It was relevant, people are clearly interested in Watchmen, and it would be worth discussing since I’m a pretty big fan of the movie. But then I found my answer in the comments of my NYCC article on HBO’s upcoming Watchmen series.

Then I thought about doing Silent Hill so I could write about how valid a good/decent movie is when it butchers its source material, but I didn’t want to beat on the Silent Hill horse more than it has been. And the people that have seen it would say that the movie is about ASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. I was debating doing Spring Breakers, a 2013 slice of arthouse shlock that condemns the dissonance between reality and fantasy that’s generated from the media, but I’m pretty sure not many people have seen it.

What the hell could I talk about that would justify a Deep Analysis? What would be worthy of writing several thousand words that people will actually want to read and discuss? What would be a movie that people will be passionate about? I was honored, but also a little concerned at how big of a task it was. Back at the beginning of October, Matt approached me and asked me to revive the “Deep Analysis” feature from a few years ago, saying that we were in a position where we had enough talented writers to pull off a new monthly feature. The legacy of Watchmen is undeniable, safely secured in the pantheon of comic book greatness.Īnd then Zack Snyder made an adaptation of it in 2009.īefore I get into dissecting Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, I wanted to share a little behind the scenes look at what led to this post. Watchmen was good because it was a good story, one that comic book creators still look to for inspiration to this day.

Many prominent comic book creators believed Watchmen was successful because it was a dark and mature story, so they tried to emulate that style without understanding that the content of Watchmen is what made it so good, not just because it was aimed at adults. Watchmen was so popular that people misunderstood why it was as successful as it was. Referred to as “The Dark Age,” this time period was one of the worst periods ever for the comic book industry, culminating in Marvel’s bankruptcy, but none of that was because Watchmen was a bad story. For the comic book community, it, alongside The Dark Knight Returns, ushered in an era of comics where characters became darker, more serious, edgier, and full of 90’s…ness.

Watchmen 1986