Although he still needs to finish off the last season, ‘The Boys’ remains at the moment as one of the public’s favorite comiquera series. Superheroíca satire is a delicious black humor story, and an intelligent execution of the thesis “What if the superheroes lived in our world?” For many it is also a kind of spiritual successor of ‘Watchmen’, history also based on a comic and that already asked similar questions in the eighties.
Eric Kripke, creator of ‘The Boys’, has done a good job staying away from talking about ‘Watchmen’ all this timebut it has not been until a few days ago, in the Podcast scriptnotes, when he has had the opportunity to mention it. He did it in response to a question of a listener, on what extent it was necessary to resemble the original comic.
“Let’s see, I think Scott Pilgrim is one of the few exceptions with great fidelity with the original comic and that it worked. I think it is normal for not work, you know? Damon’s Watchmen (Lindelof) is much more interesting than the film because it was in its own direction. I would say that it is to find what is unique to your story. With ‘The Boys’ the direction was to take that absurd concept of “flying and magical people” and apply it to our real world. It is in that tension where the series resides. “
The difficulty of adapting ‘Watchmen’
As with any venerated literary work, it is really complicated to find an adaptation approach that satisfies everyone. Zack Snyder’s ‘Watchmen’ version has been revered for years, considering one of the best comic adaptations. Today instead the opinion remains more divided, with the negative negative voices wondering what it contributes to make such a literal adaptation or even punishing a bombastic approach that completely misunderstands Moore’s decadent tone.
For Kripke, the path to success is not only a matter of staying away from tracing history, but also proposes as a good praxis try not to imitate the medium of the comic at all.
“I am going to say something annoying, and they are different means. Comics are a medium of space and cinema and television a means of time. And they do not connect 1: 1. In fact I think you are putting your story at risk when trying to make it very reliable to the comic. Because they simply do not have the same rhythms. So I would suggest not focusing on any of that.”
With the 2019 version for HBO, The greatest enemy seemed to be Lindelof himselfwho at all times was very insecure with his work and even referring to himself against Alan Moore as “one of the bastards who are destroying Watchmen.” Nevertheless, it is a bold version that Eric Kripke likes not only, but many people. With great criticism and a cult status that is being formed over time.
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