Watchmen

Even if you haven't read a graphic novel, you've probably heard about how Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns series re-cast Batman, shedding the camp TV image for a new noir feel with a brooding, troubled hero. And perhaps you know about Art Spiegelman's much lauded holocaust family memoir Maus, told in "comics" form and recipient of a special Pulitzer Prize. But unless you follow the genre closely, you're likely to have missed Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Which is surprising, considering the serious critical appreciation given to it.

Somehow, Watchmen, published in book form in 1987, has stayed under the radar of many keen, serious readers, despite attempts to give it its literary due. Time magazine, for instance, described it as "a superlative feat of imagination, combining sci-fi [and] political satire" and named it one of the 100 Greatest English Language Novels published between 1923 (when the magazine started) and 2005 (when it ran the list). It was the only graphic novel on the list.

If you are going to join the Watchmen coterie, now is the time to do it, because finally, after years of failed attempts by the likes of Terry Gilliam and Darren Aronofsky to get it to the big screen, it has been shot and is in post-production, set for cinema release in March 2009. Previous films of other works by Moore have been major disappointments, despite the involvement of sometimes stellar talent (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell, V for Vendetta). Moore reportedly feels so burnt by the film world that he refuses to license film rights to any books for which he holds sole copyright and on those where he is joint copyright holder, such as Watchmen, he refuses to have his name on the credits or accept any licensing money from the filmmakers.

The new film could be the exception, but the odds are against it. In which case it's far better to have read the work in its original form than to have the reading experience tainted by a failed adaptation. To read an extract, click here .

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