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That’s right, the premier magazine about entertainment has its first ever San Diego Comic-Con preview issues and the WATCHMEN get the cover treatment:

Over many months, and many meetings, Snyder persuaded Warner Bros. to abandon the Greengrass/Hayter script and hew as faithfully as possible to the comic. The key battles: retaining the ’80s milieu, keeping Richard Nixon (Moore did consider using an era-appropriate Ronald Reagan, but worried it would alienate American readers), and preserving the villain-doesn’t-pay-for-his-crimes climax. ”It was clear that Zack felt an intense obligation to the fans and the book,” says Warner Bros. Picture Group president Jeff Robinov. ”There was definitely a conversation about the best way to make it contemporary and relevant to today. Zack felt the best way was to go back to the roots of the novel.” It didn’t hurt Snyder’s case that by then 300 — another R-rated movie based on a hardcore graphic novel — was making a killing at the box office. ”Little by little, we got the studio on board,” says Deborah Snyder, the director’s producer, chief collaborator, and wife. ”300 really helped. It created a level of trust in Zack’s vision.”


The section was spearheaded, as is all of EW’s comics coverage, by Nisha Gopalan. Word went around this week that Nisha is leaving EW after Comic-Con. While everyone will join in wishing her the best in the future, it’s a little sad too: as well as being a very talented editor and writer, Nisha is a true friend of comics, and the coverage she oversaw on the website and in the magazine has been consistently smart and has definitely helped the comics biz reach its current state of household acceptance. Let’s hope EW doesn’t drop the ball on the category.

So, good luck, Nisha! See you at the comics shop.

UPDATE: Nisha wants to point out that while she helped with the Comic-Con preview, the EW movies editor, Sean Smith, edited the whole Comic-Con package, and the entire movie staff helped greatly. “It’s really the open-minded Mr. Smith, who’s never even been to Comic-Con, yet possessed the undying enthusiasm and stamina to edit this truly awesome package,” she writes professionally and graciously.

8 COMMENTS

  1. HOLY FREAKING CRAP!

    Right now, at BN.com, Watchmen is #16! Not #16 out of all graphic novels, #16 out of EVERYTHING!

    Pardon me while I savor this moment… Mmmmm…..

  2. I overheard two Borders employees discussing WATCHMEN while I was looking at DVDs. Employee #1 was talking about how there was a CL edition coming out soon and Employee#2 was talking about how she got her first copy at a flea market for a buck.

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