WATCHMEN: THE MOVIE

"Who watches the Watchmen?"; Between 1986 and 1987 that was the most famous question in comicdom and it was usually accompanied with a iconic bloody smiley-face button. Originally based on characters from already defunct Charlton Comics (now owned by DC), Who Killed the Peacemaker was an idea conceived by masterscribe Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell) and pitched to DC Comics. The story (as it is now) begins with the death of Edward Blake. When masked vigilante (and the coolest dude in the story) Rorschach discovers that Blake is actually former teammate and government operative The Comedian, he develops a conspiracy theory that someone is targeting heroes for extinction. Rorschach begins warning the rest of his former team and as elements begin to prove Rorschach's theories may not be so far-fetched it brings others out of retirement and things get progressively worse. Editor Dick Giordano loved the concept, but eventually decided that maybe this wasn't the best use of the newly acquired characters. Giordano saw more potential for the Charlton characters and felt that placing them in this dystopian storyline would ruin any future plans for the lot, so he agreed to publish the story only on the concession that Moore create an original cast. Fearing that unfamiliar characters would cause a disconnect with the audience, he basically used the same characters and shifted them two degrees to the left. Blue Beetle, Nightshade, The Question, Captain Atom, The Peacemaker, and Thuderbolt would now be Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan, The Comedian, and Ozymandias. Watchmen became a 12-issue phenomenon, selling over a million copies of the the collected graphic novel alone and is still considered by many as the greatest story in comic history (it's not bad). Since then Moore has severed his ties with DC (more than once) and signed over the movie rights for Watchmen to 20th Century Fox, stating that he wanted no involvement in the movie version of the property. Since the first failed attempt to bring this story to the big screen in 1986, over the years Watchmen has built up a reputation as the greatest comic book movie that will never be, after several misstarts had cause fans to lose all hope. Director Terry Gilliam began production on the film twice himself and finally conceded that Watchmen would be unfilmable, stating that, "Reducing [the story] to a two or two and a half hour film seemed to me to take away the essence of what Watchmen is about". Now the property of Warner Brothers, Watchmen finally makes it's way to theaters March 6, 2009 under the direction of Zack Snyder (300) and fanboys that have clamored for over two decades for the release of this of this film can begin filling the internet with criticisms and derisive statements, preaching to the world all of it's flaws. I'm afraid it's inevitable, that's just...what...they...do. So, "Who Watches the Watchmen?" I guess we'll find out this Spring. Until then, here's the latest amazing trailer for the upcoming film:

[SCREAM AWARDS EXCLUSIVE TRAILER]

[ORIGINAL WATCHMEN TRAILER]