"Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face."
With this line, artist Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons, opens the first issue of a comic novel that would change the way people viewed comic books. Watchmen was a 12 issue series published by DC Comics in 1986. Its compelling story and graphic representation would alter the future of the genre.
I read my first real comic in the summer of 1985. It was an issue of the Fantastic Four that I bought at a 7-11 store in Panama City Beach, FL. My family and I traveled to PCB every year religiously. At some point I got tired of the sand and sun, deciding to walk to the store for an ICEE. I found the comic books as a way to pass the time while everyone else was getting sunburned and dehydrated. I went back the next day an bought Spiderman, Superman, and Ironman comics. At the end of the issue I found myself wanting to know what happen next. So when I returned home, I started trying to get the next issues as much as I could.
Trying to get your parents to stop at every 7-11 to let you buy comics was not the easiest thing to do. When the holy grail of teenage-dom arrived, I went on my own. Down from my high school was the Great Escape. It sold everything from pre-owned records to comic books. This is where I started to spend a lot of my time after school. Eventually I was collecting comics, X-Men was buy far my favorite. It was around this time I picked up a copy of Watchmen.
I do not think that anyone at the time new how this graphic novel would move comics from the kiddie book area to adult mainstream. There were other books that continued and expanded on the format, most notably Frank Millers' The Dark Knight. But the Watchmen in mho set the bar for the graphic novel era.
After many years in development hell, the Watchmen is coming to a theatre near you. A teaser trailer is already out. Many of the scenes in the trailer and in the production stills are straight out of the comic. I am excited to see the movie, I just hope a couple of hours can do the material justice.
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