No, this is not a pic of Dave Gibbons doing what he does best. Or is it?
(Credit: Warner Premiere)Readers of Crave and fans of all things geek may have read my impressions of the Watchmen Motion Comics over the last few months. If not, well first off, shame on you, but through the magical powers I wield--and the Internets--you can check them out here and here.
Produced by Warner Premiere, the Watchmen Motion Comic is basically the original Watchmen comic, now animated with voice, music, and sound effects. If you're a comic book fan or you're just intrigued by Watchmen thanks to the upcoming movie's hype, it's worth checking out. If you don't fall into either of the aforementioned categories, check it out anyway.
The comic, which can be seen on iTunes, uses the original Dave Gibbons art from Watchmen to tell the story in a unique way. I recently got the chance to speak with Gibbons, who told me what he thinks about the motion comic and the Watchmen movie, and why he was able to draw a perfect Martha Washington.
Gibbons was calling from oversees, so please forgive the interference, which gets better as the interview progresses. I tried to pump the volume up, so my voice may be louder than his.
AUDIO
Chatting with Dave Gibbons
Crave recently spoke with the artist about the Watchmen motion comic, the upcoming Watchmen movie, and more.
Download mp3 (23.1MB)
Young Eddie Blake isn't someone to turn your back on.
(Credit: Warner Bros.)Warner Bros. finally released chapters two and three of the Watchmen Motion Comic a couple of weeks ago. I took a look at chapter one back in August and was impressed with the job Cruel and Unusual Productions was able to pull off, and chapters two and three continue this trend.
The new chapters focus mostly on the characters of Edward "The Comedian" Blake and Jon "Dr. Manhattan" Ostermann. We also get a few more clues as to why the world of Watchmen in 1985 is different from our own in the same year. For example, Nixon is still president only because of Dr. Manhattan's intervention in the Vietnam War, which because we won, he was popular enough to get reelected.
Unfortunately we still have just one voice actor, Tom Stechschulte, voicing every character, male and female. Females still sound weird and kind of disturbing in some cases. Fortunately, this guy hits it out of the park a few times over these two episodes. In particular Edward Blake's emotional breakdown and Rorschach's monologue in episode three and the reading of "The Black Freighter" in episode three.
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What a difference a day makes. The day I'm referring to is 7/18/08, when the Watchmen trailer debuted in front of The Dark Knight, which so far has grossed more than $400 million dollars in the U.S. alone.
In one day, people who'd never even heard of Watchmen were suddenly intrigued, and in some cases even eagerly anticipating the movie. My CNET colleague Bonnie Cha told me the trailer gave her "chills." This sort of reaction from Watchmen noobs was just the kind Warner Bros. and director Zack Snyder were going for, I'm sure. As a longtime fan of the Watchmen comic, I'd already watched the trailer a good 20 times before sitting down to see The Dark Knight. And I'm sure I wasn't the only veteran who was giddy as a schoolboy when watching it on the big screen.
DC comics has also surely appreciated the interest the trailer sparked in the original collected 12-issue series of the comic. Today, it's No. 9 on the overall best-selling books list and No. 2 in fiction.
Over the next few months, until the movie's March 2009 release, anticipation will only grow, and Warner Bros. is capitalizing already. It recently released the first episode of the Watchmen motion comic, and already its popularity is impressive. It's currently listed as No. 2 on the best-selling TV shows on iTunes. The first episode costs $1.99, or you can buy the whole season for $19.99 and save four bucks. Either way, if you're curious about the story and don't mind spoiling the movie, this is a great way to (somewhat) see what the fuss is about.
Rorschach being his uncompromising self.
(Credit: Warner Bros.)Cruel and Unusual Productions--headed by one of the movie's producers--has taken the art from the comic and animated it, making it into basically an animated movie. Now, don't get too excited. They've only used the original art assets from the book, so don't expect Wall-e or anything up to Disney cel animation standards. The animation here is crude, but very effective.
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