Superhero Filmmakers: Where's Our Watchmen?

Shakey read that link to Tom's piece and, you know, think a bit.

Nicely condescending, Ned.

nicely condescending ned is one of the new supehero characters they've added

I think un-filmable in this case = unlikely to be very good or very interesting in cinematic form. I think Tom touches on one very good reason why this is the case (and it's the one Moore is likely to be the most concerned with) but it's far from the only reason and most of Shakey's points seem to me to be entirely valid ones.

yes

we all agree that it probably wont be good and the reasons why

at this point we are not interested in hearing it shouted at us a billion more times

Well then stop arguing with him then.

I read it. Rorschach is repulsive, I don't buy his "but he made them even more badass!" tack.

If you lose the Black Freighter sequence you’ve got a relatively straightforward story, albeit one with a somewhat eyebrow-raising tonal shift at the end.

Except that this whole sequence is essentially the key to the entire story (as pointed out on some other Watchmen thread by someone else)

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nicely condescending ned is one of the new supehero characters they've added

costume needs more nipples

you can strip the black freighter layer off no problem. obv that weakens the original story but it's not as if the whole thing falls apart without it.

let us list the ways in which the film will be better than the book

1) shit moves

ya everyone pretty much admitted they didnt "get" it anyway xp

Well then stop arguing with him then.

I should follow your kind and thoughtful example in all things.

Hey if it works for you, go for it.

"ya everyone pretty much admitted they didnt "get" it anyway xp"

Everyone = who?

Eclipse licenses that could easily be made profitable again with a bit of effort:

* Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters (give it to kyle baker or phil foglio or ty templeton or...
* Airboy by Chuck Dixon (I'd buy new issues)
* Area 88 (I want manga books for this goddamit!)
* Axel Pressbutton by Pedro Henry, Steve Dillon, and Brian Bolland (easy film conversion)
* Aztec Ace (ditto)
* Brought to Light (due for a reprint)
* California Girls (1987) by Trina Robbins (easy cartoon for WB)
* Cynicalman by Matt Feazell (xkcd owes royalties)
* Detectives, Inc.by Don McGregor and Gene Colan (easy movie)
* Killer ... Tales by Timothy Truman
* Mai the Psychic Girl (easy reprint cash)
* Miracleman by Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and others.
* Ms. Tree by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty (movie)
* Mr. Monster (all time favorite)
* The Prowler (great book, due for a revival)
* Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman (nuff said)
* The Rocketeer (due for a sequel)
* Scout by Timothy Truman (has movie written all over it)
* Tales of the Beanworld by Larry Marder (is this out in reprint?)
* Winterworld (another easy film)
* Zot! by Scott McCloud (another one that I'd buy in two or three reprint books)

thanks for interrupting what would have been a great your mama joke forks.

It's what I do.

know what i do?

* Cynicalman by Matt Feazell (xkcd owes royalties)

wow Eclipse really had some great stuff, I had forgotten - would love to see another collected volume of Zot!

I thought Zot! was collected?

we all agree that it probably wont be good and the reasons why

hey I'm just trying to save you guys from wasting yr hard-earned kopecks on this movie. You'll thank me later

I have a collection of the first 6 issues, never seen any subsequent volumes. I admit I haven't looked in a long time.

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i'll probly get in free

Yeah it's all available now (even vol 4 has finally come out.)

hey there they are on Amazon! never mind

* Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman (nuff said)

they could totally make a funny movie out of this (pitch "Bad Santa as a milkman!") and I'm pretty sure its been optioned multiple times but just never happened.

Is he any relation to Ernie the fastest milkman in the West?

I'm halfway positive Eclipse did not own the license to a lot of these characters when McFarlane bought them.

Reid Fleming looks exactly like Harvey Pekar. Just putting that out there.

Wonder exactly what McFarlane bought.

The spirit of Reid Fleming is alive and well and all over Adult Swim. (I'd rather see a short Milk & Cheese cartoon.)

Harper Collins just published the Zot! collection so I'm guessing McCloud owns the rights to that (since that's who also published Understanding/Reinventing/Poking a Stick @ Comix.)

you can strip the black freighter layer off no problem. obv that weakens the original story but it's not as if the whole thing falls apart without it.

FACT: I have never actually read the black freighter stuff in Watchmen.

your loss

btw rosebud was his sled

your loss

I do wake up at nights sobbing because of this.

btw rosebud was his sled raft

btw rosebud was his sled raft seagull

The Black Freighter thing essentially just emphasizes the elements which are already there in the main story, it doesn't really add anything new that isn't already inherent to the major plot. I think the biggest thing it does related to the main story is that it questions the supposedly open "I leave it entirely to your hands" ending, because according to the Black Freighter subplot Veidt is already damned. Though maybe it just means Veidt is damned in his soul, not necessarily that his plan will be revealed to the public. Anyway, it I think it functions as a sort of a hidden morality to the story, because it makes the ending morally less ambiguous by clearly stating that Veidt was wrong. So, theoretically, if the movie cuts off the whole Black Freighter story, this could actually make it more open-ended and ambivalent than the comic.

it makes the ending morally less ambiguous by clearly stating that Veidt was wrong.

I think this is super-crucial, especially because it isn't Rorschach (who paradoxically praises Truman as one of his heroes in the opening pages) saying it.

its part and parcel with the "battle not with monsters" Nietzsche quote - Veidt does and is damned for it. Like the guy in the Black Freighter, he has willingly become a butcher, and in the company of butchers he will stay (wonder if Snyder will keep Veidt's line about how he dreams of swimming towards the freighter).

Yeah, that's why I called it a hidden morality. Basically, the "I leave it entirely to you hands" ending of the main comic is Moore saying to reader, "You can judge for yourself whether Veidt was wrong or not", but the ending of the Black Freighter is him saying, "I think he was".

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cut out the Black Freighter and the impression left is that Rorschach is the lone voice of morality, which is ridiculous

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a nation weeps

It's not just that Veidt becomes a butcher, the main thing is that he does the wrong thing (killing innocent people/the Black Freighter guy killing his family) while thinking he is doing the right thing (saving people/saving his family). The moral judgement in Black Freighter is quite clear.

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cut out the Black Freighter and the impression left is that Rorschach is the lone voice of morality, which is ridiculous

Well yeah, but this would mean the voice of morality actually has to be the audience.

Whoops, sorry, he doesn't actually kill his family, does he? But he still kills a couple of innocent folks.

Notice that the Black Freighter guy's name is never given. I wonder if ti bgeins with an A?

He kills his wife.

SPOILER