Pajiba

Dragonball as in Dragonball Z? I used to see episodes of that when my kid was casually interested in it, and I never could follow the storyline. But I always suspected it was like watching a soap opera: there were so many characters and threads that it just took some continuous watching to figure out what was going on.

Read Watchmen, Dustin. It is worth it. Whether or not the movie will blow, well, the jury's still out on that. But you won't regret reading it, especially in our current political environment where we are thinking about the changing nature of government and heroes.

You should definitely read the graphic novel for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, if only to redeem the title after the movie (Proven fact: I am one of only five people in the entire world that liked the LoEG movie, one of the other people is my boyfriend and the other three are mentally imbalanced)

... werewolf nazis.

ok I'm done now.

I am one of only five people in the entire world that liked the LoEG movie,

You really are. GNs are exceptional, though.

I second the "Read Watchmen!" call. Truly extraordinary book.

As for the movie coming out in March, it's a precedent. The last few years have seen a major R rated comic book adaptation release in March. Sin City, V for Vendetta, 300, even The Matrix was a March release. It's where the studios put their niche blockbusters so I see it as a good sign.

Now I'm hooked and am on the third volume of Gaiman's Sandman.

Absolute editions? God, those things are so pretty.

Also, Julie, you should be reading Ex Machina if you like Watchmen and aren't already.

To me, the real question about Watchmen boils down to how well they'll be able to bring out some of the peripheral tragedies in the story. The superheroes were interesting, but the most powerful moments in the comic were the deaths of characters who had almost nothing to do with the main action. These minor characters were exceptionally well-developed, but in a movie they will be lucky to get a minute of screen time.

I knew absolutely nothing about Iron Man six months ago, and I wasn't all that excited about it.

Uh, yeah, that was late April, and I think we all knew RDJ was in it by then, and your reaction to that was pretty clear.

Sorry, but YES I love Watchmen but it looks like an action movie, which confuses me. I assume he's doing this for the trailer, right? And the film will be 4 hours long to really capture the Pirate subplot?
And what the fuck was that Dragonball thing? It had no sense of humor. Dragonball was always just so weird that it was funny. It doesn't fit in a real world unless Stephen Chow is making it.

to really capture the Pirate subplot?

That story is going to be its own DVD release concurrent with the film.

Julie, also, it wasn't one of my favorites but I know other Pajibans are fans and so it's an obligation to mention they just released the first Y: The Last Man deluxe graphic novel.

(Ex Machina is better, imo)

I gotta disagree with the miscast criticism; I was skeptical at first, but I think that the film looks pretty fantastic, and I can't wait to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian. Watchmen isn't really a "comic book" anyway, and I think you do it a disservice if you lump it into the spandex-and-supervillians genre.

I loves me any kind of Watchmen news. I've loved all the footage I've seen to date. They really have seemed to capture the look and feel of all the major characters. Then again, we all know Snyder can make very pretty movies, it's really what's under the hood (pun intended) that's going to matter here.

There's simply no way anyone would be able to capture all of the subtleties and complexities of the story. There is just a massive amount of material (much of which is pretty intricate) in the 12 issues. Other than doing it in a mini-series, you're never going to be able to do justice to the complete body of work. So, it's all going to come down to whether or not Snyder was able to capture enough of the essence of the story while making the necessary cuts. I remain hopeful that he will.

Everything I've read, interviews and what not, seem to hint at the notion that Snyder "gets" the story and what's important. That said, he has mentioned that he added some more "action" to some of the scenes. Also, we're going to get his trademark slow-motion/speed-up action sequences. As much as I enjoyed it in "300", I just don't think it's necessary in "Watchmen". "300" was a story about 300 bad asses killing thousands. The violence and action was the story and making it hyper-realistic worked. That said, it wont really bother me here. I can get over that even if it's not the direction I would take it.

I am still not convinced about Akerman. Then again, I've never seen her in anything. Laurie is one of the meatier rolls and if she doesn't pull it off well a lot could unravel.

Jeffery Dean Morgan looks great as the Comedian. I think his character is one of the hardest to pull off and everything I've seen, I've liked.

They seem to have nailed Rorschach, which is awesome. I read an interview where Snyder commented that he felt that delving into Rorschach's background and his interaction with the prison psychiatrist was one of the most important threads in the story. I couldn't agree more.

Since Julie and twig opened the floor to further comic discussion... I totally agree with twig on Ex Machina. I love it. Same with Y: The Last Man. You really can't go wrong with Brian K. Vaughn. The first two League of Extraordinary Gentlemen stories are great. I was less than thrilled with The Black Dossier.

There are quite a few other great series out there. Others I'd recommend, include Fables, Transmetropolitan, Top Ten, 100 Bullets, Umbrella Academy, some Hellblazer, and probably Preacher, though the last one isn't quite for everyone.

I knew nothing about Watchmen before having seen the trailers, and I'm very intrigued. I've never picked up a graphic novel in my life - but based on comments here I may give it a try.

Cannot wait for the return of Lost. Life seems so uneventful without Ben.

Dragonball itself wasn't too bad, for a silly anime. The follow-ons (Z and GT) got progressively worse for the drawn-out, predictably battles.

The worst was when a five-minute countdown to a planet exploding literally took 8 weeks of daily 30 minute episodes to complete. Damn!

Proven fact: I am one of only five people in the entire world that liked the LoEG movie, one of the other people is my boyfriend and the other three are mentally imbalanced)

Renee, count me as one of the mentally unbalanced. I own the dvd.

...Man, I've got shitty taste in movies.

Imbalanced...unbalanced... To-may-to, to-mah-to.

Dustin, you admit to being ignorant about comic books, but you have the entire internet at your disposal to do some research and get a basic understanding of what you're writing about. A little bit of searching on Wikipedia never hurt anybody.

The Dragonball movie looks even more annoying than the cartoon.

Re: Watchmen Movie - I read somewhere (don't recal where) that the Pirate subplot was dropped.

Re: Watchmen Movie - I read somewhere (don't recall where) that the Pirate subplot was dropped.

As noted above, the Pirate subplot was dropped from the movie, but is being released on a special DVD a week after the movie comes out.

The DVD will contain an animated Tales of the Black Freighter (with Gerard Butler providing the voice for the main character) and a mockumentary called Under the Hood about the "Minutemen" and "Watchmen".

While the guy playing the Comedian is probably a good 15-20 years younger than the character, I don't think the rest are really that far off the mark. Jackie Earl Haley is 47 and Patrick Wilson is 35. I think most of the Watchmen (not Minutemen) were supposed to be in their mid-30's to early 40's or so.

The casting doesn't really bother me at all, other than Akerman being a complete unknown and Patrick Wilson, even with the extra 20 pounds, still looking a bit too fresh.

Gabi, it's worth pointing out (not to you, but to others like Rowles who may not have the background) that Alan Moore wrote the comic book V for Vendetta, but absolutely disowned the movie.

It's also fair to point out that Moore has also absolutely diowned the "Watchmen" movie as well. It's also fair to point out that Moore is also (i) kinda crazy and (ii) has been badly burned by corporate America several times in disputes regarding his material.

I am a big fan of both the comic and movie versions of V for Vendetta.

I'll definitely check out Ex Machina...and I'm dying to read League of Extraordinary Gentleman.

Posted by: Julie at October 24, 2008 10:06 AM

Okay, this is going to sound weird (considering all the perverted stuff you have instgated over the past few months), but I want to attempt to sex you up for that.

Yeah, that is right. I am such a geek, a woman reading comics is hotter to me than her showing her bewbs.

I need help.

Oh, Vermillion. Again with the anime? Must you make it so easy?

Yes, goddammit, AGAIN! AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!!!!! UNTIL THE BASTARDS GET IT RIGHT, COMPRENDE!?!?!?!!!

Here is the thing with Alan Moore: DC (more specifically, Warner Bros.) screwed him over. They screwed him over good. He told them they could do whatever they wanted with his work as far as movies and shit were concerned, as long as they didn't force him to shill for them. He even offered to forfeit his share of the profits (Dave Gibbons got it all for Vendetta, and I beleive the same is in place for Watchmen).

It isn't that he hates the movies based on his stuff (well, LXG notwithstanding), he just didn't care about that. He just wanted to tell his stories through comics. Some asshat went and tried to use his name to promote the films, and pissed his crazy ass off.

Still, seeing him on The Simpsons was a hoot.

After looking at the Watchmen trailer, I have ONE question:

What's with the woman's (forgive me, I'm bad with names) outfit?

It seems they kept a lot of the other costumes pretty spot on to the book, but why is her's all tight PVC? Oh, wait, is that for the comic BOY nerds?

I liked the dorky appeal of the female costumes in the book. They really LOOKED like something handmade.

I haven't the slightest idea what the hell Watchmen is all about. I mean...it looks like it could be interesting, and I'll watch just about any superhero movie out there, but I can't help but feel that those costumes look like something out of Mystery Men. Very cheap and silly looking. But...might be good if I can get past that.

Dragonball looks like a flaming ball of turd. I was cringing and cracking up all through the trailer, and that is NOT a good thing. It looks PAINFUL!

I loved Watchmen, I love Fables, I love Bone, I love V for Vendetta, I love Hellblazer. I feel like I have a pretty solid grasp of graphic novel-dom.

But I fucking hate Y, and I can't stand Preacher. Y boils down to 90% pop culture references--and not fun pop culture references like the cooler Pajibans make, I'm talking Best Week Ever references--and 10% woe is me bullshit.

And Preacher. Please explain how this makes sense: I have the powers of the strongest being in the Universe? Well then, I'm going to find God and make him answer for his crimes. Dude, be a pissed off atheist, but make it fucking cohesive. Don't shoehorn your hate of religion into a story about guys with asses for faces. And I can't stand Bill Hicks wankery. Gag me with a spoon, you subversive-cred-seeking twat.

Well it's Jesse's history and how and why he gets his power that make him think he'd like a sitdown with the absent one. He is a disgruntled customer and thinks Creation is seriously lacking in oversight. That's the story, Arseface isn't the story with an apocalyptic subplot shoehorned in.

Y boils down to 90% pop culture references--and not fun pop culture references like the cooler Pajibans make, I'm talking Best Week Ever references--and 10% woe is me bullshit.

Sounds more like you are equating the book with Yorick, the main character. Yeah, he was an insufferable twatwaffle. He even says so himself. And I don't see where you are getting the pop culture references deal from either.

But the series itself is beyond good. And anyone who even thinks about saying Agent 355 isn't worth knowing about is going to get their throats ripped out by my teeth.

I have nothing to say on Preacher, frankly.

If you make your protagonist a twatwaffle, there better be a reason to hold me to the rest of the story. You can get by in a film with said twatwaffle just because of the medium itself. But a douchenozzle for a lead in a comic book is insufferable. In fucking sufferable. I don't care about his stories, I don't care about his survival. I kidna just wish everyone went off and had a pint and got caught up on their Cannonball read and left him to the Amazons.

Hanging a lantern on the fact that your lead character is a unlikeable dick doesn't excuse the fact that your lead character is an unlikeable dick.

Totally miscast as far as I can tell.

It's like they took the characters from the graphic novel and tried to figure out what they'd look like 10 or so years younger and in excellent physical fitness. In other words, like superheroes, which is kind of in violation of the one of the main conceits of the book.

Color me disappointed.

Soooo...in Dragonball, the chick is named "Bulimia"???

You just can't have Dragonball without Goku's hair. You just can't. It makes babies cry and puppies die. It's wrong. Why isn't the UN getting involved to prevent these kinds of atrocities?

JakesAlterEgoChugga -- don't get me started on PreacherEvangelion. I don't have time to go into all the ways I think that comicanime was overrated. (And Julie, you don't "have" to check it out. It can't hurt, if you want to have comic book cred, but don't go in expecting a masterpiece. It ain't Watchmen or Sandman.)

Dragonball Z doesn't deserve to be classified as anime. It's a bunch of guys standing around, demonstrating how you could force an anal prolapse.

Guuuuuuuh! Hooooooo! Baaaaaaaah! The powerrrrrrrrrr!

Fuck.

Anyone else spot the words 'Dharma Initiative' flashing up for a single frame at the 0:40 second mark of the Lost Season 5 promo? Thought that was a cool little touch.

Fables is the shit.

If Lost ends well enough. (Real answers to solid questions. Real resolutions. No more flashbacks.) I will get "The Numbers" tattooed on my arm. I can only worry that Holocaust survivors may be slightly offended. I think it'd look pretty boss, though. Subtle enough that only a big fan (And by association a big nerd, someone I'd want to hang out with) would understand. Not a definite Yes but I am getting a tattoo and it will be a subtle reference that only a select few will understand. OH MY GODTOPUS. How does the Godtopus feel about depictions of himself on flesh? Is he like Allah? HERE'S MY BOLD CLAIM, PAJIBA. IF PAJIBACON HAPPENS, I WILL HAVE THE GODTOPUS TATTOOED ON MY FLESH. Maybe Skittimus could do it? I believe he is the Cephalopodic One's prophet and chief doodler.

YEAH SUCK IT, ROWLES!

I wish I had the time to read every comic book mentioned in this thread. I'd use that time doing any other thing though. The point is, read Watchmen or die.

Dragonball looks like shit, but I gave up on it long ago. The animated series was a lot of fun, but as dumb as a video game, so there was no way they could have done it right.

And by the way, fuck manga.