Watchmen: Special Lights and Music Edition

After countless reprintings of the "Watchmen" Trade Paperback, it's nice that DC and Warner have teamed up for yet another version; one that's easily viewable on a giant movie screen, has music, and requires no reading!

If you liked the Watchmen comics...errrr, graphic novel, then you'll probably like the movie. If you didn't like it.. well you can probably figure out that version of the equation, Pythagoras.

The final ending was tweaked a bit, but it actually works well and feels more...symmetrical. The comic book's giant alien squid seemed out-of-left field to me. The new cinematic ending ties things together a bit more.

Also, I'm sure a lot of geeks will consciously or subconsciously cream themselves after seeing THE ultimate fanboy fantasy scene: banging a hot chick in your heromobile while she keeps her skin-tight black vinyl boots on. The whole thing only works if she keeps the boots on. It was an okay scene, until it included the stupid "joke" of switching on the flamethrower to simulate a climax. I heard a lot of audible groans in the theater at that point.

The "Watchmen" movie is similar to the Lord of the Rings movies in it's nature. Just as many scenes in those movies were meticulously translated from the Tolkien books, the same effect is in play, here. Even the bruises on Rorschach unmasked face seemed to be identical to their original printed inspirations. So if you ever want to read "Watchmen" again, just save yourself some time and see the movie. Pretty much the same thing, only you'll get some music.

Batman #667 (DC, 2007)

I thought this was acceptable. They're re-visiting an old 1950's concept with the "International Club of Heroes"-- a buncha' foreign heroes similar to Batman and Robin. Right now, they're being played up as comic relief (including a guy named "Wingman" who claims to have invented the Batman concept), so next issue will be key, as that's presumably when they'll flesh these losers out. Seems like a tough challenge to take the 50's/60's cheese and make it relevant, or at least in continuity.

Right now I'm liking this, even if the plot is a complete rip-off of old mystery movies (a mysterious figure appears via radio, tv or letter and says something like: "I've invited all you gentleman here to my mansion. Now, prepare to explore my house and be hunted!"). Or, if you remember the "Seven Little Superheroes" episode of "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends"--it's like that. Or, to prove that I didn't waste all my time in high school doodling in the margins and thinking about which cheerleader I'd jerk off to: it's like Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None".

Oh, here's the aforementioned Spidey episode: