Broken Frontier

Will Alan Moore be Watching the Watchmen? Um, No. 

It’s no secret that acclaimed comic book scribe Alan Moore is not the biggest fan of Hollywood adaptations of his work. With Warner Bros. readying its screen adaptation of his 1986 classic Watchmen for a March 2009 release, the Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex  blog spent an hour on the phone with Moore who had less-than-complimentary words for the film industry as a whole.

"I find film in its modern form to be quite bullying,” Moore told the Times’ Geoff Boucher. "It spoon-feeds us, which has the effect of watering down our collective cultural imagination. It is as if we are freshly hatched birds looking up with our mouths open waiting for Hollywood to feed us more regurgitated worms. The Watchmen film sounds like more regurgitated worms. I for one am sick of worms. Can't we get something else? Perhaps some takeout? Even Chinese worms would be a nice change."

Moore added that he has no intention of seeing Watchmen when it hits theaters, and finds humor in the ongoing legal scuffle between 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. over who owns the rights to it.

"Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic,” he said. “Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Now that would be an interesting DVD commentary. 

Previous film adaptations of Moore’s work have included From Hell, V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen . 

Fathom Film May Get Foxy

Before dying of cancer in June 2008, Fathom creator Michael Turner affirmed that a film adaptation of his popular comic book series was unlikely due to scripting issues, being quoted as saying, “The Fathom movie is now not really happening.”

However, IESB.net reports that a live-action version of the series may be in the works from 20th Century Fox. Their source is unnamed, so keep a grain of salt—or, more appropriately, some salt water —at the ready. 

According to IESB, the project has been passed along to Fox Atomic; the “genre” arm of the studio. The studio is reportedly working to come up with a script that will showcase Megan Fox (Transformers ), who would play the sexy (and often half-naked) lead character, Aspen Matthews. 

Fathom, which follows the aquatic adventures of a female marine biologist with a mysterious past and water-based powers, was Turner’s first creator-owned comic book series.