Minnesota State University Reporter

Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: Literature

It's no secret that millions nationwide flocked to see summer blockbusters such as "The Dark Knight," "The Incredible Hulk" and "Wanted." What they might not know is all three are based on graphic novels.

The trend can also be seen in the upcoming movies "The Spirit" and "Watchmen." With the success of not only this summer's films - especially "The Dark Knight" - but also "V for Vendetta," "Sin City," "Spiderman" and "300," Hollywood has caught on to a trend that not only works, but works well.

So what exactly is a graphic novel? A graphic novel is similar to a comic book, but more lengthy and complex like a novel. Often times graphic novels are aimed at a more mature audience. The term also encompasses comic short-story anthologies, and in some cases bound collections of previously published comic book series."

While "The Dark Knight" and "Sin City" have become household names, the man who wrote both, Frank Miller, is not. The same is true for Alan Moore, who wrote "Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta." While these works in their written form were known and loved by few, film adaptations pushed the medium into the forefront of American consciousness. With the advent of blogging, it is this loyal fan base that has become the watchdog of the directors of such films.

Sites such as SuperHeroHype.com and BigFanBoy.com offer a forum for fans to discuss the latest news and developments in the making of such films.

And they are not easy to please. When it was revealed Heath Ledger would play the Joker in "The Dark Knight" many of these fans ripped into the decision by director Christopher Nolan, wanting Johnny Depp instead. Now these same fans wear T-shirts with bold font proclaiming INWT - "In Nolan We Trust."

While some directors such as Nolan and Zack Snyder ("Watchmen") have gone to great lengths to stay true to the original novel, others have not.

Fans are still bitter at "Wanted" director Timur Bekmambetov for what they saw as the butchering of Mark Millar's novel, on which the summer blockbuster is very, very loosely based.

In response to Millar's recently proposed "Superman" trilogy, one blogger writes, "It will probably be 20% accurate to his script (cough "Wanted" cough)."

It is for this reason that the writers often disdain Hollywood directors and abhor the idea of translating their works into film. In fact, after "RoboCop 3," Miller stated that he would never allow Hollywood to make movie adaptations of his comics, being disgusted with the constant studio interference with his scriptwriting.

Miller's stance against movie adaptations eventually changed after Robert Rodriguez made a short film from one of Miller's short stories, "Sin City." When Rodriguez showed the short film to Miller, he was so pleased with the result that he approved a full-length version of the film.

Unlike Miller, Moore has permanently removed himself from the film world, refusing to allow film adaptations of anything to which he owns full copyright. In cases where others owns the rights, he has withdrawn his name from the credits and refused to accept payment, instead requesting that the money go to his collaborators.

Having learned from the past, director Zack Snyder, who has finished production on "Watchmen," is currently attempting to trim down the nearly three-hour film to 2 hours and 25 minutes, according to EW.com.

Although lengthy, the film has already received a rave review from "Clerks" writer Kevin Smith, who had this to write on his MySpace page:

"I saw 'Watchmen.' It's f---ing astounding. The non-disclosure agreement I signed prevents me from saying much, but I can spout the following with complete joygasmic enthusiasm: Snyder and Co. have pulled it off. Remember that feeling of watching 'Sin City' on the big screen and being blown away by what a faithful translation of the source material it was, in terms of both content and visuals? Triple that, and you'll come close to watching 'Watchmen.'"

Aside from film adaptations, graphic novels themselves are becoming more popular. According to Publishers Weekly, between 2006 and 2007n there was a 12 percent increase in the number of graphic novels sold in the United States and Canada, and quintuple the sales since 2001.

It is no surprise that graphic novel sales increase as mainstream films portray their plots. Perhaps the authors will get the last laugh when the films of their comics leave the viewer - and readers - wanting Moore.



Rachel Heiderscheidt is a Reporter staff writer

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