Who Watches The Watchmen? In this case the Fans

When Watchmen was released in 1985-1986, I wasn't reading DC Comics regularly. I was going to school at O'Connell Junior high trying to perfect my drawing style, and was reading Marvel titles almost exclusively, particularly X-Men, and Avengers. It wasn't that I didn't like DC comics. Most of my favorite characters are from that line, but in that particular year there had been a maxi-series called Crisis on Infinite Earths that was effectively changing all I knew about my favorite characters and so a lot of them were going through reboots. Supergirl and the Flash, had been killed with Wally West taking over the Flash identity, Superman and Batman were being rebooted under the directions of Frank Miller and John Byrne. And since Watchmen didn't fit into any continuity of titles I was reading I passed on picking up the 12 issues. Although I liked the artwork. Besides being thought as a geek, and feeling misunderstood, I found X-men more relative to what I was going through back in 1985-86.

Flash Forward to 1989. In trying to learn as much about the comic book industry, I was picking up as many books as I could about the histories of my favorite companies.At the time I wanted to be a comic writer/artist, and felt the more I knew about the industry the better chance I had at being able to be hired. So I dove in, learning everything I could. In all the books I was reading, there was always a chapter devoted to The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson, and The Watchmen, By Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The two titles were so instrumental in changing the face of comics forever, I finally decided I would read them, to see what made the titles so ground breaking.

Being an avid reader of comics, a normal reading of an issue takes about five minutes. A graphic novel between twenty to thirty minutes. Watchmen was so dense in it's material, it took me almost two weeks to completely read all the way through. And when I finished I wasn't sure exactly what I thought of it. Was it the greatest comic book story ever written? Not upon my first reading. In fact it took me three or four readings over the next couple of years before I understood all of the material, and actually understood why all the hype, accolades, and awards.I understood why it was included in the top 100 greatest English speaking novels of the Twentieth Century. But why?

What made Watchmen different was not only the denseness of the material, but how intelligent, and thought provoking all the narratives were and the complexity of those narratives being interwoven by the story's end. The story is very complex, from it's plot of the main story, to it's subplots, and the analogy in the narrative, using the comic with in a comic "Tales of the Black Freighter" which is what the character Bearnard is reading by a news stand during the duration of the story. The artwork was just as intelligent. From it's structure, From it's color scheme, to it's panel construction, to it's symmetry. I also began to understand why the property was declared almost impossible to make into a movie. Which had been a "Hollywood project" since it appeared in Time Magazine, and Rollingstone as early as 1987. It's narrative was at times too sophisticated for a common film going audience.




Flash forward 2008- The Dark Knight was to become to me the greatest comic book film and in fact my favorite movie of all time. And Watchmen was in production. Shortly before Dark Knight's release Zak Snyder had been the go to guy to finally get Watchmen off the ground. I followed the pre-production of the movie with interest, knowing what he had done with the abstract graphic novel 300. But I reserved judgment about the project. I remember talking to J. Sean about Watchmen, since I was being asked about it a lot from co-workers who knew my love of comics and comic book related film. I answered their questions almost in apprehension. There had been a boom in the movie going audience going to see comic book related movies. And even though a lot of the movies have been good, and successful, aside from Dark Knight and a few others, comic book movies haven't been the most thought provoking. And when I finally saw the first trailer for Watchmen, I worried.


The reason for the apprehension? It was two fold. A- I wondered how closely the movie would adapt the material, and how to make a three hundred page story fit within a two hour movie even with Zak Snyder at the helm. What plot lines would be dropped, how close would it's translation be? Would it have to be dumbed down for the general public with some of it's narratives, and if close to the source material, Would the audiences get it? Oh I knew initially upon it's release it would make tons of money it's first weekend, and that it's audience would drop off after. But the question always came back- would the audience get it? I wasn't fully convinced. It was this conversation I had with J.Sean, who ended up reading the material even after I had, I didn't read it until late 1989. The most common question was so what's it about? That isn't the easiest question to answer when it comes to The Watchmen.

"Well.." I'd begin.

The story takes place in an alternative 1985, where Richard Nixon has won an unprecedented number of terms and is still President of the United States. America and the Soviet Union are at the brink of the Cold War becoming a reality. Tensions are at an all time high, and aside from two costumed adventurers sanctioned by the government, Super heroes have been outlawed, or forced into retirement. One of the two Government sanctioned heroes, called the Comedian is murdered, and the main plot involves the outlawed Hero Rorschach trying to investigate who killed the Comedian. That is the main story. The main sub-plot involves Dr. Manhattan, the only super powered hero who is losing his humanity, and how his very existence is changing the lives of everyone he is in contact with, some of them with devastating results. Among them Silk Spectre, who is a second generation hero, taking over the mantle from her Mother. She leaves Dr. Manhattan, and to begin a relationship with the second generation Nite Owl, who was the former partner of Rorschach. Also involved is Adrian Veidt- Ozymandias who retired, but has turned his identity into a multimillion dollar conglomerate, but has a growing concern over the impending war. The secondary subplot follows Bearnard a kid at the news stand who during the story is reading a comic book entitled "Tales of the Black Freighter" which works as an allegory to the mental stability of one of the main plot's characters. It's not an origin story of the Watchmen, and other than the detective aspect of the story, it's not really an action story, or a popcorn story at all. Not what I would call an action movie property. Knowing even with the high fan boy base, it's numbers wouldn't be even close to Dark Knight. A lot of that had to do with the advertising campaign.



While it is the perfect Comic book Fan boy movie, as close to a literal translation of a graphic novel as I have ever seen, just as I suspected it wasn't a huge world wide phenomena in popularity that say Dark Knight or Spider-man was. I compare it to Lord of the Rings in a way, as far as the faithfulness of it's source material. However, Watchmen doesn't have the world wide audience, or for that matter the fan base that Tolkien's Trilogy had. The story isn't as clear cut as the Rings Trilogy. There isn't a clear cut narrative with quick pacing. Watchmen is a pretty lengthy movie. For what it had to put on the screen it's understandable, but what makes it different is the pacing that say The Dark Knight had. The Dark Knight is a long movie, but it moves. By the time it's over it doesn't feel like you have spent three hours watching it. The narrative and pace drive the movie so it feels quick. The exposition is given on the run, not so in the case of the Watchmen. In Watchmen exposition is handled exactly like it's handled in it's source material, Flash backs of a particular character's recollection, which at times slows the pacing. I'm not sure what the general public was expecting when they walked into the film. It was showy, and flashy in the trailer, and they made it clear it was considered one of the greatest graphic novels of all time...but if you aren't into comic books, who cares? The sad thing about certain properties are that even though you try to make it appeal to the "Larger audience" sometimes the material doesn't allow you to. And I think in the case of Watchmen, that was the case. And Judging the numbers of the movie's box office take, this appears to be the case. My hat is off to the actors, and Zak Snyder for attempting and succeeding in being faithful to the source material, and giving the comic book fans a great adaptation. My only regret is the source material doesn't allow it to be appreciated to a mass audience.

The Comedian, Nite Owl,Ozymandias, Rorschach, Silk Spectre

Why? Partly because it wasn't written that way. The book was written in 1985 during the heart of the Cold War. It's not like Spider-man who is a kid trying to grow and mature and face responsibilities, while having to serve the public as Spider-man and the complications it causes. It isn't The Batman, who is trying to keep his city safe and above all prevent and eradicate crime, while trying to stop a foe who is his equal. It's an examination of the concept of Superheroes, and how even having them, the world is every bit as dark even though they are around. It's hard to feel empathy to any of the characters save maybe Nite Owl, or Rorschach, and even then Rorschach you should feel a little disturbed being able to empathize with. The Comedian is an asshole and a scumbag, which even in the comic makes it hard to feel any sympathy for, and it's his murder that is the heart of the plot. There isn't a big over the top villain really, it's more of a psychological look of if there were actual super heroes, would we need them, and how would they play in our every day lives. It isn't a popcorn movie. It isn't a three hour thrill ride that feels like it lasted an hour.