Who will watch the Watchmen

I promise. In the run up to the opening of the Watchmen movie next year, I will resist the urge to write about or link to every piece of Watchmen trivia.

It might be harder for me to stop painting my body blue, or pretending that my Honda is an owl ship, or walking into a bar and breaking someone's fingers (OK, I lied about that part), but I'll give them a try too.

I'm looking forward to this movie more than any other I can remember. If you've seen or heard me speak about comics influencing web design this year, you'll know that so much of that talk revolves around Watchmen. That's not bandwagon jumping, I really am passionate about Watchmen as it has been part of my life since I read the original comic from issue one and I have re-read it more than any other book.

When Watchmen was first published, it appeared in twelve chapters over twelve months. I worked in a comic store at the time and every month, on Watchmen day, my friend Pete and I would read the latest issue before we opened the shop to customers. Waiting for each issue to arrive was painful, but I know that waiting added to the drama of the unfolding story. That element of suspense is lost if you read the graphic novel in one sitting.

If you've read Watchmen before, go read it again. If you haven't read it or heard about it, where have you been? Do you think that Nixon is still President? Go buy Watchmen and start to read.

But here is the deal. Read only one chapter a week.

No more, honestly no more.

And no peeking.

I know that three months might seem a long time over which to read a book. Trust me, your enjoyment, of what is without doubt one of the best works of fiction in any medium, will be amplified twelve-fold.