I've own the graphic novel for about a year now.

I should really read this before the movie comes out.

oh snap... what in the hell is that?

March 2009

I saw Dark Knight last night and this was one of the previews. Looked f-ing FANTASTIC on the big screen. Can't wait for it.

Whats this about? Ive never heard of it

 

Just spent a good part of the day reading up on it.

Looks promising.

To Mike:

 I would say that a high majority of comic/graphic novel readers would say that Watchmen is the greatest graphic novel ever read. 

 

The expectations for this movie are  going to be huge.

Graphic novel means comic book right? I don't mean that in a condescending way... I just don't know. 

 

I just seem to recall them referencing this in the O.C. 

Never heard of Watchmen before, but this looks dope!

To call Watchmen a "graphic novel" isn't quite fair...it was originally published as a twelve-issue comic book series in the mid-80s and only later collected. But yeah alongside the Sandman series, it's basically the closest that superhero comics have come to authentic literature. Really dark, richly symbolic and layered stuff, and the work that moved Alan Moore from a talented up-and-comer to a true legend in comic book writing.

 

And  Mike: yes, graphic novel refers to comic books, but it is a type of comic book that is usually meant to stand alone, as opposed to a collected edition of a comic series originally issued in installments, which is usually called a "trade paperback."

 

Got it.

Narfish, that's how they all become graphic novels, though.

 

A series of comics spread out through a number of months following one story that are later collected into one are graphic novels.

 

 

It's semantics. There are plenty of longer-form comic books that were intended as stand alone graphic novels and never published as individual issues, but yeah I guess the large majority of what we consider graphic novels are just collected versions of longer stories. Though there has to be some kind of dividing line - like, would you consider a six issue story-arc drawn from somewhere in the Uncanny X-Men chronology a graphic novel? I wouldn't. That's a trade paperback to me. 

Banger...Narfish... FIGHT TO THE DEATH!