The Watchmen is a comic I don't hesitate to put into the "Classics" category. I got a kick out of that sucker comparable to what the best movies/novels have to offer. It is extremely, uh, filmic, in and of itself (storyboards already done!). If Zack -Dawn of the Dead remake- Snyder could repeat his magic, it might not be too bad. Still, I'd prefer it not fucked with at all, or, as suggested below, made into an HBO miniseries (a la Deadwood).

I thought V for Vendetta was actually a slight improvement (blasphemy, I know) on the comic. Superman Returns didn't give me near the high I got from that movie. I just saw the new 'Supes', last night. I didn't love it the way Walter Chaw did, but thought it was, in a way, the best of all the Superman movies. There was something missing, though, and I hesitate to say soul, or innocence, but, after viewing 1978's Superman: The Movie (made in its own era of cynicism), last week, I had fewer tears to shed, inside or out. I also have the distinct feeling that the new interpretation's casting director should never work again. Kate Bosworth is a decent actress, but, this role? No, no, no, no! Brandon Routh was fine, but there were about 5 times he looked computer-generated where he had no business being done that way. In orbit? Sure. Intimate close-ups? What-the-fong?! One last nitpick: No African-Americans - at all. I counted one brown nurse, one swarthy henchman, but nobody else was more or less than pink. The US Eastern Seaboard that I love is a riot of color. It's a good thing to come home to, after a couple of years in Central Europe.

X-Men: The Last Stand was remarkably painless for a Brett Ratner movie. At least 'the rat' ain't no Uwe Boll. That guy is a supervillain.

A tacit endorsement for matinee prices only.

----- The earth may fail, but we will quiver

a movie version of the watchman has been in almost constant preproduction since it came out
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/
there have been many scripts written and many directors attached over the last 20 years but no one has come up with a good version. But an IP like the watchmen is hard to come by and comics which have been adapted to well made movies raked in tons of cash ( X-men, Spidermen). Watchmen is the daddy. too good an oppertunity to pass up yet extraordinarily difficult to adapt. I would love it if they just left it alone.
my only fear is that they give up trying to make a movie that would do justice to the brilliant source material, the fans and the general public and just end up hiring Uwe Boll to direct.

The book is simply too large to make into a movie.  Look at what had to be trimmed from V for Vendetta in order to bring it to the screen: as respectful as the adaptation is, the movie is essentially 1/3 of the story, and even that is a bit condensed.

In order to be faithfully produced, Watchmen would have to be done for TV, ideally turning each issue into an episode .  With DVD sales factored in, there's a chance that could be a profitable venture.

To me, the only way it would be worthwhile would be if it was translated as faithfully as Rodrigues did Sin City, and perhaps the success of Sin City will make this possible.

I also prefer the original web explanation.  As it is now, I get the creepy feeling that Spider Man is getting around the city using massive trails of his own snot.  J. Jonah needs to be using that as the basis for his editorial campaign.

(is 3fingerspointback)

I suspect comics don't receive sales boosts because they're not sold in mainstream outlets. Books made into movies can be purchased (with movie image covers) at bookstores, convenience stops and groceries. Comic books, with the exception of compilations, are generally not even available at bookstores. One must track down a local, hole-in-the wall boutique. Requiring consumers to find and breach the middle-aged-guy-going-on-teenage-boy subculture vibe of the average comics shop is just a bit much.

And for the record, while Peter Parker's organic webshooters make sense vis a vis the mechanical ones he uses in the comics, I still prefer the original ones that require web fluid and occasionally get jammed up.  More dramatic that way.

But of course they also required the biggest suspension of disbelief.  They're way, way too good for some high school kid to cook up in his bedroom.

But is was cool that he'd run out of web fluid or suffer jams or just have them broken sometimes.  It seems like the organic webshooters should be causing him massive vitamen deficiency problems.

...Dwayne was hoping that he would pay exactly the right amount of attention to Francine's clitoris.

The organic web shooters do have some basis in the comic books.  The symbiote suit created webbing from itself and the Spiderman in Spiderman 2099 had organic web shooters.

I've noticed that the Marvel adaptations made so far have all kept well away from depicting any of the aliens or gods* that pop up so frequently in the comic series.  So the Phoenix becomes the name given to a part of Jean Grey's subconcious mind, and the Mutant vaccine came only from Earth scientists.  The origin story of the Venom suit in Spiderman 3 looks like it will be from an earth-based science experiment as it was in the Unlimited version of Spider Man.

My theory about this is that a movie that contends not only that multiple Gods exist, but that they are really big stocky aliens in weird hats is just begging for a religious boycott.  It's better to just keep the controversy to the perennial Gay subtext, and leave the Gods out of it.

BUT--I was going to title this post "Why it won't happen" until I checked my favorite cheat sheet on Marvel movie projects and noticed that the Silver Surfer is being introduced in 2007, and Thor is supposed to happen in 2009.  So I guess we'll see.

*Practically the same thing, in this Kirby-inspired universe.

(is 3fingerspointback)

Vince already played Thor in "Adventures in Babysitting", I think with some working out he'd be ready to play the part again.

...Dwayne was hoping that he would pay exactly the right amount of attention to Francine's clitoris.

I don't know about "best superhero movie ever" but it's damn good, certainly the best adult superhero movie ever made.  Well worth a rental or purchase.  

Go.  Get.  Watch.  TnT will be here when you get back.

Humorless. Cretinous. What'd you expect?

This is easily my favorite Superman comic. For the record, I'm more of a Batman kind of fellow, and Frank Miller is easily my favorite, particularly "Year One".

----- The earth may fail, but we will quiver

Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely are doing an awesome job in the new All Star Superman series.

If only Quitely could draw more than 2 panels a day.  I didn't think Morrison had it in him, but this is a fun little book.  Amazing what you can do when you don't have 60+ years of continuity to weigh you down.

I also really liked Red Son by Mark Miller and Dave Johnson

That's Millar.  I really need to read that one of these days.  And For Tomorrow and Lex Luthor: MoS.

And while I'm looking things up on Amazon, does TnT have an Amazon affiliate thing set up yet?

Humorless. Cretinous. What'd you expect?

Superman isn't my favorite comic book superhero

Same here.  I'll probably see the movie on DVD, though.  Superman is just too goody-goody for me.  Batman, a little too self-absorbed.

Now, Powers, those are superheroes I can relate to...with a movie in the works from Sony Pictures.