Watchmen

Over the past few nights I read Watchmen. This was my first time reading it; in fact, until the movie hype began, I hadn't even heard of the book. (Yes, I understand that my geek credentials will be revoked because of these admissions.)

Not only was this my first read, but it was also my first graphic novel, except maybe for those Chick booklets that warped my mind when I was a kid. I found the storyline incredibly evocative because of the format. I didn't need to spend a lot of mental energy trying to remember which character was which, because their faces were right there in front of me. I wouldn't say it was any faster to read than pure text, because I spent quite a bit of time poring over the pictures even after I'd sopped up all the dialog. I like the compromise between the precision of prose and the convenience of film; like prose, it pushes you in the direction the writers want you to go, and like film, it leaves enough to your interpretation that your experience might be quite different from someone else's, but not so much so that you leave the theater/book saying "huh?," as so often can happen with artsy films.

I appreciate The Incredibles even more now; I can see that it also started with the idea of the everyday lives of superheroes and took it in a totally different direction.

But after watching a trailer of the movie and recognizing nearly every scene from the book, I have to wonder: why make a Watchmen movie at all? Won't it just be a tweened version of the book? I'm sure I'll still see it even if it is. Unfortunately, it's rated R, so that won't happen any time soon unless I can find a sitter for the kids.