When I was growing up I thrived on comic books. My grandmother would take me over to Nan Rousseau's, a family friend, and I'd curl up with a stack of comic books from one of her many children and read until my mind exploded and my grandmother had to cart me back out to the car, half asleep. Those were good days.

When I was older I managed to collect a few here and there, but they soon got too expensive for me to keep up with the storylines. As well, I was getting a little frustrated with the depth of the storylines. I mean, I read comics to ESCAPE, not be reminded about how 'orrible my life is along the way with death and destruction. Watchmen graphic novel nonwithstanding, of course.

And now this.

Right... so now Batgirl, who I darned well loved because Barbara Gordon kicks butt in a wheelchair as Oracle, is now a foul-mouthed little monster? And we're PRINTING this for who?

This entire thing wouldn't have come to light except for the fact that they're recalling all the issues with the situation above because... get this... the black bars to cover the swearing AREN'T THICK ENOUGH TO HIDE THE WORDS!

Yep, folks... we're hitting the wall hard on this one. We'll write cursing like a sailor into the story and then black-bar it out as best as we can.

Here's some of what's been blacked out. (WARNING: EXTREMELY FOUL LANGUAGE THAT YOU WOULDN'T WANT YOUR MOTHER, BOSS OR BEST FRIEND TO SEE!)

Now, I've always had issues with Frank Miller, the supposed GREAT MAN of comics at present. Didn't like his Dark Knight, didn't care for his "300", didn't think much of his Sin City. I think the man has issues. Lots of them.

But he's obviously getting approval for this sort of silliness from the higher-up at DC. And, obviously, it's going through.

But wait! There's more!

Batgirl and Catwoman... naked in a night-club.

Not Miller, thankfully... but I have to wonder who's the target audience for this sort of stuff. It ain't me, a grumpy old broad who doesn't like to be reminded constantly that superheroines have breasts larger that physically possible for them to stand. Are you really targeting the kids, the next generation with this sort of writing and imagery? Really?

I can't wait, then, for the Tony Stark/Steve Rogers slash to make it to the trade paperbacks, then. Might as well go all the way and push all those buttons, boyos. What's left now?

And who's reading it?

rant endeth.

Well, the first trailer for Watchmen is out - and running not only online but also in front of "Dark Knight", as if you needed a bigger audience to discover/rediscover this masterpiece.

Now, I know that if I say it's based on a graphic novel that some of you are going to shrug and go "Comic book? I don't read comic books!" - which is a fine decision based on some of the crap out there that's being published, to be honest. I love comics dearly but some of the stuff that's being illustrated nowadays makes me shudder - and not in a good way.

However, I remember when the first issues of Watchmen hit the stands at the Silver Snail on Queen Street West in Toronto, many many years ago. It was incredible to watch the people stripping the racks of every copy and racing to double/triple bag extra copies. It was truly a comic phenom that hasn't really been duplicated, though many have tried.

Why?

Well, it basically turns the comic book world you may know via Batman and Superman on it's head. The only thing that I can think of that may come close is the real-world feel of Iron Man as of late; with the movie accentuating his humanity over the cool gadgets. But I digress into a RDJ fangirl swoon...

I later purchased a copy of the graphic novel (here on Amazon, if not on the shelves of your fine local bookstore) and just wallowed in the excellent writing, drawing, extras and just plain old everything. If you're interested even slightly in writing this is a book you need to get and devour. Each and every panel has so much symbolism and depth to it that it boggles the mind. Even now, decades later, I can pull out my ragged old copy and see more and more that I've missed. Not to mention that the alternative reality presented has a new perspective in light of recent events. And no, I'm not talking about more Bush-bashing. That's gotten very old and I don't think people realise that it kills a story/movie/comic book when you link it to a specific time in history that will eventually be over. Sort of like reading the stuff being put out during the Cold War and not understanding the perspective the people were writing from. But again, I digress.

From the main story about retired superheroes (some with powers, some not - average joes, as it were) to the bigger story to the epic sidebar of a comic within a comic and the rampant symbolism wrapped up in a beautiful package you can't afford to not at least look over a copy of the original before the movie comes out. Really.

Get thee hence before the movie comes out and be amazed. You'll never look at Batman or Superman or Swee... er, Iron Man in the same way again.

:)