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On March 6th 2009 stage two of the maturation process for the comic-book movie will come into force. Watchmen will be released into UK cinemas following the settlement of the legal battle between Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox over who ‘owns’ the movie. Stage one was of course put into action last year by the money spinning behemoth ‘The Dark Knight’.

Directed by the nice chap who brought us the almost lethal dose of testosterone that was ‘300’, Zack Snyder, Watchmen promises to pick up the baton passed on at a Usain Bolt-like pace by its fellow DC Comics creation and run hell for leather. It would be unfair though to suggest that Watchmen may live up to The Dark Knight as it, like most things, does not have the pulling power of Gotham’s favourite son. It does, however, have the substance needed to carry the genre further into adulthood.

The graphic novel on which the movie is based includes lots of naughty swears, violence, rape, full-frontal nudity, sex (the kinky, costumed type mind) and of course murder. With the movie striding towards us bearing an R rating emblazoned on its muscular, hairy chest, we can gather that Zack Snyder has, as promised, stuck very close to the original source material and not pulled any punches for the sake of box office returns.

So what of this source material? Many may not have even heard of Watchmen, let alone salivated over its imminent arrival. For those people the movie trailer, which can easily be found on the internet, will give you a good indication about the kind of quality source material screenplay writers David Hayter and Alex Tse were blessed with when it says: ‘The most celebrated graphic novel of all time’. It is something else.

The creation of Brits Alan Moore (writer) and Dave Gibbons (illustrator), Watchmen was first published in 1986 and is set in an alternate 1985 that sees political tension between the US and Russia escalating since the introduction of a certain blue doctor (see below).

The characters that play out the story are what make it so spectacular. Alan Moore apparently wanted to use existing DC Comics characters to portray his story in Watchmen, meaning Bats and Supes could have been using all their might to stop World War 3 from beginning as the doomsday clock counted down. Luckily for us all though DC were not keen on the idea and Moore was forced to create his very own fresh batch of crime fighters. Here is a brief summary of what they are about:

Rorschach (Walter Kovacs)
A psychopathic vigilante who refused to throw in the towel when the US
Government said all masked crusaders had to in 1977. He wears a white mask with patterns on it similar to that of a Rorschach test, hence the name. It is because of Walter Kovacs that you will never trust gingers again (that’s if you did before).

The Comedian (Edward Blake)
Don’t let the name fool you, he doesn’t joke about. He is the member of the group with the loosest morals and uses big guns as well as a bigger ego to deploy them. It is the Rorschach-lead investigation into his death that sparks the unravelling of the story.

Nite Owl (Dan Dreiberg)
The sensible one. He has cool gadgets, which include a flying owl-ship, and a suit more akin to the usual DC superhero attire, i.e. mask, cape, etc. He retired from vigilante work when the government said so and has developed a bit of a gut since then. Dan Dreiberg is in fact Nite Owl mark II, as he took over the reins from Hollis Mason when he grew too long in the tooth.

Silk Spectre (Laurie Juspeczyk)
If ‘sex sells’ Silk Spectre will have Watchmen stimulating the economy as much it will the lecherous fanboys. She is the attraction for the Nuts readers, but don’t let that put you off, she doesn’t shy away from her duty. It is also her complicated relationships with her fellow crime fighters that prevent them all from being filed among the also-rans populating most half-hearted comic-book adaptations. Laurie Juspeczyk, like Dan Dreiberg, is another second edition of the same hero, having been pretty much forced into taking over the role from and by her retired mum, Sally Jupiter.

Dr. Manhattan (Jon Osterman)
The only ‘superhero’ of the bunch, in that he is the only one with ‘powers’. Imagine if Superman didn’t give a flying eff about the fate of the human race, purely because he was too intelligent to waste his time thinking of such infantile things; then you will have an idea of what this chap is all about. He can multiply himself, appear wherever he wants (including Mars) whenever he wants, lift anything, create and destroy objects at will and grow to sizes which would make the proposed Angel of the South look like a miniature pony. Some might say he also has a distinctive look, being completely blue and bald.

Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt)
The most intelligent human in the world. He uses his crime fighting image as a vehicle for his vast business empire. If Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking and [insert favoured hard man] fused together like the girls on those Lynx adverts, Adrian Veidt would emerge from the smoke smiling wryly back at you.

They are the heroes and they are the villains. Each has a dark side to their personality, whether it be murderous, adulterous or ignorant, neither of the above are what you would expect a hero to be, having grown used to the merry Marvel marching band.

The title of the book is a reference to the quote by Roman poet Juvenal, ‘Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?’, which roughly translates as ‘Who watches the watchmen?’ and appears as graffiti throughout the disgruntled New York streets. It rouses ideas of the abuse of power which no other comic book movie has questioned when looking solely at the heroes within it, such dilemmas are reserved almost exclusively for the megalomaniac ‘baddies’.

Watchmen the movie will not be a literal translation of Watchmen the graphic novel. The ending has been altered. This may be a very good thing as the ending to the graphic novel is a little weak and far-fetched, but who is to say that the new ending has not been fetched from farther? Only time will tell. And with the doomsday clock counting down to March 6th the question answered by the title of this blog must be asked:

Who should watch the Watchmen?