The Classics - Watchmen #1

It's somewhat staggering to realize that the first issue of Watchmen comes with a cover date of September 1986.

Since that time the collected maxi-series has more or less universally been accepted as the best graphic novel yet (or the best comic book series, depending on how you define such things).

So there's not much sense in me reviewing this work by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons - it's an amazing piece of work, both for its craft, for its involved story and for the way it broke new ground.

Of course, there's a dark side to the success of Watchmen - it led comics to many years of grim and gritty stories, as writers of lesser talent copied the dark aspect of the story, instead of trying to create their own involved and intelligent take on the superhero.

Still, it's an outstanding achievement, and a series every fan of the genre should read.

Grade: A+

Wait! I hear your cries, gentle readers! You're asking, "But Chuck - what about the movie?"

Somewhat surprisingly, I've actually seen it. And I thought it was... amazing! I would never have expected a film to be able to so closely follow the original storyline.

I've read earlier screenplays that tried to adapt Watchmen - and let me tell you, we're darned lucky to get this version instead.

Not that it's perfect. I thought the violence was over the top. Some of the music choices could have been better. A little less of Dr. Manhattan's full frontal-ness would have been fine (or perhaps a little more of same from Silk Spectre would have balanced it out).

On the other hand, the controversial change (which shall not be specified) actually worked for me.

It's a long film, but it never felt like it - I never checked the time. It was stunning to see so many images from the comics brought to life.

Like The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter movies, no adaptation from one format to the other is ever going to be seamless - but I find it hard to imagine a better adaptation being made.

I enjoyed the heck out of it - and I look forward to seeing it again.

Grade: A-