Will the Watchmen movie do justice to the graphic novel?

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As Ted notes, the first Watchmen trailer went online today, and it looks fantastic. Every scene looks faithful to the original graphic novel, which is a relief… for now. Pretty much all the major heroes were seen in the trailer, from Rorshach to Ozymandias to Dr. Manhattan to everyone’s favourite, the Comedian.

But will the movie stay true to the graphic novel entirely? Watchmen is an exemplar graphic novel: it showcases all the qualities of a perfect graphic novel. It is a multi-layered, deep narrative that you can read over and over again without ever getting especially tired of it.

The way the rich art blends with the dialogue and narrative is probably what makes the novel so unique. Watchmen is a story that can only be told completely and fulfillingly in the form of a graphic novel. As Alan Moore himself noted, you read a reference in the novel and flip back a few pages to find that reference and you find out something new. You observe the artwork, the backgrounds, the symbolism, and you always learn something new about the complex and beautifully-built world of Watchmen.

Ozymandias

The graphic novel is filled with witty juxtapositions, metaphors, hints and other clues. It expertly blends character exploration with a running story that you’ll never guess. Will the movie be able to capture all of this? Can you really make a decent movie while holding all the subliminal qualities of the novel?

Snyder already proved his mettle with 300, but 300 and Watchmen are two completely different ball games. While 300 wasn’t a bad graphic novel, it was a much easier conversion to the film format. And while the movie did introduce a side-plot I do not agree with, the mild change in style only did good. I’d wager to say that for once, in 300‘s case, the movie was more likeable than the original.

The Comedian

But you’d need at least 6 hours of screentime to convey all the raw information Watchmen bombards you with. There are several layers here, each conveying a deeper sense, a greater gravity to the story and its characters. To fully express them as they were in the novel would be a truly epic task to do in some two and a half hours of film. Snyder is going to have to outdo his previous work.

Also, like the comic, will the movie have hidden hints in the background? Will the movie encourage viewers to see it again and again? Most importantly of all, will it be in the same spirit? Already, I can make out that very minor shift in style from the trailer. It’s definitely good and I love the 300-style flashback scenes from Vietnam. But it is also definitely different.

Dr. Manhattan

Watchmen has a reputation in the world of graphic novels. The problem is, since movies are a much bigger world, will Watchmen achieve a similar status of recognition? The Dark Knight appears to have made its mark with the critics, giving comic book movies a lot of hope, but not everyone is a Christopher Nolan. Well, maybe Zack Snyder is.

While 300 magnified the original and became a success, the comic had been received similarly. Will the Watchmen movie be received with all the appreciation of the graphic novel? If it is, then it will get ratings and reviews no less than what The Dark Knight is bathing in right now. We definitely hope it does, because with better and better comic book movies (Iron Man included), the entire comic book movie industry might be in for a facelift.

This will result in higher bars for Marvel’s upcoming plethora of movies. Perhaps DC’s empty lineup will also receive some entries, such as Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Justice League, or of course, the Superman franchise that seems to have gone dead after Brandon Routh donned the red cape.

We shall wait and we shall see. Watchmen comes out on the 6th of March next year. Kick ass, Snyder.

Witchblade teaser poster, site now online

Witchblade Poster Preview

Among the lesser known comic book series lies Witchblade. Then again, flipping through a few random pages, most people would conclude it to be a trashy ’90s half-porno comic book. While that is true to some extent, Witchblade can atleast be considered as one of the better trashy ’90s half-porno comics.

And what’s better than a sexy live-action movie about it? Witchblade has already been in anime, manga and a cancelled TV series and of course, thousands of pieces of hentai artwork. Ahem. The series is about a mysterious gauntlet passed down from ages that turns a female into a superheroine while stripping her of all clothes to reveal her darn-sexy booty (a prerequisite for wearing the Witchblade).

Well, the teaser poster and site for the movie have just come out, and you’ll find them by hitting the jump!

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Marvel comics goes digital, the internet retaliates

Marvel comics is known for many things, their patriotic super heroes and controversial crossovers (i.e. Civil War) amongst a lot of other things over the 50 or so years they’ve been called Marvel. They’ve made many series, released hundreds of issues, and brought about some of the most famous writers and artists the Comic book industries has to offer. Each week they release several issues of their series, ranging from some that have lasted for decades, to other series that remodel their old characters for a contemporary audience. All of this done on a safe, wood-grainy paper. However in our modern society, a world where everything from ordering pizza to taking a digital dump, the webcomic has become king. Despite the bad jokes and worse art the old school Comic book companies are jumping into the dumpster for some diving.

DC Comics has launched Zuda Comics, an online community where webcomic creators can pit their creations against others for a chance at internet popularity. It’s quite impressive, once you get over the fact most of the comics are attempting to mimic the ever popular Anime art style. Marvel, on the other hand, has seemed to run out of ideas after all of the time they’ve spent licensing their superheroes to film studios for sometimes good, but mostly bad movies. Instead of releasing new comics made by industry unknowns, they decided to take all of their old back issues that are collecting dust in the warehouses and toss them on the internet.

Personally, I’m tickled pink (as odd as the phrase maybe) to be able to read up on all of the years I’ve missed reading about some of my favorite heroes. The collectors on the other hand are pissed. Really pissed. Suicide bombing pissed…. well perhaps not that far. The Marvel’s online website has seemed to have been hacked, this happening less than a week after the new service’s announcement. While this could be attributed to Marvel’s servers crashing due to the overwhelming response, it’s exceptionally unlikely. The site is no longer available as any attempts to check the site are faced with the deus ex machina himself Doctor Strange plaguing your URL bar. The collector’s have retaliated with a bad hack job that would make /b/tards laugh. While this probably won’t last more than a few days, it’s very amusing to watch. The mighty comic icon brought down by it’s own fans.

My question is this. Where is Stan Lee to make a poorly produced reality TV series about it when you need him?

StuffWeLike.com’s very own David Rodriguez, being a player with Stan the Man

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[Via: USAToday, Marvel.com, Mashable]