Three Minutes to Midnight

One of the details I enjoy most about Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” is how his main characters are loosely based on existing ones in the Charlton-DC universe (e.g. Dr. Manhattan as Captain Atom, Silk Spectre as Black Canary, Nite Owl as Blue Beetle, etc).

Most obvious of these connections are Rorschach as The Question, a quirky character I’ve come to like from reruns of JLU and (more recently) trade paperbacks including a reprint of issue #17 wherein Q reads “Watchmen" on a long plane flight, and tries adapting Rorschach’s crime-fighting methods.

However, Q’s experiment doesn’t work out so well, later concluding that “Rorschach sucks” as a bad guy towers over his beaten body.

Nevertheless, as the “Watchmen” feature is garnering good pre-launch buzz, I expect it to do well among comic fans, but fall short of blockbuster status as the film is so unlike conventional superhero reels like “Iron Man” or “Superman.” In fact, I suspect that most critics and other moviegoers will be unsure how to interpret “Watchmen,” or be turned off by its dour ending.

Either way, I’m very sure that many parents will be dumb enough to take their kids to the movie—despite its R-rating—because, y’know, if it’s about costumed heroes then it must be for children on some level.

Right?