An Alan Moore Kind Of Day (Kinda)

2008-08-31
4:44:44 am

Like every other comic fan (and apparently a lot of normal people, considering how many copies have sold on Amazon) I started re-reading Watchmen after watching the trailer. I wasn't a huge fan of Watchmen when I first read it back in grade school or high school (can't remember which). I do remember buying it at a Barnes and Noble after continuously reading about how awesome it was in Wizard. I think I basically didn't get it back then. I've read it a few more times and enjoy it more and more with each read, especially after reading some more of Moore's work. I'm only four issues in, but damn, this is an enjoyable read.

Back in college, I made a deal with Em where I'd read the first Harry Potter book if she read a trade. I made the mistake of giving her Watchmen. The problem with giving someone with limited comic book experience Watchmen is that it's just so damn dense that it's hard to get through. I've also discovered by giving non comic book fans different books, that there is a mechanic to reading comics that fans take for granted that new readers don't necessarily know. The most difficult thing tends to be which order to read the word balloons in (something I still have trouble with). It seems like it should be something uniform like top left, then below that and over or everything in the top row and then the bottom (like a typewriter). I'm definitely off on a tangent here, but I'm curious to see what people who bought the new edition based on the coolness of the trailer think and whether they'll move on to other Alan Moore comics or other trades in general.

Speaking of Alan Moore movies and trades, Em and I watched League of Extraordinary Gentlemen tonight (a.k.a. LXG, hehe). I actually like this flick. It's very obviously a huge departure from the first LOEG volume (one of my all time favorite comics, I even wrote a 17 page paper on it in college) but it does have some fun elements. Also fun was trying to explain how much I liked the comic book and how different the movie is and also how much I like the movie. She just started laughing at me and said I sounded like her trying to convince me to watch a chick flick.

In the end she enjoyed (didn't love) the movie, which is pretty much how I feel. Now I've just got to try and get her to read the trade. She's also looking to re-read Watchmen along with me, maybe I'll get her thoughts on the book after we're done.