Alan Moore - A truly extraordinary writer

I've been reading "Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Gibbons' artwork has conveyed many a storyline by Frank Miller, another great writer and after the majesty of "Swamp Thing" by Alan Moore I should have expected the combination of Moore and Gibbons to produce fireworks.

But I didn't expect it to be this good. I was meant to be planning lessons for this week and making a start on my 3rd PGCE assignment but I can't put it down. Watchmen is fucking amazing. Alan Moore's potent narrative combined with Gibbons' pinpoint timing has me completely hooked even more than Swamp Thing. When I read Swamp Thing I thought comics didn't get any better but this is a completely new experience.

On closer inspection I see that there is talk of a Watchmen film, but having read about the hash that Hollywood made of Swamp Thing, and the flop that was Alan Moore's other work, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I can't say that the idea of bringing Watchmen to the big screen fills me with joy. It's been proved time and again that when stories make the transition between the medium of comics, if it's handled by fuckwits it will detract far more from the original comic than from the movie. Comic characters come with history that is tampered with at will by unfeeling directors in Hollywood, who are often in for the quick hit with no real understanding of the characters.

I am off back to my copy of Watchmen anyway, as I'm not really breaking any new ground here. Just make sure you pick up a copy of it next time you're in the shops and for god sakes don't watch any more crap comicbook movie adaptions.
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