MONDO EXTRAS

Zach: Unfortunately. But the Watchmen toys are going to be pretty cool: they've got some nice statues and busts -- some really high-end stuff coming out. And that's all great, especially considering that people weren't able to get the comic-based action figures when they were supposed to come out back around 2000. As you know, those were axed due to the first wave of problems that DC had with Alan Moore, which of course escalated and escalated and has resulted with Alan Moore not wanting to be associated with any movie adaptations of his work ever again.

Dan: Including the Watchmen film. We saw in the opening credits that the only credit for the comic book is "co-created and illustrated by Dave Gibbons." There's no mention of who the actual author of Watchmen is, at Alan Moore's unfortunate request.

Zach: It is unfortunate, but I understand his dismay at things like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen not being a very good film and producers saying things like, "Oh yeah, Alan Moore's seen it and loves it" when that's not entirely true. And I know there's financial reasons as well. I think he, from what I've heard, wanted his rights back when the book went out of print, and the book's never been out of print. It's just a testament to how well the book sells. It does seem strange to me that he wouldn't want a cut of what's looking like a very profitable film. He'd certainly be entitled to one.

Dan: Well, sort of to his credit, no pun intended, I believe his policy is the artist gets his cut. He refuses to sully his integrity by denouncing a movie while also taking money from it. He neither wants his name on it, nor will he get money from it. So Dave Gibbons is doubly blessed, I suppose, in all of this.

Zach: Yeah, Dave Gibbons... it's very important that this does well for Dave Gibbons, which is why Dave Gibbons had made himself so available to the production. He's involved in all aspects of. He's done new art for it -- I believe he said he's doing promotional art for it, of the characters as they appear in the movie, done in his art style, which is very cool. He's a fantastic illustrator, of course.

Dan: And to start wrapping up, what is one thing from the Watchmen comic book that's personally meaningful to you that you hope makes it to the big screen?

Zach: Gosh, one moment... I'm a real visual guy, so I can't wait to see Hooded Justice. We don't really get to see him action in the book, so it would be cool if we got to see him in action in the movie. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the opening credit sequence aside from in the group portrait. But I think we'll definitely see him smacking around the Comedian during the attempted rape scene. Visually, he's just such a cool character, with the hood and the noose. I guess he's controversial, visually, too, with the Klan attributes, so maybe I shouldn't be expressing my love of the visuals of Hooded Justice, but he just seemed like such a mysterious figure; nobody ever saw him after a certain point. It's believed that maybe the Comedian killed him, who knows? Maybe we'll get to see a bit of that in the movie. I'm also interested to see more of Nite Owl's gadgets. Like when they get to Antarctica and he's got little owl hovercrafts that he and Rorschach ride the rest of the way. He has special winter gear. He's got a robot battle suit in his lair that the first time he put it on, he broke his arm. I'm curious to see all that stuff. Plus, my wife and I love owls, so all the owl-themed stuff I want to see. The big barn-owl-themed coat....