Watch or Read the Watchmen?

Watchmen- y'all know that I don't mind dating myself. I read the Watchmen one by one over the course of a year. This was June 86 to June 87 if I recall. I had since bought the compilation and reread that every few years. I recently gave a new copy to my girl friend and I am rereading the old one again. yes there is a movie coming out. I can be quite anal sometimes when it comes to remakes and reinterpretations. This work is so good it's best left the way it is. But I know it so well that I will watch the movie to see what kind of a train wreck it is.

The story is so good that I will let others describe it since I don't know where to begin. If you look at pictures you might think its another X-Men/ Dark Knight kinda story/ flick. But it's not. With the notable exception of Dr.Manhattan everything else could happen . Alan Moore has been so against this project and in a way I can relate. Thomas Harris as far as I know has never seen any of the film adaptation of his books. One reason I am against adaptations despite the fact they tend to suck is that all these people jump on the bandwagon. If the original was good enough to inspire the remake and re adaptation then the original should be worth reading. If I had my Fuhrer ways, everybody must read two years worth of Iron Man and one years worth of Avengers before watching Iron Man.

Harry Potter for me should have remained a series of books. Mainly cause I rather it be a mystery for the doorknobs who don't read. Also because its such a better experience.

Bill Kelly back in high school first poked me in the ribs on how brilliant a writer Alan Moore is.And he truly is since 20 plus years later he remains my favorite comic writer. Alan Moore has this gift of taking something almost ridiculous then adding a kick to it that is downright serious yet does not bastardize the original.

Read anything by Alan Moore, read the Watchmen before the movie comes out. It will be rewarding on it's own.



Ed



Special note: sorry for accidentally releasing the incomplete version of this entry a few days ago.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/primer-alan-moore,2199/


http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2008/07/comic-con-exclu.html

http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2008/03/the-watchmen-a.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/trivia
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20213004,00.html

http://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/0930289234


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/maindetails
http://comics.ign.com/articles/666/666025p1.html



Absolute Watchmen Review
The greatest comic-book ever written has been made even better.
by Hilary Goldstein


November 10, 2005 - No comic book has been the subject of more essays and serious literary discussion than Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen. It recently was named one of the 100 greatest novels of the past century by Time Magazine. Released 20 years ago, the 12-issue maxi-series was a groundbreaking achievement for comics. Written "for adults," Watchmen opened the doors for thought-provoking and intelligent comics in the mainstream. Two decades after its arrival, there is still no greater comic book.

In honor of the 20-year anniversary, DC Comics recently released a $75 oversized hardcover, Absolute Watchmen. For the first time, the series can be enjoyed at a considerably larger size and with completely re-mastered color. Few would argue the brilliance of Moore's book, but get this -- the Absolute Edition makes this epic tale even better. That's right, the story lauded by critics and loved by fans is now more powerful than any version you have previously read.

The bigger size is certainly a plus and the 50 pages of supplemental material is an excellent bonus. It's almost disquieting to see Moore's page-long descriptions for each panel in his script excerpts. But these bonuses are not what make the new edition the true Absolute. Wildstorm FX and original series colorist John Higgins re-mastered the color for the new hardcover. While it may not be obvious to the casual reader, the new coloring makes a surprising difference.

Compared to the standard softcover edition that has been floating around for a decade, the new colors allow for greater contrast. The color tone has been adjusted on almost every panel and some background colors have actually changed completely. While Gibbons' art has always translated Moore's emotional sentiment, the re-mastered colors make this all the more powerful. The final issue begins with six one-panel pages, which were shocking even back in 1985. Now, on a bigger scale and with adjusted colors, the six silent pages are explosive. The story builds to this moment and more so than in previous printings, this climactic scene reverberates with power.

Moore's tale of a world without heroes is eerily relevant to today's America. Set in 1985, eight years after costumed vigilantes were outlawed, Watchmen is part murder mystery, part political drama. When America's only regulated super-being, the god-like Dr. Manhattan, decides to leave Earth, Russia begins a series of bold moves that could lead to nuclear proliferation. While the world at large is facing crisis, someone has begun killing the retired costumed heroes of America. A few of the old guard begin an investigation, one that leads to a shocking revelation and an unexpected finale.

In Watchmen, Moore shows us a world that has gone completely mad. Not only is the escalation of Cold War hostilities and the idea of nuclear annihilation insane, but the characters driving this tale are all touched with madness. Nixon, the perfect mixture of power and paranoia, has managed to remain President through the '80s. Everyone's favorite hero, Rorschach, is a violent, delusional sociopath. Even the pragmatic Dr. Manhattan cannot escape the manic nature of the human condition. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world and Moore depicts its darkest corners.

Watchmen is the greatest display of Alan Moore's gift for juxtaposition. Employing parallel storytelling, often through a kid reading an old swashbuckler comic book, Moore manipulates the emotional pitch of Watchmen. A great deal of time is devoted to the common man on one specific street corner. It seems, at times, almost like a waste, distracting from the murder-mystery plot. The relevancy of one street corner, of the lives of a handful of New Yorkers, becomes tragically clear in the final two issues. Much like D.M. Thomas' novel, The White Hotel, Watchmen illuminates the ordinary lives of a few so that we can understand the tragedy that strikes the millions of others just like them.

As much as the story of Watchmen shaped the future of comics, Dave Gibbons' art altered the way people viewed the graphic medium. Gibbons isn't afraid to leave central characters off-panel or focus on an object in the foreground, making the speaking characters visually obsolete. There's little action in Watchmen, a story that runs more than 350 pages, so Gibbons uses cinematic tricks to keep our focus through pages upon pages of dialogue. My favorite is a short scene between Nite-Owl and Silk Spectre, where the two are pushed to the edges of the panel and we watch their conversation unfold in the mirror behind them. Gibbons' art is the perfect compliment to Moore's words. It's hard to imagine Watchmen with different partners.


Much smarter folks than myself have provided in-depth analysis of Watchmen over the years. I won't even try and plunge into the depths of this major work. Suffice to say it's quite a dense read and not the kind of book you pick up for a fun time. This is my fifth or sixth reading of Watchmen and I've found that each time I read through this book, I discover something new. Now with the Absolute edition, I've gained an even greater sense of Moore's story. This is a masterpiece. One that has inspired just about every writer since its release. Just as Citizen Kane was the father of modern cinema, the techniques in Watchmen can be seen in dozens of comics on the rack today. Still, after 20 years, no other work comes anywhere close to Watchmen. It remains the best comic-book of all time and the new hardcover is easily the best collection ever released.