the buzz log

Watchmen is the number one film in America. And when you're on top, you're ripe for some parody. A number of creative comic book parodies are lighting up the Web, and unlike the ones you used to read in Mad magazine, these are actually funny. Here's a roundup...

Famous Film Directors
Slate.com has some fun by imagining what the Watchmen movie would have looked like in the hands of different directors. The Judd Apatow version features lazy stoners sitting around watching TV. Sofia Coppola's version would star Jason Schwartzman and Kirsten Dunst as two superheroes who put impending Armageddon aside so they can enjoy a night of "clubbing and karaoke."

Saturday Morning Cartoons
An animator named Happy Harry has created a killer parody of the Watchmen. His version plays like a Saturday morning cartoon complete with singing superheroes, wacky sidekicks, and a terrified jungle cat a la Cringer in "He-Man." New Grounds hosts the video. Well worth a viewing, especially for children of the '80s.

Stan Lee Style
The co-creator of Spider-Man, Hulk, and countless other superheroes has a style all his own. What if he had written the Watchmen graphic novel? Now we know (and, with apologies to Mr. Lee, Alan Moore was definitely the right guy for the job). 

Filed under: Movies, Comics

Let blockbuster season begin! Superheroes will be landing in a multiplex near you, with the man of iron the first one to alight. The only others who dare venture into his arena are McDreamy and a young British boy with delusions of Sylvester Stallone.

1. "Iron Man" (PG-13). Based on the Marvel comic, this film adaptation finally put long-suffering devotees out of their aching misery with Thursday advance screenings. Giddy film critics—whose rave reviews range from "deliriously entertaining" to "awesome"—merely echo the fan hysteria which has catapulted the superhero flick in the top 200 searches. In the past 12 months, look-ups for "Iron Man" have outstripped even "The Dark Knight," as the public hunts for the blockbuster's trailers, movie posters, games, torrents, costumes, comic, soundtrack, and lyrics. Robert Downey, Jr. channels his wry charms (or what Entertainment Weekly calls his "eager narcissistic wit") into his starring role as billionaire Tony Stark. Downey's costars include Gwyneth Paltrow (atoning for her deadening performance in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"), Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges. Although Downey lags behind Patrick Dempsey in look-ups (see below), the women and men who do search on the actor also look up Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Depp, and Brad Pitt. Heroic company, indeed.

2. " Made of Honor" (PG-13). Shades of "My Best Friend's Wedding," this flick shows Patrick Dempsey following in the romantic-comedy footsteps of his "Grey's Anatomy" costar: Here he plays a procrastinator who doesn't 'fess up to his love for his best friend (Michelle Monaghan) until she asks him to be her wedding attendant. Dempsey's character takes a kinder approach than Julia Roberts' antics in the 1997 film, befitting a man whose searches outpace Downey's, as well as his leading lady's. The chick flick however lags a waaaay distant third. 

3. "Son of Rambow" (PG-13, limited release). A young Brit from a puritanical sect decides to make his own movie after watching a pirated copy of "First Blood." The coming-of-age British comedy provokes mild interest.

Filed under: Movies, Comics, Superheroes

Comic strips, sequential art, or the plain old funnies -- whatever you call them, the Buzz loves 'em. From the single-panel visual puns in The Far Side (and its many imitators) to the seminal Peanuts to the workplace wit of Dilbert, we read them every day, just like many of you.

Bill Watterson's The Complete Calvin and Hobbes recently hit bookshelves, and despite a bulky price tag, the collection has risen to the heights of bestseller lists and shopping wish lists alike. With a 277% increase in buzz over the weekend, the adventures of one little boy and his stuffed tiger seem to be one of our best-loved comic strips -- even though Calvin and Hobbes was canceled by its reclusive creator over 10 years ago.

One of the country's most controversial strips, The Boondocks, has also piqued the interest of searchers in advance of its upcoming placement on Adult Swim, the Cartoon Network's block of mature animation. Set to premiere on November 6, The Boondocks will feature the suburban adventures of brothers Huey and Riley Freeman and their grumpy Granddad, with all the indignation, pre-adolescent black nationalism, and all-around craziness that has put the strip in and out of newspapers since its debut in 1999. Searches on "the boondocks" rank within our top 25,000.

Now we're just sitting around, waiting for The Boondocks to premiere and for our copy of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes to arrive in the mail... Until then, guess we'll see you in the funny papers.

Filed under: Comics