Okay, so I went to see that little movie based on some four-color funny book that just hit theaters, “Watchmen,” and maybe it was the inundation that comes along with every big-budget movie like this, but when I finally got to see how Zach Snyder, David Hayter and Alex Tse rendered their homage to Alan Moore’s work, I was underwhelmed.

If only because, jesus, it’s like you hear “Birdhouse in your soul” every day for a year, right, then you go see Barenaked LadiesThey Might Be Giants? And they play it live and the whole crowd is erupting but you’re just sort of whelmed, neither over-nor-under.

But I’ll tell you: the Film Companion and Art of the Film coffee table books? They are so cool.

If only because, well, they’re clearly written by people who are very passionate about the comic, its philosophy, its meanings, and how its visual representation, as a comic (or a film) makes the philosophy and themes of the story reality. They’re both written, in short, by more or less complete nerds.

It’s weird. I was captivated by both books when I sat to read them a couple of weeks ago, before the movie came out. I couldn’t look away. The amount of work and detail that made it into the movie’s production was borderline fetishistic. It was the creation of a world.

Maybe I’m a process person, finding the work that went into the movie more enthralling than the movie itself. Anyway, check the books out. You will not be disappointed.

About The Author

Steven H. Bagley is a Blast correspondent

2 Responses

  1. swan

    No offense, but “Birdhouse In Your Soul” is by They Might Be Giants.

    Reply

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