Dave Gibbons is considered one of the greatest comic book illustrators in modern times, best known for the seminal miniseries ‘Watchmen’ which is still considered by many one of the best– if not THE best– work in the artform. But before that, he made quite a name for himself applying his sleek style to mainstream comics starring, among others, Batman and Superman. It was Gibbons that pencilled the classic ‘For The Man Who Has Everything’, from 1985’s ‘Superman Annual’ #11, written by ‘Watchmen’ scribe Alan Moore.
While attending MCM Comic Con in London, Gibbons took the opportunity to praise director Zack Snyder, who helmed both ‘Batman V Superman’ and the cinematic adaptation of ‘Watchmen’, two films that were not well-received by the public or critics. And while he gave his thumbs up to ‘Watchmen’, he wasn’t quite as taken with ‘BvS’.
Many considered ‘Watchmen’ un-film-able from the start, but Snyder gave it a go to mixed results. And Gibbons gives him kudos for his attempt:
“Well I think Zack Snyder, or Zack as I call him, is a very talented filmmaker and I thought what he did with Watchmen was about as good as anybody could have expected to do, and he put a lot of time into it, a lot of passion, he had complete understanding of the material he was dealing, and I was really happy with that movie. It’s a flawed movie, nothings perfect, but I really thought they gave it the real proper try.”
As for ‘BvS’, Gibbons doesn’t lay all the blame at Snyder’s feet, saying:
Gibbon’s artwork from ‘Superman Annual’ #11 “For The Man Who Has Everything”
“I feel that the, what’s happening now with the DC characters in film to my mind is going in the wrong direction. I did a panel earlier on where I was talking about films that influenced me. What Marvel seem to have done is take their characters, with their dark side and their light side and their humor and their pathos and their human emotion, and they’ve actually had a long vision of what they’re going to do. They put together films that are really entertaining, that are exciting, and do have threat and jeopardy, but do have humor and a human quality to them, and a sense of hope. But I feel what DC had done, particularly with the Superman vs Batman movie, is that they really have taken a misstep on it.
“I mean, I wrote a comic book called World’s Finest which was Superman vs Batman, and what I honed in on, and I’m not saying this is the only take, but it might have helped, was you know you’ve got Batman who’s a dark, hidden creature, who lives in a dark evil city, whose antagonist is a brightly colored clown. You’ve got Superman who is a brightly colored figure. He’s yang if you like to Batman’s yin. He lives in a bright hopeful city, but with a villain, an opponent who is a dark great scheming business man. So the whole universe is completely complimentary.”
Director/comic fan Kevin Smith earlier observed that Snyder appeared to have only read one Batman comic book with that being Frank Miller’s bleak ‘The Dark Knight Returns’. Perhaps if Snyder had sampled Gibbons’ work, we may have wound up with a far different DC cinematic universe.
What do you think about Gibbons’ statements? Do you agree with his take on the DC movies?
Jax's earliest memory is of watching 'Batman,' followed shortly by a memory of playing Batman & Robin with a friend, which entailed running outside in just their underwear and towels as capes. When adults told them they couldn't run around outside in their underwear, both boys promptly whipped theirs off and ran around in just capes.
