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In this corner: the Book. A collection of words that represent ideas when filtered through the lexical systems in a human brain. From clay tablets to bound collections of wood pulp to units of stored data, the book has been around in one format or another for some 3,800 years.

And in this corner: the Movie. A 112-year-old kid born in France to a guy named Lumiere and raised primarily in Hollywood by his uncle Charlie "the Tramp" Chaplin. This young upstart has quickly made a huge impact on society, rapidly becoming the most financially lucrative form of storytelling in the modern world.

Both square off in the ring again as Box Office Prophets presents another round of Book vs. Movie.

Red

In 2003, British comic book writer Warren Ellis created a three-part miniseries for D.C.’s Homage Comics imprint entitled Red. The prolific mind behind the acclaimed Transmetropolitan had developed a clever little nugget of an idea that would have been unlikely to work in standard prose narrative format - a blood-soaked espionage actioner that was brought to the page by American comic book artist Cully Hammer. Six years later, the miniseries was collected in a graphic novel format for the first time. The idea for a Red film had been announced as early as June of 2008. Summit Entertainment has completed a release that makes it to theaters this month. The script for the film (written by Erich and Jon Hober, who previously adapted the comic book Whiteout for the big screen) is a considerable departure from the comic book. Whereas the comic book focuses on a single rogue ex-CIA agent on the run from a government that wants him eliminated, the film features a full cast of ex-C.I.A. agents played by some really talented actors including Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis. How does the film's re-imagining of the premise compare with the tighter, more condensed vision of the comic book?

The Miniseries

Consisting of three monthly issues, Red was a very tight presentation when it debuted in September of 2003. The story begins in Langley, Virginia, as a new Director of the CIA is taken to the mysterious “Room R,” of the CIA complex. There he is shown a video detailing the work of a former agent named Paul Moses. So disgusted is the new director by what he’s seen that he orders Moses’s death. The story cuts to Moses - a man who lives life in complete solitude tormented by the memory of what he has done. His only social pleasure from life comes from his correspondence with his niece and frequent calls to a woman working behind a desk at C.I.A. headquarters who thinks his career with them had been much more innocuous than it was.

Moses’ life of solitude is shattered when a three-man C.I.A. hit squad in matching green hoodies arrive to try to take him down. Naturally, they don’t. All three are murdered by Moses. Now he is on a private vendetta against those who have ordered his death in Langley. Moses breaks makes his way from his D.C. home to Langley, brutally killing those who get in his way. Finally he confronts the Director who ordered his death and the deputy director who is acting as his advisor, mercilessly killing both of them. The story ends as security reaches the Director’s office. Ten firearms are pointed at Moses. He stands it point blank range raising a single pistol in his defense. “I’m the monster,” he says, “do your best.” The end.

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