In October Titan Books will release Watching the Watchmen, Dave Gibbons' account of the creation of the Watchmen graphic novel, which will detail Gibbons' collaboration with Alan Moore that resulted in the only graphic novel to make Time Magazine's list of the best novels from 1923 to the present.  Gibbons' origin saga of this seminal work, a dust-jacketed hardcover designed by Chip Kidd and Mike Essl, will include excised pages, early versions of the script, original character designs, page thumbnails, posters, covers, and rare portfolio art.

The timing of Titan Books' release of Watching the Watchmen could hardly be better since Zack Snyder's movie adaptation of the Watchmen graphic novel is due out in March 2009.  A perennial bestseller (the ICv2 Guide to Graphic Novels refers to Watchmen as "the Great Gatsby of graphic novels"), sales of Watchmen have been steadily accelerating since the announcement of the movie.  During the month of March, Watchmen was the best-selling traditional graphic novel in U.S. bookstores and one of only two non-manga titles in the top 20 (the BookScan list is based on unit sales -- see "BookScan's Top 20 Graphic Novels for March").  Look for interest in the Watchmen property to peak as the movie gets closer to release, and with so many people having already purchased the Watchmen graphic novel, the potential audience for Titan's volume is huge, particularly for this type of a "making-of" volume.