Monday, February 16, 2009

Metatextual Buccaneers

Those who have read the graphic novel WATCHMEN (a growing number, since publicity for next month's movie has made sales of the 22-year-old graphic novel soar)will recall TALES OF THE BLACK FREIGHTER. The backstory was that because superheroes were real in the WATCHMEN world, superhero comics never became popular. Instead, pirate comics became all the rage. In the background of several chapters of WATCHMEN, a young boy free-reads an issue of TALES OF THE BLACK FREIGHTER; and its nightmarish tale becomes an ironic counterpoint and a Greek chorus to the actual storyline.

TOTBF won't quite fit into the upcoming movie; but in a bizarre yet cool move, the WATCHMEN director is releasing an animated direct-to-DVD TOTBF feature to coincide with the movie release. Here is the trailer:

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