1) He's basically the poster boy hermit/dedicated creator in the comics world... one of a dying breed of brilliant, wacko artistic types. It can be fun, it can be annoying but he's certainly one of a kind. (oh and I AM a big fan of his). The media, knowing he doesn't watch TV, most films, etc likes to essentially pester him about his work getting made into other forms- as in 'V'... its my underatanding that he made no effort to speak out against it UNTIL the media sought him out and said 'So what do you think of *this*' and he gave his opinion.
2) The works of his that are getting made into films are at various levels of creator ownership so he generally has very little say over what has the movie rights sold and what liberties the productions take with the works. He knowingly signed the contracts for every work he has done and he isn't stupid so though he may not like the films made of his works but he has very little choice in the matter. Though if he was really clever in film lore he should have made them put 'Based in the Graphic Novel by Alan Smithee'!
