Keep a watch

This is a story about watchmen—not the pot-bellied ones we encounter at night at our buildings,snoring in their seats,but superheroes who keep a watch on mankind in a Cold War world in 1985 America. Times then were critical and Doomsday was only a matter of time with the clock racing away dangerously to a bloody finality. Well,that’s what the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons,published by Diamond Comics in 1986 and ‘87,first serially,and then in a single volume,wanted us to believe. It inspired a film which even borrowed the title of the series and will release in India this Friday.

The graphic novel had found a fanbase in a generation which had grown up with the Cold War,the Vietnam War and a nuclear arena race in a bi-polar world. Even now it continues to generate huge interest in all those who swear by superheroes or graphic novels. For Tanvi Sharma,a 26-year-old graphic designer,“Watchmen is huge for comic-book collectors. I’m waiting for the film’s release.”

As expected,the comic book Watchmen as well as the film revolves around the personal development and struggles of the protagonists—a typical feature with all superhero stories—with a probe into the murder of a government sponsored superhero acting as a catalyst. In due course,the superheroes encounter a plot to avert a nuclear war by killing millions of people. The writers Moore and Gibbins chose a bloody path to drive home the mood of an era,generally of despondency.

Though the writers are loved by Watchmen fans,it’s the director Zack Snyder who has sparked a renewed interest in its celluloid version. “Snyder did amazing work with the film 300 though the graphic novel on which it’s based was not as edgy,” says 24-year-old Purabi Sanyal,who works for an NGO.

Management exec Lalit Surin,27,is fascinated by the book’s enduring characters. “I’m eager to see the screen potrayal of Rorschach,though I also like Dr Manhattan and Nite Owl II,” he says.

Often regarded as a ‘seminal text for the comic book medium’,there have been several attempts to film the novel before Snyder came into the picture. The main task before Snyders was to live up to the expectation of the cult status of the book,and perhaps give it a new celluloid interpretation in a 21st Century world,ridden with terrorist attacks.

Aided by Malin Akerman,Billy Crudup,Mathew Goode,Carla Gugino and Jackie Earle Haley,who lent their voices to this bloody saga,it is now for the strong-hearted comic book fans of India to determine the fate of a movie as Snyder stirs up a cocktail of violence and sex.