Movies based on

I’ve noticed the Watchmen trailers include the phrase "Based on the graphic novel."

Watchmen wasn’t a graphic novel. It was a comic book. It was twelve issues, published monthly. It was published in comic-book form, meaning that the pages were creased and held together by two staples. They published a collected version in trade paperback form the following year, but I wouldn’t say that makes it a graphic novel.

I know why they use that term: they think the ordinary people will be afraid of the term "comic book." The thing about that is…I don’t think people who aren’t into comic books know what a graphic novel is. How often do you hear that term outside of a comic book shop?

When I saw the movie Road to Perdition, the opening credits included that phrase: "Based on the graphic novel." (As far as I know, the phrase was applied correctly in that circumstance.) From the row behind me, I heard a question: "This movie is graphic?" Her date replied with something I couldn’t hear clearly. He may have known the term and been explaining, or maybe he just said "Idunno."

Sure, to some extent they have to cater to the "norms," but they should at least do it in sensible ways. This subject reminded me of how movie makers try to avoid making comic book movies too "comic booky," and how they adapted a different Alan Moore work into LXG, which was more "comic booky" than the comic book.

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