You all know a *Watchmen * movie is coming out in 2009, right? Zach Snyder is directing it – he directed the excellent 2004 “remake” of *Dawn of the Dead * and last year’s 300. It has already been cast and is currently shooting. Snyder “gets” the source material and wants to make as close an adaptation as possible. Dave Gibbons, the original artist, has been working closely with him, although Alan Moore wants nothing to do with it – he has publicly disapproved of all the other film adaptations of his work, and usually tries to get his name taken off them and give all the royalties to the artists he worked with.
The casting for Watchmen is interesting, in that they did not go for any big names. The only actors I recognize are Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan, Patrick Wilson (the good guy from Phantom of the Opera) as Nite Owl II (Dan Dreiberg), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (you’d know him if you saw him) as the Comedian, Carla Gugino as Silk Spectre I (Sally Jupiter), and Matt Frewer as Moloch. They also casted younger than you would expect, but it is easier to make a young actor look old than vice versa.
I didn’t figure out the villain before he was revealed, like mbh did, but then I also didn’t have a group of friends to spend a month discussing each issue with. I recall being terribly disappointed, but not surprised, who the villain was. It reminded me of a description I’d read of the Crusades, “the sad history of right things done for the wrong reason, and wrong things done for the right reason.”
The disappointment stemmed from the fact that, dang it, it was the wrong thing to do, even if the reasons were noble. Even if the results were every bit as good as hoped for, they can’t help but be tainted by the means used to achieve them.
I’d just like to add that I have a complete first run of the Watchmen, bagged and boarded in Near Mint condition ('cause I’ve read them, but carefully). No, they’re not for sale.
There are one or two comics I’ve read that have been up there with good or great novels IMHO. The obvious one, and the one that will get me lambasted by real comix fans is Maus but another one is Ghost World. Both these works conjure up for me worlds and personalities as real as in any novel I’ve read. One way in which comics are “superior” or just different to novels is that stuff can go on in the background that isn’t immediately apparent.
Very cool. I have the Limited Edition published by Graffitti (sp?) in hardback with the extra “working drawings and concepts” section that was released when the compiled graphic novel was published. It shows how all the original Carlton Comics characters where evolved into the WM characters when they couldn’t obtain the rights, etc…
And **BBVLou **- I hadn’t heard about Carla Gugino as Sally - lovely choice.
I have no expectations that the full, dense WM will make it to the screen - but it would be great to get a great movie that captures the basic feel and story of the original. And, frankly, given all the buzz about 300 and the buzz about Moore-related movie adaptations, I hope that leading up to the movie release the mainstream media focuses on the book and it crosses over, becoming more well-known - as with Sin City and 300 from Miller and some of Moore’s other works. I like the thought of Watchmen getting more mainstream recognition.
Terrible idea, IMO. There are few reasons to bring a good book to the screen, and even fewer to bring a good comic book. It’s already visualized for you!
By the way, Watchmen is not a graphic novel in the strictest sense of the term. The collected volume is a trade paperback, though people have taken to calling them graphic novels over the last several years. I think they perceive it to sound more legitimate than “comic book.”
To answer the OP - I would call it great. Important work without a doubt IMO. A top 10 “graphic novel” of all time. Though it’s close to my favorite Alan Moore work, that honor actually goes to Top 10.
I have two sets, one near-mint, one mint. I used to have three but I sold one on eBay for some insane amount of money a few years ago. I used to have the button set and some sort of portfolio thing of the art, but I think those got trashed during a rather less settled time of my life.
I just checked out imdb, and found that Moocher from Breaking Away is playing Rorschach. First I thought that was horrible, then I realized it’s brilliant. If Moocher’s home life was only slightly worse, he could easily have turned into Rorschach.
I recognize the distinction between the two when applied to, say, collections of Batman comics, but in this case, I think Watchmen fits the bill, despite being originally released as a serial. Charles Dickens’ novels were all serialized, too, but no one argues that they aren’t novels.
Jackie Earl Haley (Moocher) just returned to film playing a trying-to-reform child molester who plays a key role in that movie Kate Winslet was in (she was a bored housewife who has an affair…never saw it and can’t recall the name…)
Anyway if you look at photos of him from that movie, he’d be a perfect Rorschach…
**Otto ** - can you give us a general ballpark for what “some insane amount” is for a full set? Either based on your sale or what you’ve seen actual sales go for (i.e., not just eBay auctions with outlandish starting bids)? Just curious…
I couldn’t agree more. I read it about a year ago for the first time too, I was never a comic book person. I always liked the Superhero mythos and am a fan of the current rash of movie adaptations so I figured I had to delve into the major “great” work. I could not have been more disappointed.
I found the book as a whole extremely tedious. I’m no baby boomer, but I’m up to speed on my history and I understood all the social commentary. Still, it did nothing for me.
I’m so glad to hear that I’m not the only one who disliked the pirate sub-theme. I found the the overall story somewhat dull and exhausting, but I actively loathed the pirate and news stand portions of the story. I found myself gritting my teeth as I tried to read them, forcing myself to finish because I was certain they’d enlighten me on the greater story or hold some key to the mystery. When the book ended and they proved to be nothing but indulgent window dressing I was actively angry. God I hated that part of this book, and it makes the works as a whole completely irredeemable.
One day I’ll pick up another graphic novel and give the genre another shot, I’m interested to know if my dislike is for the medium, the genre, the author or just this book.
My local comic book shop usually has a set on hand and it’s typically going for around $60 - $90. Not outrageous but not really within my “impulse buy” price for comics. Less than The Dark Knight Returns, interestingly.
Actually, there’s a more important reason for the pirate stories. The thing is that they were programmed into the creature along with disturbing music and pictures in order to create a psychic shock. Those pirate stories are what killed half of New York.
I’ve been staying out of this thread because I didn’t want to get overly emotional, so I won’t really get involved too heavily, but if you think that the pirate story is superfluous, you basically missed the entire point of Watchmen. I hate to levy such a cheap charge - “you didn’t get it, dude” - but seriously.
…and Justice League Unlimited, except with Rorschach & Doctor Manhattan in place of The Question & Captain Atom.
(For anyone who doesn’t know, the Watchmen characters are largely based on Charlton Comics characters. The writers of JLU had an episode that was an homage to Watchmen, substituting the Charlton characters back into the story.)