Pacino86845 wrote:Watchmen (Absolute Edition) is out... at $75 USD. Anyone seen inside it, know what it looks like inside? Is it worth it? I have a simple softcover trade paperback, and it is arguably my favorite comic story of all... and the original coloring did always disturb me.
j_3_h (NY) wrote:18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Simply about this edition; October 14, 2005
If you don't already know, the other reviews will fill you in on the Watchmen's story and its significance to the comic medium. I'm here to tell you about this edition of the book, which is basically an oversized version of the long out-of-print Graphitti Designs hardcover version complete with all of that edition's exclusive extras (which is fantastic, since that out-of-print volume goes for major bucks on eBay when it does rarely surface). Until now, that Graphitti Designs edition was the one to own... this tops it, due to its oversized pages and superior-quality printing.
Want to see how the "Watchmen" story was originally about Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, and the Question (along with other Charlton characters), and how it changed to what it is? There is a very in-depth look at the original proposal included here.
Want to see early Gibbons art? It's here. How about rarely-seen teaser strips, published long before the first issue? Again included. Alan Moore's script samples? You got it.
Bottom line: I can't think of anything that could possibly be done or included that would make a superior edition to this one.
Was this review helpful to you?
DennisMM wrote:I have the original Graphitti Editions leatherbound hardcover, which cost $50 back in '89 or whenever. Beautiful, beautiful stuff, which a ribbon bookmark and everything.
What does the new color look like? Hmm. I liked the original coloring.
Watchmen Now at Warner Bros.?
Source: Entertainment Weekly
October 24, 2005
Entertainment Weekly has published an article talking about Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen in which the possible movie is mentioned as well. The magazine claims that Warner Bros. Pictures is now in talks to pick up the project after it was dropped by Paramount Pictures. The mag asked the creators and influenced talent about the movie:
In the late '80s, producer Joel Silver (The Matrix) tried to make a film adaptation with director Terry Gilliam. Robin Williams and Richard Gere were rumored to be interested. But the project imploded primarily over budget, and the end of the Cold War deprived Watchmen of its political relevance. But in 2001, the comic found new life thanks to a zeitgeist-mining script by David Hayter (X-Men). Paramount was set to roll earlier this year with The Bourne Supremacy's Paul Greengrass at the helm — until a regime change at the studio sent it into turnaround. Still, says producer Larry Gordon, ''We have every reason to believe we will eventually make the movie.'' By the way, Moore doesn't mind: He's adamantly opposed to Watchmen's adaptation for artistic, business, and personal reasons — a position that hardened after Fox's limp 2003 version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen — and plans to give any film royalties to Gibbons.
GIBBONS
I remember meeting with Joel Silver, who wanted to cast Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dr. Manhattan: ''He's gonna be Arnie!'' We said, ''Well, he's got the physique, but the German accent...'' He said, ''Doesn't matter!'' It didn't come to anything with Joel.
SAM HAMM (first Watchmen screenwriter)
I was coming off writing Batman when I was asked to take a whack at it. I thought it too unwieldy to compress into two hours. The comic really is a spectacular piece of architecture. Trying to replicate it [was]just impossible.
HAYTER
What I pitched to Larry was actually a miniseries for HBO. But it would have cost $100 million. When I mapped it out as a two-hour movie, I looked at how Peter Jackson broke down The Lord of the Rings. My first draft was 178 pages, which was encouraging; it told me a screenplay was actually possible. One thing that has tripped up Hollywood is the Cold War setting, when there was a sense of impending doom. With 9/11, unfortunately, we got it right back again. So we did update it.
MOORE
David Hayter's screenplay was as close as I could imagine anyone getting to Watchmen. That said, I shan't be going to see it. My book is a comic book. Not a movie, not a novel. A comic book. It's been made in a certain way, and designed to be read a certain way: in an armchair, nice and cozy next to a fire, with a steaming cup of coffee. Personally, I think that would make for a lovely Saturday night.
The full article is available in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly.
Flumm wrote:[If there was ever a cinematic legend in the making, it has to be Watchmen. Can you imagine Dr Mahnhatten on the big screen? If there's any project, that I would want to come off exceeding anyones expectations, it would be this.
burlivesleftnut wrote:I wish he would get a hair cut.
ThisIsTheGirl wrote:No Killing Joke?????
Ribbons wrote:Adam Balm wrote:So this is coming out soon. Can't wait. Thoughts?
Adam Balm wrote:Congratulations, Ribbons. You're the first one in this thread to actually look at the cover and thus get the joke. Well done.
A lost work
There is a "lost work" from this period, a miniseries proposal called Twilight of the Superheroes which Moore submitted to DC at some point in 1987. A superheroic pun on Nietzche's "Twilight of the Idols", this story was to be set two decades in the future of the DC Universe and would feature an epic final conflict between good and evil, as well as between the older and younger generations of superheroes. Twilight was conceived as a standalone miniseries which could optionally also be tied into ongoing titles, much like the then-recent Crisis on Infinite Earths; however it would also undo one element of the prior series by restoring writers' access to the various multiple earths which had been eliminated during Crisis. Cleverly, Moore did this in such a way as to leave the single timeline of the post-Crisis continuity intact.
The story would feature a world ruled over by superheroic houses, in which the two most powerful, the House of Steel (presided over by Superman and Wonder Woman) and the House of Thunder (consisting of the Marvel family) are about to join forces through a political marriage between the children of the two families. Such a marriage would make the combined houses an unstoppable force and a potential danger to freedom, and as such certain characters set about a complex plot to prevent the marriage and free humanity from the power of the superheroes. By the climax of the story, elements from all across the universe and from up and down the timestream would be brought in. Unusually, the series would highlight many obscure and forgotten DC characters by putting them in important roles, and the lead character would be John Constantine, whose interaction with the superheroes of the DC Universe had up until then (and indeed since) been rather minor.
With Moore's departure from DC, the series never got beyond the proposal stage, although copies of Moore's very lengthy notes have appeared on the internet and in print. DC have been quite thorough in tracking down and suppressing these copies as the story, though unpublished, is still considered the property of the company. Elements of Twilight can be seen in the concept of hypertime and particularly in DC's similar-themed series Kingdom Come, leading cynics to remark that the suppression of copies of the Twilight proposal may be an attempt by DC to hide the fact that they are strip-mining unused Moore concepts. Both Mark Waid and Alex Ross, the creators of Kingdom Come, have admitted that they had read the Twilight proposal before starting work on their series, but claim that any similarities are both minor and unintended
keepcoolbutcare wrote:Adam Balm wrote:Congratulations, Ribbons. You're the first one in this thread to actually look at the cover and thus get the joke. Well done.
I thought jokes were supposed to be funny.![]()
Dennis, any truth to this...
DinoDeLaurentiis wrote:Alla this a traffic anna only 3 replies to a the poll!??
VOTE YOU GODDAMN PUTZES!!
David Hayter wrote:If another writer wants to undertake that route, then I wish them the best, and fervently hope the film is not ruined as a result. As a fan, I did not revive interest in this project only to see it go the way of Daredevil.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests