Page 50 - Esquire (November 2019)
P. 50
the Big Bite
T V
A WATCHMEN FOR
OUR TIMES
Damon Lindelof’s HBO adaptation of Watchmen might be
the truest to the spirit of the original groundbreaking comic, and the
most relevant show on TV right now By Matt Miller
Damon Lindelof was 13 years old when, in 1986, his dad
gave him the first two issues of a new comic book called
Watchmen. It was, Lindelof says now, like nothing he’d ever
experienced. Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons,
VIGILANTE JUSTICE shattered all expectations of comic books. It proved that the
Regina King as Angela superhero genre could be as political, controversial, challeng-
Abar, a lead detective on a ing, thought-provoking, and deeply human as any work of
murder case.
dramatic literature. The flawed, flesh-and-blood characters
deal with ethical conundrums (who watches the Watchmen?)
and anxieties (the threat of nuclear war). “What separates
Watchmen from Superman or Batman or even Spider-
Man is there’s a depth of psychological pain,” says Lindelof,
a TV showrunner with Lost and The Leftovers on his résumé
who’s adapting a version of Watchmen for HBO. In setting
46 November 2019_Esquire
