The Hugo award winning graphic novel. One of TIME Magazine’s 100 best novels. The future full length movie. The evolution of Watchmen transcends comic books. What can be said about one of greatest graphic novels of our time? Alan Moore has either woken his dormant schizophrenia comic writing daemon from his acid consumption, and distributing in London or is a complete comic book genius inspiring countless comic writers and a whole slew of comic creators. I believe it’s a bit of both. But the book itself re-awoken the whole idea that the graphic novel can transcend a literary form, surpassing those idle ‘toons in the backs of newspaper, which can also carry their own morals.
1987 was the year this bad boy was made. No I’m not talking about me, but was it really 21 years ago I came screaming into this world. It was also the year the second batch of Watchmen comics came out. Man if I could of only started collecting before I began teething those comics are worth a fortune now. But that’s besides the point, I figure that comics haven’t really evolved or broke the barriers that Watchmen broke nearly 20 years ago. And like Obama says it’s time for a change. But it’s not up to the Frank Miller’s or the Alan Moore’s any (pardon the pun) more. It’s up to the future writers and designers of comics, that’s what Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics eludes to towards the end. The future is in the heart and pen of the creators.
I have seen a lot of people, viewing the trailers, complaining about differences between the film and the original comics (ie calling themselves the watchmen, Dr. Manhattan wearing pants). Whenever someone makes a film adaptation of a comic book, I hope they capture the spirit of the characters, and that the film is memorable. If there are minor changes from the comic and the screenplay, I can live with it as long as the film is executed well. I have waited like forever to see this movie, And I am definitely not going to complain if Dr. Manhattan’s blue privates are not hanging out for two and a half hours (especially if Rorshach is lighting people on fire and stuff!).