Graphic Novel Fridays: Watchmen

It’s finally here. The graphic novel that director Terry Gilliam once declared “un-filmable” opens today in theaters thanks to Zack Snyder (300). For early fans with the single issues tucked safely away in mylar sleeves in long boxes, to new devotees cracking the spine of the collected paperback edition, now is the time to be a Watchmen fan. A deluge of Watchmen companions, film books, and new editions of the seminal work have hit the shelves in time for the film’s release.

Aside from the standard trade paperback, DC Comics recently released a hardcover with a new dust-jacket. This edition contains more supplemental material that the standard trade paperback edition, but it is roughly the same trim size. Alan Moore fanatics like me will want to spring for the Absolute Edition, an impressively tall and heavy version of the same story but blown up almost double in size, allowing for all the detail in artist Dave Gibbons’ work to be fully appreciated and studied. It comes in a slipcase with a dust-jacket different from the hardcover edition, and once you’ve read it in this size, there is no going back.

Speaking of Dave Gibbons, he too is taking the opportunity to reflect on his most famous project. Unlike Alan Moore, who has famously distanced himself from the film, Gibbons served as a consultant on the project and happily authored Watching the Watchmen (Titan Books). It’s a deep, exhaustive, behind-the-scenes look at the graphic novel and belongs on any obsessive’s bookshelf (it’s on mine). Omnivoracious featured the book and interviewed Mr. Gibbons back in October.

Titan Books also recently released three Watchmen movie tie-ins, all of which sport incredibly high production values. Watchmen: The Film Companion is a great showcase for character bios and film stills.  It traces the film from storyboards to post-production, with an entire section devoted to the CGI_heavy Dr. Manhattan. Watchmen: Portraits is an oversized hardcover showcasing the portraits of the film’s official photographer, Clay Enos. The 192-page art book includes what I assume to be just about every major and minor character in the film. Director Zack Snyder provides the introduction. Watchmen: The Art of the Film is a very handsome hardcover (be sure to look under the dust-jacket for Astonishing X-Men artist John Cassady’s take on Nite Owl) that focuses, as its title suggests, on the art and design of the film. Comic fans will be happy to hear that this means new artwork from favorites like Cassady, David Finch (Avengers), cover and pinup artist supreme Adam Hughes, and Dave Gibbons. The latter is especially important, aside from the obvious, because he drew several new pieces for the film, including its altered ending. Out of the three Titan tie-ins, it’s my favorite and most essential.

Outside of books on the book, there are also DVDs. Watchmen fanatics initially bit their nails when the run-time of the film was announced (a mere two-and-a-half hours). How could Snyder possibly include Tales of the Black Freighter comic-within-a-comic subplot and Behind the Hood excerpts? Simple: he didn’t. Instead, in an unprecedented move, Snyder was somehow able to convince Warner to release them both on DVD, as fully-financed side projects, to appease fans. The DVD (and Blu-Ray) will release on March 24, just in time for the throngs to stumble out of the theater bleary-eyed after multiple viewings. What a world!

Also on DVD is the curious Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic, which will probably appeal to both completists and readers who don’t feel much like reading the graphic novel. Overseen by Gibbons, the DVD boasts “over 5 hours” of faithful storytelling, albeit in a head-scratching format (available on Blu-Ray as well).

One can only imagine how Alan Moore feels about all of this piggy-packing (or, you can read exactly how he feels in The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore: The Indispensable Edition), but as a die-hard fan of both the graphic novel and author, I am delighted. After all of the above, I am officially prepared for this film. Perhaps too prepared, but I’ll know it if it was all worth it in two-and-a-half hours, after a colleague and I walk out of the IMAX theater having seen the un-filmable on a screen bigger than my apartment.

P.S. The extended run-time may call for a bit of caffeine. Why not sneak in a thermos of Watchmen Gourmet Coffee for that extra Biff! Pow!