The Spirit of Christmas

Just when you thought life couldn't get any better, Frank Miller comes along to lift your spirits ... literally.

Seems Miller and company will release My City Screams, based on Will Eisner's icon character The Spirit, come December.

For those of you who don't know The Spirit, he's a vigilante crime fighter, a young cop named Denny Colt who was placed in suspended animation and mistakenly buried. When he reawakened and made his way out of his Wildwood Cemetery grave plot, he went to work ridding Central City of crime. His costume of choice? Blue business suit, fedora, gloves and a domino mask (similar to those worn by the Lone Ranger and Robin of Batman fame).

Thankfully, the character of Ebony White (a woefully stereotyped African-American) has been eliminated from the mix of characters. But ... oh, those femmes fatale. It appears that P'Gell (the sexy black widow who was a recurring villain) is not in the film (although one never really knows). But there are compensations: Scarlett Johanssen as Silken Floss, Eva Mendez as Sand Serif, Paz Vega as Plaster of Paris and Stana Katic as Morgenstern.

And, since Samuel L. Jackson will play The Spirit's archenemy The Octopus, things couldn't look brighter (or is it darker?) for My City Screams. And it hits the big screen Christmas Day. Now that's the spirit.