f—, Batman.’ But if a dude shows up with no [facial] features and starts punching you, you would probably kill yourself in fear.”
The Question originally appeared in Charlton Comics in the ’60s, before being bought by DC. Famous TV personality and investigative journalist, Vic Sage, needed a way to pursue leads on dangerous stories and investigations. With the use of a compound known as pseudoderm, a false-skin bandage prototype, Sage could hide the features of his famous face in order to keep his identity a secret. The Question was also a major inspiration for the character Rorschach from Alan Moore’s iconic graphic novel Watchmen.
Comic books have been one of the biggest influences on Kevin Smith’s life and career, and he has made his mark on them as well. Reading comics, writing comics, owning his own comic book store, producing and filming a TV show about comics in said store all seem like rather solid credentials. However, the few times that Smith has had the chance to write and/or direct a comic book film have fallen through and he has since decided to stop pursuing that dream. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t get to imagine, though.
Do you think Smith would be able to deliver on a film version of The Question?
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Image via DeviantArt:Â RamonVillalobos
