The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar was one of my favorite stories as a kid. I enjoyed the pickpocket story well enough, but I didn't really "get it" until I was a bit older. That's a good one. The other stories don't stick in the mind as much.

But are there any aero-tic scenes?

2 Much 2 Johnson

What about "cunt"? I can't quite figure out whether Brits mean it to be insulting, or it just means "mate."

Good point. I tend to think of the squid as ridiculous, simply absurd for a relatively realistic, gritty tale (Dr. Manhattan aside). I'm still not sure that I wanted Watchmen to get that comic-booky. But the idea that a giant monster attack, so popular in comics stories, should be presented not as an exciting…

Doesn't anybody else love Hellblazer?

Thanks for that link. Moore is a strange, strange man. I always thought that he was just being a troll all this time, but that piece makes me wonder.

@avclub-f6f154417c4665861583f9b9c4afafa2:disqus Rorschach and the original Nite Owl seem to be closer to the original "mystery men" and pulp heroes like The Shadow who themselves inspired the character of Batman. Obviously they are similar to Batman, but the similarities to the pulp heroes are greater.

Ever since the Iron Man films came out, I've reconfigured Ozymandias in my mind as a Tony Stark figure gone wrong. (Or horribly, horribly right.) He's the egotistical but charismatic mega-industrialist out to save the world (his way, of course). Maybe it's not what Moore intended, but it makes Ozy more interesting.

You know, I have the vaguest memories of that Raggedy Ann movie. Just think… one of my earliest memories is that of anthropomorphic dolls getting sucked into a monstrous blue blob/blanket.

There was an anime series of A Little Princess that… well, I don't really know if it holds up, but I remember it as charming.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

I really like the Lemony Snicket movie, too. Though I must admit I'm not such a big fan of the books. They seem well-written, but they're just not my cup of tea. Whatever one might say about the film, it did have a fine cast, and Carrey was actually good as a villain, for a change.

I'm starting to wonder why, as a kid who hated horror, I failed to get terrified by Watership Down and Pinocchio. They were all about the magic and adventure to me. Maybe I was just a dumb kid.

There's also Now and Then, Here and There, the bleakest, most depressing anime series I've seen. It's an epic tragedy. Here's one review: http://www.themanime.org/vi…

That makes sense. I honestly didn't sense the dread and horror as a kid… I got more of a "That's badass!" vibe from it. And I loved the mythology bits and they're the strongest memories I have of the film. I guess that's why I think of it as magical even now.

Stilt-Man's Stilted Comedy Hour!

@dschubba:disqus Man, talk about saddling a kid with expectations!

I would love a new Angel show, but how would they explain his aging? Maybe it can jump forward in time, Angel has been human for a while (Spike too for some reason), they're brought back from whatever heaven or hell they're in to fight the good fight again. Like, to avenge Lorne's murder or something.

There was a one-shot story in Buffy Season 8 about a slayer who was not Buffy, and it was the best thing those comics ever did. So yeah… the comics could be good. (The story requires a Buffy lookalike, so it's conceivable that Gellar could do it.)