Watchmen

I'm a comic geek. I gather that's pretty obvious by now. However, I'm not some rabid loyalist to any particular character or group. Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, whatever. I really don't care as long as the story's good. I skirt the edges normally, looking for the unusual and unconventional. Ever hear of Blacksad? Probably not, right?

I guess the popularity of Watchmen was what actually kept me away from it. I've avoided the book for a long time, partially because everyone keeps raving about it. But, with a movie coming up, which looks really good, I finally succumbed and read the thing.

Damn.

I know Alan Moore's seen by a lot of folks out there as God, at least in terms of brilliant comic writing (and if you've seen his pictures, he kinda looks like God, or Rasputin. Take your pick.), but really, his work here is incredible. The world he creates and the characters that populate them are complex and fascinating, and the imagery in each panel is just staggering. The plot is both intricate and insanely over the top, but the effects of it are real-world horrifying.

And everything about that book is deliberate, even the use of bleedingly bright colors for all the illustrations in the book. Even Gibbon's illustration style was deliberately geared to make the comic look like a comic, but the thing didn't read like one. For a while, Watchmen was alone out there. It was pushing comics to its edge, and it did that wonderfully.

Comic books became so much smarter with Watchmen, which deservedly got the nod of critics as a genuine piece of literature. And now it's getting a movie, which has me chomping at the bit to see it.


However, I can't see it covering everything that the book did. More imporatantly, I don't think it should. To try and recreate the intricate works that are in the book on film would be a ridiculously difficult venture. All I hope is that they do a good movie, something that would satisfy everyone's joneses for a moderately intelligent action movie.

Then pick up the book and read the rest.