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Pulitzer Laureate  Posts: 718 Joined: 9 May 2008     | |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 2481 Joined: 29 Mar 2008    | It's the same as Citizen Kane. It broke so much new ground for comic books. there was nothing like it before there. |
News Room Contributor  Posts: 7545 Joined: 13 Feb 2008    | Well, basically, it deals with the whole idea of what it is to be a Superhero, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the knock-on effect of having the Ubermensch within reality, the lengths which some people will go to, how warped our perception of time is, the reaction to fear, the public's swayability, what drives 'Superheroes', the neo-noir movement, how normal people react when confronted by figures of divinity and how they would react confronted with us. It's a little tough going at times, but for anyone that imagines living in a different world, or wants to know of the horrors of war, it's one of the greatest 'comic' novels available. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1099 Joined: 19 Jun 2008     | No idea about the popularity, only comics I ever collected were witchblade, darkness and 2000A.D. I do know the movie has been delayed because fox is suing warner bros for some reason. Not sure on the specifics. Caught a bit of news about it on AotS last week, but I was really paying attention at the time. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 2107 Joined: 13 Dec 2007   |
Citizen Kane was a comic book!? |
News Room Contributor Posts: 7545 Joined: 13 Feb 2008 | |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 2164 Joined: 23 Dec 2007   | |
The Man So Nice They Named Him Twice  Posts: 570 Joined: 4 Jan 2008   |
If you don't get what the fuss is about, I don't think anyone will be able to help you. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1537 Joined: 22 Jul 2008    |
Only the best damn comic book there is!
EDIT:
Well I was close. |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 435 Joined: 24 Sep 2008    | I was under the impression that it was one of the most loved graphic novels of all time. I havent read it yet but I will before the movie comes out. The trailer looks absolutely kick-ass. |
Muckraker  Posts: 258 Joined: 12 Nov 2008  | I really have hopes for this film, but you know that they always show the best bits of a movie in the trailer to sucker you into seeing what usually turns into a huge steaming pile. But Sin City was done well, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. |
Beat Writer Posts: 158 Joined: 18 Aug 2006  | Watchmen is done by Snyder-afaik he had nothing to do with sin city? |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 2287 Joined: 27 Aug 2008     | Watchmen was the first proper attempt to have real characters and dealing with the effect of an actual superhero on the world. Not in the juvenile 'we're different, stop persecuting us' way of the X-men but in a realistic way. The fact that the whole story basically boils down to who do you side with: extreme Unitarianism or extreme absolutism. That's pretty cool for a picture book. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 2130 Joined: 15 Jun 2008   | Not to mention the sucker punch of an ending... |
Beat Writer Posts: 223 Joined: 1 Aug 2008   | Besides being one of the first genuine graphic novels (that actually benefits from being sold as a big chunk), Watchmen has an excellent ending, multiple viable characters, lots of little details and thematic elements to draw you into the story (like a Ridley Scott movie), and it's also "ahead of the curve" in taking a very dark approach to the superhero. Bonus points for reading the extra content between each chapter. On the minus side, the coloring is awful, horror and sex are used as ways to ratchet up emotional intensity with depressing frequency, and the prose is turgid and stiff. (Mercifully, the dialogue and panel layout are free of this problem.) Still worth reading. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 2467 Joined: 1 Nov 2007   |
Which they've apparently changed in the movie. Yer, Im pissed. |
King of the Yetis  Posts: 2530 Joined: 15 Jul 2008 |
Ironysarus Rex right there. The comic was groundbreaking while at the same time familiar. It took what were esssentially old tired characters with very little depth and turned them into functioning (or semi functioning) human beings. That seems to be Moore's particular talent considering his work on Miracle-Man (awesome up to a point) and The Leauge of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The ending sucked though. |
Muckraker  Posts: 327 Joined: 16 Aug 2008  | "I cant get enough of big blue glowing spacemen with there celestial lads hanging out"-yhatzee |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 2130 Joined: 15 Jun 2008 |
State your source- the interviews I've read suggest Snyder wouldn't presume to change anything.
Really? I liked the ending. Ozy's line sent a chill through me when I first read it. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 4582 Joined: 13 Aug 2008     | I think the reason for the popularity is what folks are all saying here: it was so original. How many other comic books focus on retired superheroes in the real world? True, it's got some supernatural aspects (Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan) but most of the heroes were just regular people in costumes. It took an actual event, the first hero comics, and wondered what would have happened if people decided to act out those fantasies, and just ran with it. |
Senior Editor  Posts: 1511 Joined: 9 Jan 2007   |
Dude, the videogame is going to be epic. Kane's finishing moves are amazing, though pulling off the "Rosebud" is likely to break your fingers. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 2467 Joined: 1 Nov 2007 |
I wouldn't have though so either, but... http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/11/10/zack-snyder-confirms-watchmen-ending-to-be-changed/ I can see where the guys coming from. The ending was very out there. But its also one of the most memorable and horrific moment in a comic...ever. Apparently it'll be the same moral dilema. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1349 Joined: 7 Jan 2008   | Yeah, on the strength of the fact that it won the Hugo award and had several categories of other award created for it, added to creating the modern graphic novel and hauling DC off the junkheap, and inspiring Frank Miller's work, I'm going to have to say it's important. Each character is a distilled archetype of superhero, with the negatives accentuated; this makes for popular paranoia against them. Think of Lex Luthor as the nicest guy involved, and every citizen as J. Jonah Jameson Lite. |
King of the Yetis Posts: 2530 Joined: 15 Jul 2008 |
While the comic was great it didn't really grab me. Rorschach, on the other hand, grabbed me, punched me in the face then threw me through a window. That's why I think the ending was bullshit. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 2130 Joined: 15 Jun 2008 |
Actually... much as I am loathe to admit it, that change does rather make a bit of sense.
Ahh, I see where you are coming from, but I must respectfully disagree. |
News Room Contributor Posts: 7545 Joined: 13 Feb 2008 |
I'm still shocked over what he did to Robin. I didn't know a sledge could do that.... |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 444 Joined: 22 Sep 2008 | I'm not a huge fan of comics, but I picked up Watchmen kind of on a whim and I really enjoyed it. I basically spent my entire weekend reading the book. Reading the article, it looks like the filmmakers are only changing the squid part, and I do believe it is totally possible to achieve the same end that the book does without the squid. Really, as long as the important themes and ideas of the book are communicated, I'll be fine with whatever comes out. This whole "They're changing the book!!!" reaction is kind of ridiculous. Whenever a popular or beloved book/comic/video game is adapted to film, it inexplicably really pisses people off if they're not EXACTLY the same. Seriously, they're two different forms of media. Changes are necessary to make things work. |
Paperboy  Posts: 24 Joined: 5 Nov 2008 |
SPOILER ALERT |
King of the Yetis Posts: 2530 Joined: 15 Jul 2008 |
There was blood and gunk all over the place after he did it though. |
Paperboy  Posts: 19 Joined: 30 May 2008  |
Changing the ending is blasphemy. This is why Moore doesn't go to see the movies of his comics. How could they possibly change the ending to have the same impact on the world and on the characters? |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 2130 Joined: 15 Jun 2008 |
It seems what they've done is change the nature of the attack, and removed the Squid, rather than the mechanics of the ending. |
Paperboy Posts: 19 Joined: 30 May 2008 |
I'm not sure how else they could represent an attack "from elsewhere" so the countries stop fighting and focus on this "outside threat" rather than each other. |
Paperboy Posts: 24 Joined: 5 Nov 2008 |
I totally agree. A proper ending is the most artistically important part of a great story! The ending in the comics was perfect, and really blew my gourd. How far should someone's head be up their own ass to think they should rewrite that? Grrr... |
Muckraker  Posts: 295 Joined: 10 Jun 2008 |
Not meaning to spoil anything, but The Rosebud finish *slices* off your fingers if you mess up. |
Beat Writer  Posts: 169 Joined: 2 Jun 2008  | because if you dont like it the ancient snake god that lives in moores oaken beard will arise and sing the song that ends the universe. |
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Until I saw the trailer about The Watchmen movie, I had totally forgotten about that comic book (graphic novel, if you prefer). I hadn't read it in years. I picked up a copy of it at a local comic book store and scanned through it. I don't get what the fuss is all about. Maybe someone on The Escapist can enlighten me.