For fans, the opening sequence is iconic: Clouds drift by to a moody industrial trudge, the DC logo appears and Jon Osterman’s arm hairs stand on end.
Immediately after that first “Watchmen” trailer played before the summer blockbuster “The Dark Knight,” it went viral.
The resultant frenzy of YouTube videos and blog posts generated unprecedented interest in the source material.
Alan Moore’s acclaimed 1986 graphic novel of the same name began to fly off the shelves.
Over the last nine months, audiences previously unfamiliar with “Watchmen,” or with the graphic medium as a whole, have followed their intrigue straight to the source.
The story they found tells about an alternate 1980s New York, one where Richard Nixon is still president and the United States perpetually lingers on the verge of nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
This rainy dystopia was formerly protected by a group of now-washed-up superheroes who, except for Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), have no powers and are not in any way super. When one of them ““ the brooding, principled Rorschach (Jackie Earle Hayley) ““ hears of the murder of one of his fellow Watchmen, he sets out to solve the mystery and protect the other costumed heroes.
He makes mistakes, people die and the world remains a dangerous place. The story evokes questions about the nature of heroism and the value of human life.
Then it ends.
Now, on the eve of the film’s release, the escalating anticipation and a ubiquitous, if not overly elucidatory, publicity campaign have differentiated “Watchmen” from comic sources without the same weighty subject material and concise delivery.
They have left the story poised to reach new audiences, a sort of Comics 101.
“I’m hoping that people who have read the graphic novel will go, “˜Wow, that reminds me of the graphic novel here and there. It makes me think … I need to reread it, kind of refresh myself,'” said director Zack Snyder.
“And if you haven’t then you’d go “˜Man … I need to go check out the graphic novel,'” Snyder added.
So far, so good.
“(The trailer) drove people into stores to buy the “˜Watchmen’ book and also other Alan Moore books, and recently, memorabilia too,” said Robert Hennessey, co-owner of Hi De Ho Comics in Santa Monica.
“If it says “˜Watchmen’ on it, they’ll buy it.”
Part of the pull comes from the book’s accessibility.
Unlike other recent adaptations ““ “Iron Man,” “X-Men,” “Spider-man” and “Batman” ““ “Watchmen” never franchised its characters into immortality. Author Alan Moore would not allow it. Before the end of the 12 books that collectively make up “Watchmen,” Moore kills off a handful of his characters and leaves the rest to gamble with Armageddon.
The result is a self-contained, dense yet concise graphic novel, immeasurably simpler to start and finish than any other superhero blockbuster’s source material.
It will stay that way. Even if the film’s success later leads to a prequel or sequel, a franchise of new comic books seems unlikely.
“You’re never going to … develop a story as perfectly structured, as completely original as what Alan Moore came up with,” screenwriter David Hayter said. “Alan Moore has never come up with a story as perfectly structured.”
With such a celebrated graphic novel behind it, the movie’s relatively faithful adaptation functions as a visual segue into the comic medium. It offers a filtered, though still potent, look at a genre’s offerings.
“Whenever something is adapted into a movie, it sees its spike in bestsellerdom,” fourth-year English student and comic devotee Tory Adkisson said.
“Even in this day and age where attention spans are shrinking faster than the economy is plummeting, people will still be interested in the source material. … This will be true more with graphic novels than with other books because they have pictures in them, and people like pictures,” Adkisson said.
Even in a medium traditionally dominated by teenage and 20-something male audiences, the film’s source material manages to appeal to a much broader demographic. Whether that will translate into the film hinges largely on word-of-mouth hype.
“I want to say that Laurie, the Silk Spectre, is a really strong female character, which she is,” said Amanda Louise Krieger, a second-year theater student.
“She’s also the token female. But I think the story is universal, regardless of gender,” Krieger added.
Still, although the film’s ability to truly cross over to new fans is yet to be determined, increased sales of Moore’s graphic novel indicate that the film has already created a new interest in comics.
“If I made a two-and-a half-hour commercial for the graphic novel, then I did my job,” Snyder said.