How will WATCHMEN Affect Comics?
There’s a whole lot of Watchmen conversation going on in anticipation of the film’s March 6th release date.
DC wants to use the enormous buzz surrounding the film to hook new readers. Sales of the graphic novel have already skyrocketed, which means that some fans are finally getting around to the seminal work. Others may be discovering comics for the first time. DC really wants to make an impression upon the latter group.
Ad artwork for the After Watchmen, What’s Next? campaign
The publisher has just announced an awkwardly-named marketing campaign called “After Watchmen, What’s Next?” The rather specifically-focused campaign aims to direct new readers to older DC titles that share some of the more defining characteristics of Watchmen. Besides Myspace and Facebook groups and the usual press promotion, DC is reprinting five comics on a weekly basis that they feel may keep the attention of new readers—Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 and the first issues of Transmetropolitan, Planetary, Preacher, and Identity Crisis. Each will only cost $1 and will bear the trade dress of the campaign.
DC deserves applause for trying to direct new readers to comics largely outside of the capes-and-tights set—excepting, of course, Identity Crisis. Anyone doing as much deserves praise. There has been an upswing in sales of the trade collection of Watchmen since the film’s trailer last summer. It’s nearly impossible to know whether those sales represent regular comic readers that have decided to “get around to” Watchmen or those outside of that group simply excited by the trailer.
Regardless, DC may have a good opportunity on its hands as it did when Batman hit the cinemas in 1989. The success of the Tim-Burton-helmed film proved to be a boon for comic book publishers everywhere, especially DC. Many have suggested that the excitement generated by the film planted the seeds for the 1990s boom.
Released in the wake of the BATMAN movie, Legends of the Dark Knight #1 featured 5 different cover wrappers, which varied only by the main color. It generated huge sales and prompted the multiple-cover trend in comics.
In short, the film drew the attention of investors to comic books. While treating comics like stock shares began years earlier, the attention generated by Batman alerted investors that a $2 comic book could sell for many times its cover price. Fanboys—apparently with limited knowledge of investing—joined in, grabbing multiple copies of the same comic, along with variant covers and other gimmicks. Of course, the bottom fell out and everyone was left holding five copies each of Youngblood #1. The cinematic adaptation of Watchmen will likely have a significant impact on comics, much as the graphic novel has since its publication in 1986-87. While hopefully it won’t generate another insane speculator boom, it’s interesting to consider the possibilities.
If the film succeeds, it will likely increase sales of the graphic novel during and after its theatrical run. A successful film would also mean even more of Alan Moore’s seminal works for DC being considered for cinematic adaptation. That would no doubt continue to raise the author’s ire and force fans to ask why Hollywood insists on adapting Moore’s work instead of focusing on original screenplays. But, money talks. If adapting work that Moore wrote—but doesn’t own—means a huge opening weekend, you can bet that Warner Bros. will be prepared to do it again.
The real question is whether Watchmen can entice new readers to embrace the medium. Cynically speaking, one has to wonder how a two-and-a-half-hour bleak superhero epic with an R-rating will attract many new readers. Some fans wonder if the hype surrounding Watchmen won’t even trickle very far down to those filmgoers mostly interested in familiar superheroes thwarting bank robberies. The increased sales of the graphic novel suggest that this will be less of a concern than it might otherwise be. But, one can’t help but speculate as to how far the film will penetrate beyond those die-hard fans that would see it under any circumstances. For a lot of people, Watchmen is coming out of the blue. One can’t help but wonder if fans and the mainstream press that has embraced the book are building hype that may not reach the average filmgoer.
Then again, nothing cataclysmic may come from the film’s release. If it succeeds critically and at the box office, it will certainly help comics as a medium. We can’t know how many newcomers it will bring, if any. Batman did it, but that film predated the battery of electronic entertainment available. The titles DC is reprinting under the “After Watchmen, What’s Next?” banner are certainly worthy introductions for to comics. Identity Crisis caused its share of controversy for some of the “rules” it broke, but it will likely just appear to be more DC superhero stuff to newcomers. Planetary is a lot to take in for anyone, but is a fantastic extended read. A single issue might not grab anyone not already dedicated to Warren Ellis like we are here. The rest of the offerings are probably good starts, especially Preacher.
Watchmen hits theaters on March 6th. It comes on the heels of an enormous hype train preceded by years in development hell. It will hopefully have a positive impact on comics, but what remains to be seen. Still, use it to encourage friends to check out comics if they’ve never tried them before. This is a great opportunity for comics, but it also carries a lot of risk.
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