Watchmen executive producer Damon Lindelof shared his love of comic books in HBO Presents Backstories, including how the Watchmen comics inspired the way he tells stories.
According to Lindelof, his father was a comic book collector from childhood. When he returned home from summer camp one year, he found that his mother had thrown out all of his comic books. "This becomes my father's origin story," said Lindelof. "He is heavily traumatized by this event because those comic books represented this escape for him. And my dad vows, in this moment, that he will put this collection back together. He doesn't care if it takes his entire life."
This sets up the story for the Lindelof family attending a comic book convention in search of the comics from his father's missing collection. Lindelof recalled being 11 and feeling small, surrounded by adults and towering stacks of comic books. The family split up in search of the comics, and after some haggling on his father's part, they finally succeeded. Lindelof admitted, "I expected there to be some grandiose celebration…but life just kind of went on."
In 1986, Lindelof was 13 years old and his parents had divorced. His father's comic book collection grew by leaps and bounds, and Lindelof was given Watchmen comic books to read along with the message that he's not ready for them. "I could feel them crackling in my hands, like they had some sort of charge. These comics looked unlike any comics that I had ever seen before. And my dad was right, I was not ready for it."
Lindelof believes that his dad wanted someone he could share his love of comic books with, and they had scholarly discussions about them. They talked about origin stories and their motivations and it helped him understand their importance. He knew that he couldn't do justice to Watchmen if it wasn't about origin stories.
The HBO series Watchmen takes place after the events of the graphic novel, in the modern day United States. It's been praised for its relevant subject matter regarding history, vigilantism and race. The show has won a total of eleven Emmy awards, including best limited series.
Developed by Damon Lindelof, HBO's Watchmen stars Jeremy Irons, Regina King, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Jean Smart, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Tom Mison, James Wolk, Adelaide Clemens, Andrew Howard, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, Lily Rose Smith and Adelynn Spoon.
Source: YouTube