Watchmen, Director's Cut

Cover of Watchmen

Two days ago, Watchmen was released on Blu-Ray and DVD.

In case you live in a cave with an anti-comic book barrier, you would know that the Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987 which chronicled an event in a parallel Earth in which superheroes have been treated like celebrities and eventually outlawed. The cold war has risen to a scary high as nuclear holocaust is imminent and only half a dozen costumed vigilantes have any chance at saving the dying planet. The main characters of the story are Nite Owl, Rorschach, Silk Spectre, Doctor Manhattan, Ozymandias, and the (deceased) Comedian. Telling anything more about the epic tale of The Watchmen would take up far more room than one blog can even hope to manage, so I will move on to the Director's Cut of this newly released movie on Blu-Ray.

I grew up never being able to get my mitts on a single copy of this urban legend of a comic book series. In the year 2000, I was fortunate enough (on my honeymoon) to find every single issue at a comic book shop in Salt Lake City, for $3 a book. I was blown away!

Nine years after reading this mini-series, the powers that be in the land of glitter and gluttony have released this work of literary art in theaters and now for home consumption! I watched the movie in the theaters (sorry, Mr. Moore) and, though there was a singular glaring difference between these two medium of the same story, every other thing in this incredible story was spot on accurate! Spot on, not unlike the spot of blood on Comedian's happy badge! Speaking of Comedian, when you watch the very first scene of the movie, Comedian is wearing the exact same bathrobe that he is in the comic book! Okay, I know that one robe is fictional, but you don't realize that while watching!

Image via Wikipedia

The interpretive changes were minimal and even a large amount of the dialogue was so similar, you would think the re-writer just threw a trade paper back at the actors. Another thing I couldn't help but notice was that the director's cut of the movie added about half an hour of footage back into the movie (even reverting a scene or two back to the comic version of the story). I thought this movie couldn't get any better without restoring the original plot twist, UNTIL the director's cut was released! (By the way, the actors seemed to step straight out of the pages of the comic!)

Now that my heart has quit pounding through my chest and my jitters have calmed enough to write this, I would like to say to director Zack Snyder, "Thank you! A thousand times, thank you!" To the rest of you....BUY THIS MOVIE!!!

Gotham suffers another earthquake

Image via Wikipedia

Gotham city is seeing another quake that shakes its foundations to the core! This rumbling is hitting the bat family possibly even harder than the one that rocked the city at the end of the nineties, however as this quake isn't destroying the city but targeting the family of bats directly!
Bruce Wayne is out of the picture (thanks to Darkseid) which leaves an empty batsuit as well as an empty manor.

The Wayne presence is being filled with a look-alike to portray to Gotham that their playboy is okey-dokey, thus, enhancing the illusion that Bruce Wayne is not the Batman. This illusion is actually a bit closer to truth, now that former sidekick, Dick Grayson has taken up the cowl of the bat, shedding his own Nightwing persona.

To add to the shakiness, the conveniently included Wayne childfrom Batman 655-658 plays not just a prominent role, but a pivotal one as he takes up the red and green of the Robin. This does not bode well as Tim Drake is pushed out of his own tights and into the Red Robin personality.

With all of this, there is still room for controversy as the mantle of Batgirl is going to be filled but the woman behind the mask is not entirely clear. The answer is scheduled to be revealed in the newly relaunched Batgirl comic with covers by Phil Noto.

These certainly aren't the only rumblings going on in the world of comic books, but they are certainly gaining the most buzz in my parts!