Continuing the spin-up of the hype machine for the Watchmen movie, downloadable episodic Watchmen video games are coming. The developer claims that this will give them more time to actually produce a quality game, unlike the vast majority of movie cash-in tie-in games. The games will follow the adventures of Nite Owl and Rorschach, I’m presuming in the “good old” adventuring days before Rorschach went off the deep-end.
I find the idea a bit troubling, even if they do manage to make the games good. I view Watchmen as being one of the more important literary contributions of recent times, and so it’s kind of like making a video game out of Moby Dick. Still, even though Alan Moore is washing his hands of any adaptation of his work in any format, there was a time when he was an idealistic comic-writer and suggested that one of his comic crossovers be made into RPGs… so there is some precedent in the past for him approving of the idea.
I just read the headline “Press A to torture Murloc” and got very excited.
Can anyone tell me why watchmen is considered the “greatest graphic novel of all time” or whatever title it has?
joshx0rfz’s last post: Press “A” Repeatedly to Torture Moloch
There have been whole books written dedicated to that subject, though of course the best way to find out is to read it.
To put it as briefly as I can, it features all the parts of a great work of literature, from story to characterization to themes and metaphors, but also leverages the strengths of the graphic novel format (like using parallel panel structures and a carefully chosen color scheme) to tell the story in an even more compelling way.
The first read through it is HEAVY, and can even get to being boring at some points if you’re not 100% into it. I am going to be reading it for the second time starting next week, so perhaps we’ll have deeper analysis of some interesting aspects of it being turned into a movie.
I know this a problem of perception, but I find comic books in general very difficult to take seriously. Do you think this is going to be easy to overcome? Comic book stories have become more acceptable to the mainstream through movies, but what about the actual item?
joshx0rfz’s last post: Press “A” Repeatedly to Torture Moloch
Watchmen went a long way towards not only towards legitimizing comics as a literary form, but legitimizing superhero comics as a whole. (Other books, namely Maus, also contributed heavily to the former.) But as you say, to some, this will always be an issue of perception. However, I don’t think there’s anything inherent in the form that should say one way or another whether it should be taken seriously or not.
Unfortunately, in this day and age, anything “comic” will have a video game tie-in with regards to the movie. Apparently, they don’t think the average American can handle a movie without going home and playing a video game immediately afterwards of the exact same story.
Oh for the day when people just watched a movie, read a comic, or whatever and said “that rocked” and went on 😉
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Watchmen is awesome. I have read the comic 3 times and with each additional read you get more out of it whether it is through picking up more of the metaphors or seeing more of the connections with thing. It has a lot of layers.
I’ll admit that the first read through left me feeling a little unsatisfied but the second read through was phenomenal. The book is filled with subtle things that make it a much more complete whole.
Fantastic. Best Comic Book Ever.
So, i’ll wait and see, movie games are generally bad but this sounds like a solid idea.
And I think it would be more along the lines of.
Press A to punch moloch.
Press B to lok Moloch in a fridge.
GeorgeR’s last post: Indie Film Too Successful For Netflix
I loved Watchmen, but that being said the literary elements can feel a little forced at first. The parallel story within, a comic within a comic, can feel like a bit of a chore to read at first. However, some of the other literary choices, such as the inclusion of ‘source items’ drawn from ‘other’ items in the Watchmen-verse does a great deal to immerse you…