Trailer Park: Watchmen

[retsuko]

The new Watchmen trailer is up here at Apple.

It certainly does look good, but then again, any trailer can, with a little snappy editing and some well-recorded theme music. I find two things a bit off-putting, though:

1) The only major star in this picture is Billy Crudup. How will the marketing campaign for the film go, and who will it target, without the obvious draw of a major Hollywood player? I wonder if the studio will go for something incredibly low-key, almost the "instant cult" route.

2) The tag-line "From the most celebrated graphic novel of all time" appears about halfway through. Is "Watchmen" really the most celebrated graphic novel? Of all time? I would argue that while "Watchmen" is a highly influential work, there are other, more beloved works that rightly deserve that accolade. ("Maus" and some of the Tintin books come to mind--but I could still be half-asleep.) And I almost hate to say this, but I have always thought of this work as the book that boyfriends press their comic-disliking girlfriends to read.

But am I crazy? Is this indeed the greatest graphic novel of all time? What does everyone else think?

Comments

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that line also struck and bothered me, although what you might expect from a Frank Miller devotee, I guess. Perhaps it depends on a narrow definition of "graphic novel." But yeah -top 10, sure, I'd give it that. But "most?" And the other weird thing about the trailer from my perspective was that it seemed to be entirely geared towards folks who had read Watchmen; as someone who's glanced at it once or twice, I had a moment or two of "hey, is that the guy who..." but other than that, a lot of "so, there are a bunch of people running around this city who apparently have powers and weird outfits, and some of the normal folk dislike them."

[kjpepper.livejournal.com]

I have always thought of this work as the book that boyfriends press their comic-disliking girlfriends to read.

ha ha this exactly.

I don't know about the greatest, but I will give it the most influential. Maus and Watchmen came out around the same time if I recall correctly - the two of them rocked the comic book format so hardcore that both works were getting read and lauded (and both have been heaped with all kinds of crazy awards) by people who would never have given a comic book a second glance before. Hence the creation of the "graphic novel" which is just a snooty way of differentiating "highbrow" words and pictures work from the stereotypical superhero vs monster of the week "comic books." Basically they were the first to say "COMICKZ = SRS BIZNES." and the world went "OMGHAX!!NOT4KIDZ!!BRAINSPLODE!!"

Honestly I didn't know this was happening, as I could swear that Alan Moore said something along the lines of eating live babies while walking through hot glass and pissed off crocodiles before letting one of his works get made into a movie. That said... Should be interesting.

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

I... gotta say I think they might have reason to call it that, as much as anyone can ever make a claim like that. So yeah, sure, the way it's said in the trailer makes it seem oversold... but I think Watchmen does have a claim to being the most acclaimed graphic novel of all time. It really depends on what population you ask, and it's complicated by the fact that Maus is rapidly becoming a high school and college literature class standard, and I don't think Watchmen is. But as much as I love Maus, I do think Watchmen makes a very solid claim of "superhero comics are serious business" which is more daring than how Maus claims that classically-drawn black and white animal-charactered cartooning can be serious business. I think Watchmen's claim is more daring. Even though I enjoy stuff like Maus and Persepolis more than I enjoyed Watchmen.

And I am repeating myself horribly. Sorry.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Oh, the thorny dance of "what is a graphic novel?" You will pardon me if I sit that one out. ;)

But on your second point, I completely agreed--it did seem to be geared towards people who had poured over the material. I know a few of the characters on sight, and I do have to admit that everyone *looks* great, almost as if they stepped off the page of the book itself. But I couldn't make heads nor tails of the plot, which did appear to be "some people dislike superheroes because that Blue Guy just vaporized a random Asian guy." And also, there is a woman in a hot, skin-tight bodysuit.

I do have to admit that the visual of the castle? structure? building itself in mid-air was pretty stunning.

I suppose that this is a sign that I should read the whole book from cover to cover in one sitting, and not piece by piece, here and there in comic book stores.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

OMGHAX!!NOT4KIDZ!!BRAINSPLODE!! = XD

You're right--both of these works garnered comic books attention like never before, and elevated them beyond what they had been: little books for little kids, or people with little lives. Now a kid saying "I want to be a comic book artist/writer when I grow up" is taken a lot more seriously, I think, than say about 20 years ago.

And, yes, I wonder if Alan Moore signed off on this project in any major way. And this is one of his most layered, too. We shall see. I suspect that I will overhear some things about it at Comic-Con and will duly report back if anything interesting comes up.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, therein lies the problem: even though Maus tackles (to me) much scarier subject matter and has very difficult passages, I liked it more than what I have read of Watchmen and would rather assign it to a class. I actually taught with it once, to the Vancouver Film School, although that was a very specialized audience right there. And I cannot pin down why this is--I like a lot of Moore's other work (although he's always a little too wordy and it takes me a few pages to get used to his style, every time) and I know he's not wasting my time with pointless subject matter. But there's something about Watchmen where I read a few pages and think, oh, do I have to? Maybe it has to do with the fact that I didn't read a lot of superhero comics as a kid, or buy into a lot of the cape mythology, so perhaps the story resonates less with me. Or maybe, as I mentioned to orichalcum above, this is a sign that I should sit down and read the entire book!

[kjpepper.livejournal.com]

It is worth doing at least once. It's certainly not my favorite graphic novel by far, and it was difficult to get through, no lie. But I was very glad I had read it by the end.

I'll probably re read it before the movie comes out just cause.

[kjpepper.livejournal.com]

I do have to admit that the visual of the castle? structure? building itself in mid-air was pretty stunning.

Yeah, I downloaded the 1080i version just to watch that part over and over. *drool*

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

I had to put it down periodically, but it was very worth reading. And ultimately, it was telling me a story I didn't already know anything about, and talking about moral issues that I hadn't really thought about. That's not true of Maus, I'd already read plenty on his subject material though his characters' experiences of it are radically different quite unique. (I cannot explain my choice of words today. It's really strange.)

Moore takes a lot of getting used to, yes. Speaking of hard to read, but by someone else, have you tried to take on _Transmetropolitan_ yet? That has too much gross-out for me to read much at a time, but I've read about 60% of it. I started with the last volume because I saw the cover art and was compelled (it references a historical event that a lot of people I know were linked to), and then read the first 5 or so, but I bogged down and then I moved and needed to give the volumes back to their owner, etc.

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

Yes please, you gets intel, you tells us! Yay!

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

OK, due to the two of you, it's definitely going on my list. I suspect that yebisu9 will enjoy it as well.

I picked up a Transmetropolitan at a book exchange once and really liked the art style, but was rather confused at what was going on, and who exactly the characters were. However, I think I might give that one another try, too. I know Spider Jerusalem is a big-time cult favorite, so it might be interesting to see what the fuss is about.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

Hell, if the definition of "graphic novel" is being so narrowly defined as to limit the competition, Watchmen itself should be excluded, as it was originally published as comics floppies, and is structured accordingly.

How many angels can dance on the head of an artist's pen?

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

Belike he doesn't control the relevant rights. Simple authorial disapproval generally does not stop people who make movies from making movies and in whatever fashion they like, and Moore's name is hot stuff.

[lady-of-mists.livejournal.com]

A lot of journalists like Transmetropolitan -- because of Spider Jerusalem in part. I've not read it, so I can't say more. :)

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

It really requires reading in order. And it's confusing but amazing.

Okay, I have now seen the Watchmen trailer, and I'm impressed. WOW.