Nerdage NewsOK.com Blogging Community

Len Wein, editor of “Watchmen,” talked to Comic Book Resources about his role, and what he thinks of the adaptation.  Wein is probably best-known as the co-creator of Wolverine, but he also was the co-creator of Swamp Thing, Nightcrawler and The Human Target.  Wein is writing the video game based on the world of the Watchmen characters.

From CBR:

 Wein believes the finite nature of “Watchmen” is precisely why a sequel would be next to impossible. “There’s not much cast left to do a sequel,” he said, explaining that ultimately, any attempt to further examine to world of “Watchmen” would not produce the same book.

However, Wein has looked at the material again in writing a video game based on the “Watchmen” feature film. The challenge for him was “finding what works in the format given.” Wein found a period within the thirty-year time-span of the book to set the game. While he could not be more specific as the game is still in development, Wein did say the action is set “ten years before the graphic novel takes place where there were events mentioned in the novel just as throw away lines.” Wein could not say which characters will be playable, but he did reveal several characters will be available to the player. The game will be released in February of 2009 as a downloadable title. What he has seen of the game “looks as good as the film looks.”

– Matt Price

Our own Brandy McDonnell runs down the legal issues that could keep the “Watchmen” film from being released.  Fox’s lawsuit, saying it still had the rights to make a “Watchmen” film, was allowed to proceed.  While Fox, in the lawsuit, says it might rather have the film scuttled than take money for their alleged rights, I can’t really imagine that will actually happen.  Still, as others have said, Alan Moore is likely chuckling.

– Matt Price

From Warner Bros:

Pop over to Yahoo Movies to see a production journal about the making of the Owl Ship for the film “Watchmen.”

– Matt Price

The Oklahoman’s Brandy McDonnell talked to Matthew Goode (shown here in a new promotional poster for “Watchmen”) for his new movie “Brideshead Revisited,” but she also plied him for information about the upcoming “Watchmen.”  Get the rundown on her blog.   And, see the rest of the promo posters after the cut.

- Matt Price

(more…)

DC Direct revealed action figures and busts based on “Watchmen,” the upcoming film directed by Zack Snyder.  The world-premiere of the figures was at the DC Booth on Thursday afternoon at Comic-Con International.

– Matt Price

SAN DIEGO — Nite Owl’s Owl Ship was on hand at Comic Con International.  Fans were drawn to the ship, which looks remarkably similar to the one drawn by Dave Gibbons in the graphic novel written by Alan Moore.   The “Watchmen” film is set for a March release.

– Matt Price

Entertainment Weekly talks to Zack Snyder about his adaptation of the Alan Moore-Dave Gibbons graphic novel “Watchmen.”  The cover shown is from EW’s Comic-Con preview issue.  (This is yet another sign, comic book fans — we won.)  Writer Alan Moore, however, isn’t thrilled:

“I increasingly fear that nothing good can come of almost any adaptation, and obviously that’s sweeping. There are a couple of adaptations that are perhaps as good or better than the original work. But the vast majority of them are pointless.”

I can see Moore’s argument — “Watchmen” works on its own, it sells well years after its original release. Does it need a movie? Will having a movie version mean people don’t feel they need to read the book?  It’s a situation I saw to some degree with “From Hell,” by Moore and Eddie Campbell.  My comic-book store sold the collected edition well from its original release, and sales increased through all the pre-movie hype.  After the film, sales fell off, and while we still sell some copies of the work, it’s not as many as it possibly should be, given the quality of the book.  I haven’t looked at specific numbers on these other books, but I wonder if the same could be said for “V for Vendetta,” “Sin City” or “300.”  Increasing sales up through the movie’s release, then numbers that settle below where the book was selling before the film.  In most cases, I think it’s still a win for the publisher — that surge sells more books than the slow-and-steady movement would have over a certain number of years — but is that true for “Watchmen,” a book that’s been one of the top comic store sellers since the original release in graphic novel form?

– Matt Price

Attached to “The Dark Knight” last night, the first “Watchmen” trailer has been released and is now online.  Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the film is set for a March release.

– Matt Price

I like Mark Millar. I liked his work on the The Ultimates. I liked his work on Wanted. I like his new book, Marvel 1985.

It’s easy to like those books, because they’re all kind of the same. What if superheroes and villains lived in the real world? That’s what Millar writes and he does a good job at it. It’s no Watchmen, which took a less personal and more geopolitical look at the same idea, but it’s good.

Marvel 1985 and Wanted are particularly similar in the idea that the villains are winners. In Wanted, analogues of DC and Marvel bad guys have already won. In Marvel 1985, the Marvel villains come to our Earth (though, not actually our Earth, since I kind of remember 1985 without Dr. Doom and Red Skull) to take over.

It’s all shown through the eyes of Toby, a teen-age protagonist who is drawn a lot younger, and it gives the story an air of “is-it-really-happening?” that, frankly, kind of annoys me. Maybe I’ve seen too many stories devolve into dreams or imagined tales that I’d like to see something more solid.

Regardless of my nitpicking, Marvel 1985 is a good book and full of funny moments and hidden treats. (Hey, kids! Find Ultron’s head!) This wasn’t on my list to pick up before, but I was won over by the first issue and I’ll be sure to collect the rest.

– Greg Elwell