courtesy Warner Bros.

Those of you who went to see The Dark Knight this weekend saw the trailer for the highly-anticipated movie adaptation to Alan Moore’s Watchmen, the first comic book ever collected in trade paperback.

The trailer looks awesome, and I’m looking forward to this movie, even though Alan Moore doesn’t approve. The comic is about an allegorical set of super heroes now in retirement. It’s the 1980s and the height of the Cold War. The comic is a tome, 12 issues, but well worth the read. The storyline is brilliant, but filled with all sorts of homage and allusions to comics. In fact, the world of Watchmen is a reflection of DC’s history, and acts as a massive love letter to comics fans. The movie will most likely remove a lot of these nuances to make the film more appealing to a wider audience.

All in all, this will most likely be a box office hit. Comic fans have known about Watchmen for years, and hopefully hype up to the film’s release will send people to bookstores to see what it’s about.

L For Lloyd

Many of us have seen the film V For Vendetta. Some don’t realize that it was a comic book before that. Written by Alan Moore, this dystopian/super hero book was illustrated by David Lloyd. I was able to speak to Mr. Lloyd about that comic, as well as his newer series, Kickback, published by Dark Horse.

Matt Knicl: What was your general reaction to the movie? Did you feel, like Alan Moore, that it was a “Bush-era fable” or did you think it stood on its own?

David Lloyd: I thought the movie was great, though not as good as the book. But it was a creditable effort, which I was happy to support to the best of my abilities in any way I could. I’ve nothing but praise for everyone involved in bringing the story to the screen and spreading it’s message.
The Wachowski’s definitely had their own agenda in writing the movie and it was evident in the movie itself - but I don’t think that was undermining to the universality of the central themes of the story. Way back in ‘ 88, Alan’s introduction to the DC Vendettas indicated that V was created in reaction to the fascistic tendencies of the Thatcher government, so a lot of people still think the original was a Thatcher-era fable. But this misconception hasn’t damaged the main message of the story, which has always - and will always - rise above the predominant political landscape in any period in which the story is told.

Read the rest of this entry »

According to Hollywood Reporter:

“20th Century Fox has initiated a legal battle against Warner Bros. over the rights to develop, produce and distribute a film based on the graphic novel Watchmen.

On Friday, the studio sued Warners, claiming it holds the exclusive copyrights and contract rights to Watchmen. Read the rest of this entry »

The comic publishers send their product descriptions to Diamond Comic Distributors, the comic book supplier to most comic book stores for North America three months in advance.

This March there are dozens of great titles to preorder. Read the rest of this entry »

Spidey Swings Into Broadway… And Into Our Hearts

Credit: Marvel

According to Playbill, Bono of U2 will be contributing music to an upcoming Spider-man musical. What story from Spidey’s life - origin, death of Gwen Stacy, etc - will be the focus of the musical is not yet known. Oddly, the Spider-man musical is not the only super hero musical in production.

David Bowie is also rumored to be developing a rock opera based on Alan Moore’s classic Watchmen series.

With musicals reemerging in the collective consciousness, on film and on stage, it makes sense that this corner of popular culture would be ransacked. Hopefully the musicals will strike a chord with new and old fans alike.

A League of Their Own

Media Credit:
Photo Courtesy of
www.dccomics.com

Thank God! Thank the Academy! Thank the Roman snake god Glycon! The third installment of LoEG has arrived!

Originally scheduled for release May 2006, this graphic novel (as it was published straight to hardback) was constantly delayed. Writer Alan Moore’s withdrawal from mainstream comic books (again) due to the butchering of his comic V For Vendetta and the League movie as well. Also, the use of several copyrighted characters, though in passing or with modified names, has led to DC deciding not to publish the work outside of America so as not to violate international copyright law. Read the rest of this entry »