Watching the Watchmen

While I was out walking yesterday, I spotted a bus shelter poster featuring Ozymandias from Watchmen. This immediately triggered the OCD section of my brain that compels me to hunt down bus posters. Remember last summer's epic Heroes poster quest, in which I covered over a hundred miles of Los Angeles streets on foot in search of all of those blasted posters? I didn't want to do that again. I can't stress enough how much I didn't want to do that.

And yet, upon spotting Ozymandias, I knew I would. Because if there was an Ozymandias poster, it meant there was a Doctor Manhattan poster, and a Rorschach poster, and a Nite Owl II poster, and it meant I needed to find them all. Because that's just how my obsessive little brain works.

So I set out today with a camera. And I got lucky right off the bat. Some kind soul had plastered every single Watchmen poster on a construction site at La Cienega and Whitworth. Yahtzee! These are slightly different from the bus shelter version -- smaller, and missing the Watchmen text along the side -- but it's close enough. Quest over.

Posters of Silk Spectre II, Doctor Manhattan, Rorschach, Ozymandias, The Comedian, and Nite Owl II are all in one big, glorious glut after the jump.

Note: My photography skills have not improved, nor have I upgraded my camera.

Also note: There's all kinds of Watchmen-themed madness, both new and archival, going on over at Dan Liebke's Astonishing Tales. It's a must-visit for anyone who's waiting in breathless anticipation for March 6th, or for anyone who just wants to get a handle on what all this Watchmen hoopla is all about.











Comments

Anonymous said…
Awesome find Morgan. I'm pretty stoked about this movie- now I just need to figure out the logistics of going opening weekend.
Morgan Richter said…
It looks good -- the characters look dead on, and it seems like it's going to stick fairly close to the source material. I'm looking forward to it. Should get the big summer movies off to a good (and extremely early) start.
Dan said…
With each snippet they release, I grow less scared about it. But as an official Rabid Fan of the comic book (or 'graphic novel', if one snootily prefers), I reserve the right to remain fretful until I see it.

And no, a dud movie version won't make the comic any less brilliant. (see 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' or 'From Hell'. Or, more wisely, don't - read them instead)

But I'd much prefer to have this conversation with my non-comic book reading friends:

"Watchmen! Yeah, totally awesome."

than

"Watchmen? No, the movie was kinda dumb. But the comic is brilliant. No, seriously."

Because, y'know, ten fewer words.

As I say, I think they're working steadily to the former conversation, but I continue to fret.

Having said all that, I'm totally there on opening day.
Morgan Richter said…
Love the graphic novel, though I'm not quite up to Rabid Fan level. Fingers crossed that they'll do it some justice. The trailers and TV spots look really, really good. Still, I think remaining fretful is a good course of action. There's all kinds of ways it could go wrong: it could be bloated, or boring, or -- worse -- kind of silly.

We shall see. Yeah, I'm thinking I'll be there opening weekend as well.
Dan said…
Oh sure, everything's looking great so far.

If they can deliver on the promise I'll be one happy camper. I guess I still have Terry Gilliam's 'Watchmen is unfilmable' comments rummaging around in the back of my head, causing doubts.

Although, why I would listen to Terry Gilliam's assessments on such matters remains unclear.
Ingrid Richter said…
Heh. I just discovered the Minute Men Arcade Game - pure genius!