No one can fault Warner Bros. for not giving their best marketing effort to get people to come find out for themselves why the fans and the mass media have been falling over themselves to hail Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen as the greatest graphic novel of all time. Last summer they hooked the geekerati at Comic-Con International and spent the fall and winter making certain the rest of the world knew the film adaptation was coming. When the press reviews began hitting, the mixed commentary all talked about the difficulty of translating the dense, layered narrative into a film regardless of length. Some found it faithful and well-done while others couldn’t follow the story and thought it was too somber for its own good.

While the diehards attended more than once to sop up every nuance, the rest of America seemed not to care anywhere near as much. For those of us familiar with the language of comic books and graphic novels, we easily followed the movie while those less versed found it off-putting despite the brilliant 12-minute opening that set the stage. As a result, the film earned just $107,509,799 domestically and with additional $75,225,483 from international screens, it stands as a commercial disappointment.

As I said in my review last March, the film was not at all a creative disappointment. There are sharp performances, especially Jackie Earl Haley and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and while there are favorite characters missing or diminished, the movie does a solid job condensing the story. Still, it feels constrained and probably would have worked better as either two films or an extended premium cable miniseries (although that would have been prohibitively expensive to mount). Now we have additional footage in [[[Watchmen Director’s Cut]]] being released tomorrow by Warner Home Video. It’s available in standard and Blu-ray editions, each packed with extras. Here’s a sample:

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Mazel tov! Reprinting the SFScope announcement:

Award-winning science fiction writer (and SF Scope contributor)
Michael A. Burstein and wife Nomi Burstein welcomed two twin children,
their first, to their family today.

The twins are fraternal, and both are girls. The first baby was born at 9:20AM, weighed 5 pounds 8 ounces, and is 17″ long. The second baby was born at 9:21AM,
weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces, and is 19″ long. The twins were delivered by
C-section at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. The attending
physician was Dr. Rafik Mansour. The delivery was originally scheduled
for this Thursday, but was moved up for medical reasons.

As befits a science-fiction couple, the Bursteins are banking the babies’ cord blood for the blood’s stem cells.

Per Modern Orthodox Jewish custom, the babies will not be named
until the parents attend a Torah service at their synagogue,
Kadimah-Toras Moshe in Brighton, which is currently planned for
Saturday 25 July.

Mother and babies are recovering in the hospital.

Congratulations, Bursteins!

UPDATE: Now with pictures!

And yes, that’s a copy of Sci-Fi Baby Names: 500 Out-of-This-World Baby Names from Anakin to Zardoz
.

Not much to say about this one, folks, except that Viper Comics, of Middleman fame, is holding a talent search. What’s different about this one, you ask? Well, in addition to looking for artists, as most of these talent searches  do, they’re going to take writers off the street. What are they looking for in writing samples? Man, you’re just full of good questions today. From the horse’s mouth:

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p class=”bodyBold”>In order to have your writing accepted it must:

• be a self-contain story that runs no more than 5 (FIVE) comic-pages.
• be about an existing character in the comic book world.
• be presented in something resembling a professional comic book script.
• make sure you include ALL your contact information on your submission.

If you’re at San Diego Comic Con, they’ll accept samples and portfolios there. If you can’t make it out, they’ll accept a digital copy up until the convention ends, Sunday, July 27th at 5pm Pacific.
So what’re you writers and artists looking for? Get going!

A semi-deep thought re: San Diego: I can’t be the first person to make this observation, but if they keep spending more and more time promoting movies and TV shows, regardless of whether they have anything to do with comics or not, we’re going to have to start calling it the San Diego Comic Cannes.

Lord knows it’s how everybody else seems to be treating it, including this week’s Entertainment Weekly. The coverage is promoting it like the major film festival it is, only without all of those French people.

We’re even going to have our own geek version of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Sure, Angelina has Lara Croft and might be there pitching Salt, and Brad Pitt has Inglorious Basterds coming out next month, but they’re nothing compared to the new power couple of Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool and Green Lantern) and Scarlett Johansson (as the deadly Black Widow, which is a cue to run that picture.)

From Quirk Books, the people who brought you Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, comes a new tale of romance, heartbreak, and tentacled mayhem.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
expands the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, swashbuckling pirates, and other seaworthy creatures… and this time, there’s a trailer.

From the press release:

As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels?

This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of biting sea monsters. It’s survival of the fittest… and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!

Featuring fifteen black-and-white illustrations and including A Reader’s Discussion Guide for book club and student use, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is sure to delight Austen fans as well as seafaring adventurers.

JANE AUSTEN is coauthor of the New York Times best seller Pride and
Prejudice and Zombies, which has been translated into 17 languages and
optioned to become a major motion picture. She died in 1817 and is
buried in Winchester Cathedral. Ms. Austen is not available for media.

BEN H. WINTERS is a writer who lives in Brooklyn with all the other
writers. He has written musicals for children and adults, all sorts of
magazine and newspaper articles, and some books. Mr. Winters is
available for media.

It will be available on September 15, 2009– yes, that’s the same day that Dan Brown’s new book ships. Think there will be crossover?

And what’s this about Austen not being available for media? I want to interview the Zombie Jane Austen! …mmmmm… tea and braaaains…