As you can imagine, bringing a work this immense in scope to the movie screen is no easy task, and as both of these books show, it was exhausting.Watchmen: The Art of the Film deals primarily with the creation of the sets, backdrops, costumes, and assorted paraphernalia that populate the film. Just a quick glance shows how much effort went into each detail, including several newspapers with full articles, Rorschach’s handwritten journal, and action figures based on the story’s sellout entrepreneur, Veidt. Going inside (at least on the page) Archie the owl ship, Dr. Manhattan’s laboratory, and Veidt’s Great Hall gives just a hint of the exhausting work that went into re-creating all the details. A gallery of movie posters at the back of the book is a real treat too; seeing how real life has been framed to mimic panels from the original book is a sublime, nice touch.

 

Watchmen: The Art of the Film reveals the intense work that went into creating the look and feel of the film. It’s a perfect complement to the film for those who love to see the magic behind cinematic creation (not to mention completist fans of the graphic novel).

 

Watching Watchmen transform from a book to a movie, and then back again in the form of this book, is mesmerizing. Even better, it seems to have been packaged by true fans of the original series, who paid attention to details not just of interest to students of cinema but to those things that fans of the books will seek out. Seeing little things, like Hollis Mason’s book, Under the Hood, or comic books of Tales of the Black Freighter, are not only nice. They warm a jaded fan’s heart and show the true magic of the movie: Its persistent devotion to the original source material.