Mezco showed off an ultra cute line of toys called Mez-itzs which are mini eformed action figures. Shown above is a full line of Family Guy figures — below are Hellboy, Beetle Juice and Rorschach:

I think it’s safe to assume that by now most fanboys are going to their second showings of Watchmen or waiting on the DVD at this point. The one thing I’m noticing is that as time goes on I start to notice more and more plot holes and mistakes in the film. So without further ado here’s my laundry list (warning: this list will contain some plot spoilers, so if you still haven’t seen the film please don’t read ahead):

• If Adrian Veidt is so smart then why is it so easy for the Nite Owl to guess his password?

• If Jonathan Osterman became Doctor Manhattan by being caught in an intrinsic field subtractor then why can’t the Americans recreate the same situation and create a dozen more like him? Also wouldn’t the Soviets be researching the same technology and have created their own Doctor Manhattan by at least the 70s?

• If Doctor Manhattan can see into multiple futures then why does he kill Rorschach — wouldn’t he see that his journal would be discovered?

• How come when the Comedian discovers that there’s a plot to kill him why doesn’t he share this info with the other Watchmen instead of his old enemy? And at the very least wouldn’t he be better prepared when they came?

• How could be Adrian Veidt be the second superhero to reveal his identity (after Hollis Mason) when clearly in the opening frames of the film we see an aircraft with Silk Spectre’s real name, (Sally Jupiter) on its side?

• If Adrian Veidt used energy from Dr. Manhattan to destroy all of those cities then why didn’t he just create renewable energy to cause peace in the first place?

From the moment I read Watchmen all of those years ago I always wanted to see it as a film — and I guess the lesson here is is that you should be careful what you wish for because you may just get it. After seeing the film I was left with a vey flat empty feeling, yes on a superficial level the director got almost every frame right but there was something lacking: the soul of the comic book.

Firstly it may have been wrong of us fanboys to expect that you could cram all of that plot into a film that runs under four hours. There never would have been the economics to pull it off, but in retrospect Watchmen might have been better as am HBO or Showtime series on cable where they could have gone into detail. I think the proof of this is that if you hadn’t read the graphic novel I don’t think that a non-fanboy could fllow the plot.

The next thing that feel flat in the film is that the director didn’t get that while this isn’t a film about superheroes, but in fact a film about ordinary humans who have flaws. This comes out in the comic book, but the fight scenes in the movie give you the feeling that these characters have special powers when clearly in the book they don’t. The characters don’t get scratched up and the result is that they become less beliveable as ordinary people with flaws which was a major theme in the graphic novel.

Another thing that bothered me: The special effects were terrible! Special effects work best when you don’t notice that they’re special effects. Yes the scenes of stuff blowing up were great, but there were so many other failures in the film where the rubber hit the road. For example Adrian Veidt’s cat looks like a CGI creation, there’s no real gravity to that cat. And next you have bad touches like the poor makeup job on Nixon — and by the way Frank Langella proved that you can portray a believable Nixon on the big screen, here it just doesn’t happen.

Which brings me to the acting — it was just a step above what you’d see on a bad soap opera. Maybe the problem is that no single character got much screen time to develop a personality, but there’s a very 2D quality to way the actors deliver their dialog. Yes the casting was perfect and every actor matched exactly what the drawing in the comic book looked like, but there was a cardboard feeling to all of them. In fact I would have rather have seen better actors that didn’t look the part but who could have delivered the lines with some meaning. In fact take a look at the previous cast from the films that were never made and you’ll see the lost opportunity that I’m talking about:

The irony is that after watching the film I appreciated just how good the graphic novel was in terms of having been a product of its medium. To be fair to the filmmakers the graphic novel was very much a product of its era, but like an old Beatles record it wears its age well while the film has to struggle to deal with everything that’s come and gone since the comic book came out. But this makes for a very large problem: When the graphic novel came out the Cold War was still going on so the idea of a nuclear holocaust seemed very very real. But post-Cold War and post-9/11 we seem to be living in a different world. So the dramatic building tension of the world coming to an end seems to be missing from the film. But also the very idea of having a major chuck of New York City disappear had already become reality in the 21st Century so the very consequence of that seems less serious in our minds.

By my fear is this: My gut feeling is that this film won’t age well. Yes it looks good today, but five years from now I’m not sure that will be the case. And worst yet in a media age I’d worry that a bad film will be the first exposure to a new generation to this graphic novel and might turn them off. So the film might even damage the reputation of the graphic novel. I hope that isn’t the case but I can see that happening, which would be very sad.

This Watchmen parody is a perfect tribute to bad 80s Saturday morning cartoons. My favorite reference is to Jem and the Holograms…

Editor’s Note: In this column animation critic Joe Strike gives us our first review of the Watchmen film.

They got it right – they didn’t fuck it up too bad.

That only begins to describe my reaction to Zack Snyder’s Watchmen. On the ‘faithful-to-the-source-material-in-terms-of-capturing-its spirit’ scale I give the film 4.95 stars out of five. I credit the film to Snyder because it’s definitely his version of A____ M____ and Dave Gibbons’ ‘unfilmable’ graphic novel. It’s also a paraphrase of what Snyder said back in 2007 when he was starting work on the project: “I hope some rainy afternoon in England A___ M____ will watch the movie and say ‘they didn’t fuck it up too bad.’”

Since you’re reading this on a site called fanboy.com, you know A___ M____ removed his name from the film (and turned down the zillions of $ of booty it will generate, handing it over to Gibbons) because of his distaste for what Hollywood’s done to his books; you also know the book inside-out, the way its themes echo through its huge cast and various subplots, or the counterpoint between the main story and the pirate comic ‘within the comic.’ (I don’t intend to review the movie here, plenty of people are already covering that end of it, but even so, plenty of spoilers ahead – you’ve been warned…)

Snyder and his scripters David Hayter and Alex Tse wisely jettisoned a lot of those plot threads to focus on the Watchmen themselves. You’ll see glimpses, just glimpses of Bernard the newsdealer, Dr. Long the prison shrink or Hollis Mason, the ‘golden age’ (so to speak) Nite Owl, along with tons of screen-filling background detail lifted from the comics – enough to let you know the filmmakers know you know they know the source material. (Whew!) So we don’t get to see or hear the pirate comic parallel the Watchmen’s story – an amazing use of the comics medium that could never have been successfully replicated onscreen anyway. Their major change, and I do mean major: instead of creating an extra-dimensional beastie to scare the world into peace, in the film Ozymandias sets up Dr. Manhattan (the guy) as the supposed Manhattan (the city)-destroying bad guy.

Unlike Alice in Wonderland’s White Queen there are only so many impossible things you can believe before breakfast: a once-human being transformed into a nearly omnipotent entity, sure; but when you add a tentacled one-eyed monster… you’re pushing it. Keeping the focus on Dr. Manhattan is a brilliant, entirely logical-within-the story stroke that a) gets rid of a time-consuming sub-plot; b) condenses the story and c) keeps the focus on the core characters who now have a more intertwined relationship.

As someone who was there during the 80’s (it wasn’t a long time ago back then, back then it was right now), they got the period look and feel dead on, from the orange NY license plates to how TV studio cameras looked at the time. Also: no product placement to make the film seem more ‘real’ (ok, the NY Post got in, but I’ll give them that); instead, actors playing alternate world versions of everyone from Pat Buchanan and Ted Koppel to Dick Nixon and David Bowie – now that makes a fantasy film seem real.

Speaking about lookalikes, some of the casting for the supporting cast is almost scary, like they 3D’d the characters right off the page and into the movie, especially Dr. Long, Doug Roth (the Geraldo Rivera-type reporter) and the two police detectives investigating the Comedian’s murder. And boy, does Jackie Early Haley ever nail Rorschach; hey, if Heath can grab a posthumous Oscar for the Joker, Haley should at least get a nom for how he brings his own creepazoid character to life.

And a few random Watch-thoughts, Watch-thunk while Watch-watching the film: The police ‘do not cross’ crime scene tape: thick black letters on a yellow background (where have I seen that before?)… Separated at birth: Watchmen and The Incredibles (outlawed superheroes being killed one by one to further a costumed bad-guy’s master plan he believes is a noble goal, plus costumed character done in by his own cape )… Dust mites floating in the air illuminated by Dr. M’s glow… Dr. Long doesn’t seem quite the putz he is in the comic (when Rorschach gives his phony inkblot answers, the shrink has an ever-so-slight ‘you’re bullshitting me’ look on his face)… The scientists working with Ozy in Antarctica take the place of his servants and the people who whipped up the beastie in the comic – like I said, very cleverly thought-out & entirely logical condensing of two separate subplots. Snyder’s strategy reminds me of the difference between the first two, overly faithful-to-the-book Harry Potter movies vs. the later ones that came alive as movies because they did the same thing without ruining the movie experience for people who read the books. If you want to see the perfect example of that, take a(nother) look at what they did to V for Vendetta; no wonder Moore doesn’t trust Hollywood.

Joe is an occasional animation scripter and freelance NYC writer covering animation and sci-fi/fantasy entertainment. His work has appeared in the NY Daily News, Newsday, the New York Press and, as they used to say on Rocky and Bullwinkle, ‘a host of others.’ He is a regular contributor to the animation industry website awn.com, but it’s much easier to visit joestrike.com to see what he’s been up to lately.

Editor’s Note: In this column animation critic Joe Strike gives us an overview into his adventures running around the New York Comic Con this past weekend.

This damn thing keeps getting bigger and bigger, not that that should be a surprise to anyone. The only surprise is why did it take so long for NYC to get a world-class con of its own. When the New York Comic Con opened for business in ‘06, four years ago, its exhibit area was a tiny (for the massive Javits Center) basement space that was overcrowded from almost the instant the con opened its doors. This year the exhibitors took over most of the high-ceilinged main floor, an enormous space that the equally pop-culturey Licensing Show used to fill before moving to Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the panel rooms author and superstar graphic designer Chip Kidd regaled his audience with images from Bat-Manga, an unearthed collection of forgotten Batman adventures licensed by DC, created and distributed exclusively in Japan for manga fans. Kidd began his session by throwing his audience a curve: excerpts from one of the first anime imports, the 1960s’ wonderfully tacky Eighth Man series; turns out a particularly dynamic handful of Batman’s manga stories were the work of the series’ creator Jiro Kuwata. Pronouncing this version of Batman as “the first convergence of Japanese and U.S. pop culture,” Kidd treated his audience to translated, dynamically composed panels from the stories. Images of bizarre Japanese Bat-merchandise followed, including a baby Batman mask and a toy Batman tank, which Kidd noted preceded the one used by the caped crusader twenty years later in Frank Miller’s Dark Knight graphic novel.

If you want to ask a question at a popular session it’s wise to sit as close as possible to the microphone in the aisle – like in the same row of seats. Even so, by the time I reached the mic at the Robot Chicken panel I was second in line, but a few moments later at least 20 people were standing behind me. I’ve always been suspicious of officially-sanctioned parodies from the moment I realized movie studios let Mad Magazine advance-screen their films in the hope that the Mad spoof would be on the stands the same week the movie opened. I mean, is ‘authorized parody’ an oxymoron or not?

Those thoughts in mind, I asked if George Lucas had vetoed any gags from the show’s Lucas-approved Star Wars parody, in which Lucas even voiced his own character escaping from a howling mob of fanboys on the back of the show’s resident nerd dressed as a tauntaun. (God, I hate the fact I remember that kind of Star Wars trivia; shouldn’t I be putting more important stuff in my brain?) “We were going to have Han and Luke in an alley with Han saying ‘okay kid, let’s blow this thing and go home,” they admitted (don’t ask me who the f*** was whom up on the stage – all those Hollywood types look the same to me) but adding “he did let us put Princess Leia in a cheap motel.” (Like any good convention, there were no shortage of cool costumes worn by letting-it-all-hang-out fans, including the one who showed up at the panel dressed up as Robot Chicken’s opening titles mad scientist, robot chicken in hand.)

(Just saw my first Watchmen TV commercial a few moments ago, on Comedy Central just before Stewart…) Unless you were willing to stand on a two-hour line, the screening of Watchmen excerpts was impossible to attend; Watchmen: Portrait of a Movie was a far easier ticket. Over the course of the film’s 100-plus day shoot, Clay Enos became more than the on-set still photographer: all the photographs shown within the movie were taken by Enos, including a group shot of the 1940’s Watchmen, which Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons said “sent shivers down my spine… it so perfectly captured the Golden Age superhero feel.” Gibbons shared his thoughts as to his creative choices in constructing Watchmen World: nine-panel page layouts a la Harvey Kurtzman and Steve Ditko… the use of secondary rather than primary colors… and the absence of onomatopoeic sound effects – all with the goal of grounding the novel in as non-glamorous, anti-superheroic world as possible.

All told, Enos shot some 45,000 pictures, including Richard Avedon/Diane Arbus-type black and white, unsparing (ie, every pore disquietingly visible) close-up portraits of the film’s cast and crew (and a number of its props) posing against stark white backdrops. The pix have been published as Watchmen Portraits, an oversized and rather heavy $50 coffee table book that if nothing else, proves this is a drop-dead serious movie; hell, I’m sure Warners is kicking themselves for not thinking of doing the same thing for Dark Knight.

And speaking of ‘Dark’ characters, any comics publisher giving away a mini-version of its manga-style Dark Hunters comic should think twice before picking a typeface that makes its title look like ‘Dork Hunters’ from a distance; one might get the mistaken impression they’re belittling the Comic Con’s attendees.

Joe is an occasional animation scripter and freelance NYC writer covering animation and sci-fi/fantasy entertainment. His work has appeared in the NY Daily News, Newsday, the New York Press and, as they used to say on Rocky and Bullwinkle, ‘a host of others.’ He is a regular contributor to the animation industry website awn.com, but it’s much easier to visit joestrike.com to see what he’s been up to lately.

Editor’s Note: This essay is the result of my walking about the New York Comic Book Convention this year and asking myself the question “What brings you here?”

While escaping the New York Comic Book Convention I came across a series of Watchmen posters in the street, saturated by the orgy of the show I naturally assumed that the posters were aimed at folks entering and exiting the mega gathering of geekdom. However several blocks I realized that I was only kidding myself as I came across the same set of posters again — what was once the realm of fanboys twenty years ago was the mainstream of Hollywood today. In this way Watchmen is no different than Oprah or any frat boy focused reality TV show on MTV that’s a hit.

And this brought to mind everything that I’ve always hated about colossal comic book conventions: For the most part they’re lavish state funerals for what use to be exciting. In order for Hollywood or the video game industry to embrace something from the ghetto it has to be past its peak — it’s for this reason we’re about to see a series of movies about hip hop artists from the 80s and the early 90s, sadly they’re no longer the Public Enemy that they once were.

At over twenty years old Watchmen is a relatively youthful title, but to me it was much more interesting in the last hours of the Cold War before the world had discovered the internet. A cellphone or a website would look out of place in that film, which is made all the ironic by the fact that so many of the folks seeing tha film don’t remember a time when there wasn’t an internet. Yet Watchmen seemed to own a good chunk of real estate of the floor at the convention — I was sort of amazed that on one row there was a display of the graphic novels for sale. I had to wonder who wouldn’t have owned a copy of this graphic novel already? At this point maybe my Mom hasn’t read it, but without a doubt you couldn’t be a card carrying nerd if that volume wasn’t already on your bookshelf.

Dominating the displays of Comic Con you see the same faces over-and-over again — my old nemeses the League of Superheroes! Growing up as a child I always found Superman and Batman to feel dated and somewhat silly. In the case of Batman there was some good reinvention of his character in the late 80s, but frankly Superman still seems so silly to me today. Yet these memes which are over fifty years old are the mainstream of video games and high budget movies. It’s this aspect of the shows that I hate the most even though they’re they’re the most user friendly aspect of fandom, the mundane on ramp if you will.

But what keeps me coming back? It’s the ghetto of geekdom of course. My favorite corner of the show is always shoved to the back — and it’s artists alley where the new talent gathers. And of course my heart is more with the hardcore minority of anime fans who gather in small rooms where publishers gladly brag that they’re “still in business” and have a few gems ready to hit the streets. And of course I also have a soft spot for the small time indie publisher or urban toy designer who is breaking new ground and sits patiently in their booths as the masses race by to autograph sessions at the Marvel or DC booths. To me the ghetto is always more interesting because it’s where the action is at and it’s the future of the field, not the stale past.

It’s a Christmas gift to us fanboys from Fox! It seems that their copyright case against Warner Brothers has done the trick and this may cause the film not to open come March:

Fox wins ruling in ‘Watchmen’ case

“A Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that 20th Century Fox owns the distribution rights to “Watchmen,” representing a setback for Warner Bros.’ plans to release the pic in March.
“Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture,” the ruling said. Judge Gary Allen Feess issued the surprise ruling Wednesday — a week after setting a Jan. 20 trial date for Fox’s suit — and indicated he would issue a more detailed ruling soon.”

At long last the official version of the Watchmen trailer that was shown at ComicCon 2008 is now hitting the web! I have no idea how good this film is going to be, but i love the amount of detail that I’m seeing in each frame (which is a fanboy plus in my book).

Watchmen fanboys can sleep soundly at night knowing that there will be tons of collectable knickknacks to coincide with the release of the feature film. My favorite of the goodies is a nifty 1:24 scale replica of the Owl Ship (shown above) and of course there are plenty of action figures too:

This is a limited-edition Dr. Manhattan action figure which is translucent.

This action figure shows The Comedian in his glory days, as he is seen in flashbacks throughout the film.

This limited-edition variant Rorschach action figure features the character without his trademark mask.

I admit I had my doubts, but this trailer looks like the real deal. Of course this doesn’t guarantee anything, I’ve seen plenty of trailers where the film was a letdown — but Watchmen now looks promising to say the least. Yes if there’s an alternative universe where Terry Gilliam directed the film I’d want to see that instead, but living in this universe I’ll say that this don’t look too shabby (he says as he wipes fanboy drool from the corner of his mouth).

Side Note: I even like the voice over effect! It’s hard to carry that off without being corny (example: Blade Runner), but here it works, and works well at that. I hope not to be let down, but this looks like they may have a shot at making a breakthrough superhero film noir movie the likes that haven’t been seen since since the 1989 Batman film directed by Tim Burton.

I’ve been reading that the ending of the Watchmen film will be different than the graphic novel, however these six character posters give me quite a bit of hope. I had my doubts about the casting but this is starting to look right! Above is the poster for Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), and below are the posters for Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson) and Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup).

Found via slashfilm.com.