{"id":454,"date":"2009-02-21T06:17:27","date_gmt":"2009-02-21T10:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=454"},"modified":"2009-02-21T06:17:27","modified_gmt":"2009-02-21T10:17:27","slug":"what%e2%80%99s-the-deal-with-%e2%80%9cwatchmen%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=454","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the Deal with \u201cWatchmen\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On March 6, 2009 a long awaited movie adaptation of the graphic novel (collected comic book series) \u201cWatchmen\u201d will be in theaters. What started as a project originally tapped director Terry Gilliam stated was impossible to translate to film is now being brought to the big screen by director Zach Snyder of \u201c300\u201d fame. Those of you who know comic book fans, who at this point are in a near ecstatic state, may find yourself wondering, what is the big stinkin\u2019 deal about \u201cWatchmen\u201d? <\/p>\n

I have generally found myself hesitant to write about comic books here on The Magical Buffet. I do not feel I have the knowledge of the history of the medium to discuss it intelligently, or the intellect to discuss the medium in such a way that does it the justice it deserves. My explanation of why \u201cWatchmen\u201d is such a big deal is my opinion alone, and undoubtedly will not do this book justice. I could fill pages mentioning the awards and acclaim this collected comic series won, and I could quote experts in the field on the importance of \u201cWatchmen\u201d, but this isn\u2019t a collegiate write up, this is hopefully an everyman accessible glimpse at why \u201cWatchmen\u201d, and its upcoming film, are such a big deal. Aimed especially for those who are not comic book readers.<\/p>\n

In order for me to explain why \u201cWatchmen\u201d matters so much to me, I have to start out at the beginning. Like most girls growing up, I wasn\u2019t a comic book reader. I would read \u201cGarfield\u201d and \u201cPeanuts\u201d. Occasionally my mom would pick me up a \u201cMisty\u201d or \u201cArchie\u201d comic book at the grocery store. My only other experiences with comic books were their translation onto the big screen, like the \u201cSuperman\u201d movies. I didn\u2019t read any other comics until the middle of high school when my friend Doug loaned me his copy of the graphic novel \u201cSeason of Mists\u201d for the comic book series \u201cSandman\u201d by Neil Gaimen. This book was eye opening for me. First, I had not known that comic books were sometimes bound by story arc into books, generally referred to as graphic novels. In addition, I was unaware that there were comic books that didn\u2019t deal with superheroes. The complexity and passionate stories told in that first book impressed me so much that one of my first comic book purchases when I moved to New York was to buy every \u201cSandman\u201d graphic novel\u2026.all at once.<\/p>\n

Why does that bit of background matter? It shows my atypical introduction to comics. Until rather recently, I had never read a \u201csuperhero\u201d comic book. No \u201cX-Men\u201d, \u201cSpiderman\u201d, or even \u201cBatman\u201d had been touched. Which, from what I\u2019ve been led to believe, is not how it normally works. (Much the way that I didn\u2019t start my role-playing experiences with \u201cDungeons and Dragons\u201d.) Shortly after my now husband and I started dating we had a very important book exchange. One of those tests. If you \u201cget\u201d this, then you\u2019re okay, kind of things. I loaned him \u201cNeuromancer\u201d by William Gibson and he gave me the graphic novel \u201cWatchmen\u201d. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to give you some sort of plot synopsis or character outlines. Instead, I\u2019m going to tell you what really matters to me about the book.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>Why would a normal man choose to don a mask and fight crime without the backing of the police or superhuman abilities? What happens to a normal man who can rewrite reality but has no human connection to the reality in which we live? Is it ever morally correct to comprise? Are love and hate more closely connected than we would like to believe? Does doing whatever it takes to save your loved ones make you a monster? What happens to a masked vigilante when they quit?<\/p>\n

All those questions, and more, are asked and explored within a back drop of an alternate history of the United States in the 1980s where vigilantes have been outlawed, we\u2019re moments away from nuclear war with Russia, and someone is murdering retired masked heroes. For me, this is what a \u201csuperhero\u201d comic book should be. <\/p>\n

That is what the big deal is with the \u201cWatchmen\u201d movie. The best of everything comic books can be will be translated to film and offered up to the general population. Will the film live up to its source material? Will people unfamiliar with the book \u201cget\u201d it? We\u2019ll have to wait until March 6 to find out. And the waiting is killing me.<\/p>\n