SDCC: Watching the Watchmen Again

The only event I did manage to see at Comic-Con 2009 was the Watchmen director's cut, which was a really unique set-up, as Zack Snyder was in attendance and answering questions messaged to him from a computer in the back of the room. The whole thing was being broadcast live to the lucky owners of the Blu-ray edition, though my Twitter friends complained that reading the chat wasn't nearly as much fun as listening to it, and the transcriber wasn't spelling Snyder's words correctly. In person, though, it was a loose, informal kind of thing, with people coming in and out just to watch favorite scenes or listen to Snyder's commentary. I confess I didn't stay for the whole thing (I was too cold, too tired, and my chair was hideously uncomfortable, so I'll have to wait until DVD to see Hollis Mason's death) but what I saw was a blast.

To give you an example, the first question out of the gate was about whether or not a suspicious looking object next to the Comedian's television set was really the sort of sex toy it looked like. The answer is a big fat yes. Snyder decided the Comedian was the kind of guy who would have a very kinky and dark sex life (something all over the costumed heroes of Watchmen anyway), and that if you look closely, you'll see all kinds of things scattered over his apartment. Somehow I don't think that made it onto the DVD commentary, though I could be wrong.

This will obviously be Watchmen's last appearence at ComicCon, so I'm sad to have missed the whole live broadcast. But to come full circle, if you were there the year The Big Casting Announcements Happened, you might remember that there was a really obnoxious question about Sally Jupiter's hair. One determined fanboy was dying to know whether or not Snyder planned to keep Sally Jupiter's poodle perm, and it was just the kind of creepy thing that plagues every panel Q&A. Turns out, the whole thing was a prank pulled by one of the production / visual designers (the name was drowned out on my end of the room). "So mean," moaned Snyder. I've thought of that question every time I saw Sally's hair, and I'm glad to know there isn't a fanboy out there still angry about it!

What else don't you get from a home viewing ... swag! In proof that the machine (especially if its run by Snyder) keeps going, check out the t-shirt below. It's your first piece of Sucker Punch marketing, and officially kicks off a gallery that'll have many more additions in the future. Best of all? He had them in girl sizes. Someone in his camp knows there's female geeks in the world!