Video: “The Spirit” at Comic-Con 2008

"I first met Will Eisner on a street in Vermont, when I was bicycling back...

“I first met Will Eisner on a street in Vermont, when I was bicycling back home with a bunch of new comic books,” began Frank Miller, comic book artist turned co-director, alongside Robert Rodriguez, with 2005′s “Sin City.” “The Spirit,” an adaptation of Eisner’s long-running crime-fighter comic strip, finds Miller going solo behind the camera for the first time. During the Comic-Con panel for the film, Miller spoke of how he eventually met Eisner in person and began a 25-year-argument with him over captions.

Miller was joined on the panel by Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the film’s villain, The Octopus, a character who in the comic remained unseen except for a pair of distinctive gloves. “It’s a real honor to be able to put flesh and bones and voice and attitude to The Octopus, [who's] only been a pair of hands since 1930-something,” a beaming Jackson said, going into how he and Miller decided on the look of the character, who apparently sports a sort of Nazi-inspired outfit. Also on stage is Jaime King, who played Goldie in “Sin City” and will play Lorelei Rox, “the angel of death,” in “The Spirit,” which is set to open on Christmas this year.

Take a look at video clips from the panel below:

More from Comic-Con 2008: The “Watchmen” panel with director Zack Snyder, stars Billy Crudup and Carla Gugino and others; the “RocknRolla” panel with director Guy Ritchie and star Gerard Butler; the panel for “The Wolf Man” with award-winning make-up artist Rick Baker and stars Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt.