Interview: Dave Gibbons talks Watchmen and more…

Authors: Martin Anderson, Seb Patrick, James Hunt
Source: Den of Geek

The co-creator of Watchmen talks about the upcoming movie adaptation and looks back on his career…

“There are hardcore fans out there who’ll be satisfied with nothing less than a word-for-word recreation of the comic book. I didn’t believe that was ever going to happen.”

Dave Gibbons started out as a comic strip illustrator for DC Thomson and IPC, but came to greater prominence as one of the premiere illustrators at 2000 AD comic in the late 1970s, contributing to strips such as Dan Dare, Rogue Trooper and Harlem Heroes.

His greatest fame was awaiting him in the mid-eighties, when his collaboration with Alan Moore on the Watchmen graphic novel was to lead to both cult and commercial acclaim, and the only Hugo award yet granted to a graphic novel. Gibbons’ working methods and technique are examined along with those of Brian Bolland, Duncan Fegredo and others in the recently-released Studio Space book.

Remaining as busy as ever both as a comic illustrator and writer, Gibbons is looking forward – along with the rest of us - to the release of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen movie adaptation in March of 2009…

How much do you think the Watchmen movie is being faithful to the original? Does fidelity matter?

The most important thing is that the Watchmen movie be a good movie. From what I’ve seen of it, I think it is going to be a good movie, and I think it’s going to be as faithful to the original graphic novel as is possible, given the constraints of a movie and the nature of a graphic novel.

I think that as long as it’s true to the spirit of the comic book, and as long as – in broad strokes - it follows the plot and the characterisations…I don’t think you can ask for every individual detail to be replicated.

There are hardcore fans out there who’ll be satisfied with nothing less than a word-for-word, line-for-line, scene-for-scene recreation of the comic book. I didn’t believe that was ever going to happen. Certainly, from what I’ve seen of the movie, it looks like it’ll be a good movie and very faithful to the comic book. If it isn’t, it won’t be for want of trying. Everybody’s using the graphic novel as their bible, and really doing their best to pay tribute to it, I think.

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