Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5854 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-03-09
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.co.uk Review

For the many who felt that the Watchmen graphical novel was unfilmable, and thus were dissatisfied with the blockbuster movie based on it, there’s Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comics. The idea behind this is that, over twelve half-hour episodes, the Alan Moore graphical novel of Watchmen is brought to the screen. Supervised by Moore himself, The Complete Motion Comics adds some animation and voice material from time to time, but otherwise it’s a very faithful representation of the work it’s derived from. It uses the art from the graphic novel itself, and takes that as the foundation of what goes on the screen. As for the narrative itself, some things are trimmed down here and there, but nothing major at all. And there’s little question that you’re getting value for money here. Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comics runs for the best part of five hours, and a fine job has been made of it. The one factor that counts against it is that it’s an odd half-way house. It’s neither the graphic novel, nor the film, and should arguably take third place in the queue behind them. But as an interesting and faithful novelty, it’s something that will still be savoured and enjoyed, even if you can’t see a cavalcade of further motion comics following in its wake. --Jon Foster

DVD Description
Watched any great books lately? Now you can. The most celebrated graphic novel of all time that broke the conventional mold continues to break new ground Watchmen illustrator Dave Gibbons oversees this digital version of the graphic novel that adds limited motion, voice and sound to the books strikingly drawn panels. All 12 chapters of the story are here. Nearly 5 hours spanning everything from the mysterious demise of the Comedian to the crisscrossed destinies of loosely allied superheroes to their fateful impact on the world. Be in the know. Be watching, with Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic.

Customer Reviews

Really quite odd
It's a strange one this. I've owned a copy of the comic since the late 80s and have reread it many times since. The idea of this "motion comic" sounded intreaging so I decided to give it a go.

It's just as it is described on the box "The Graphic Novel Comes to Life Page by Page". It's Dave Gibbons art with a bit of animation thrown in to generate a motion effect (the people move across the page, chains swing, we have a bit of panning and zooming but nothing too complicated). There are speach bubbles and the words are narrated.

It's a bit like an audio book with a single narrator with the pages being flipped from frame to frame. The narrator is a bit limited, all the voices sound very similar, but that doesn't really matter as the words and the art speak for themselves. Nothing essential is missed and whilst the initial experience is quite odd, the whole thing is enjoyable.

Graphic novels for lazy people
I saw this advertised and the thought of a motion comic fascinated me, so whilst I was waiting for the movie to come out, thought I would try this. For a superhero story, this is totally different to anything you will have seen or read before, I certainly see what all the fuss is about. This is a great story about an alternate world where superheoes are a normal sight. OK, this is basically a narrated comic book with very basic animation, and to be honest just having one narrator who can't do a multitude of voices can be offputting (especially on female characters), but these are not enough to make it any less than 5 stars. So 5 hours for less than £8 is a must buy bargain, only hope the new movie lives up to this.

Pointless, but still utterly riveting.
As a curiousity buy Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comics is probably one of the better purchases I've made over the years. It's an odd beast that simultaneously showcases the fantastic art of Dave Gibbons (and captures the mood of Alan Moore's bleak tale as a result)and manages to be a rather wonderful example of how cheesy voice acting can go a fair way towards screwing up dramatic tension, a problem further exacorbated by the fact that the same actor dubs all of the voices throughout the story, including the women!
All the same there is no arguing with the sheer quality of the comic and it does shine through here but it all begs the question: Why not just read the book?