No more “Watchmen” comics, says co-creator Dave Gibbons

DAVE GIBBONS the co-creator of the graphic novel Watchmen which is now an action adventure film from Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Legendary Pictures and is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Dave Gibbons illustrated “Watchmen,” the comic-book series that is the basis of the film opening today. He said he and collaborator Alan Moore – who isn’t involved and doesn’t want his name on the movie – never anticipated the series would become a film.

“It was never the pinnacle of my ambition or Alan’s ambition that there be a movie,” Gibbons said at a recent press junket for the film. “They’re two completely different beasts. There was very early on interest in it, I think to make it into some type of action movie, which would have been horrible.”

In fact, Gibbons said, the creators never anticipated “Watchmen” would be in print as a graphic novel for now 24 years. Gibbons said he anticipated it would be 12 issues and then consigned to the back-issue bins of comic-book shops. In 1986 and 1987, when “Watchmen” was being made, there was little in the way of always-in-print graphic novels.

Gibbons said “Watchmen” the comic book is a complete series, and, like the makers of the film, he has no intention of returning for a sequel.

“We’ve got no plans at all to add anything to ‘Watchmen’ the comic book,” he said. “We did at one point toy with the idea of maybe revisiting those early characters and doing it in a really innocent kind of way. The dramatic twist being we all know the terrible things that are going to happen down the line. But we decided not to do that. I think anything that you added to ‘Watchmen’ would probably dilute it rather than enrich it.”