MasterClash — ‘Watchmen’ vs ‘The Spirit’

In case you've been hiding under a rock, nerds of every class, level and alignment have been wetting themselves over the trailer for Zack Snyder's adaptation of "Watchmen" and entertainment journalists have taken this opportunity to trot out the kind of hype typically reserved for pope visits.

Meanwhile, "The Spirit," a movie based on a comic just as groundbreaking as "Watchmen" and directed by comics legend Frank Miller released a trailer and almost no one noticed.

So which of these appetizers deserves praise? Watch the trailers, see our stats and vote for the winner after the jump.

"Watchmen"

Strengths: "Watchmen" revolutionized the comic book world with brooding adult themes, political allegory and middle-age overweight superheroes doing it. But beyond the story, the book is filled with classic comic book imagery that should benefit from from Zack Snyder's hyper-visual directing style: a fortress of solitude on Mars, prison riots and a climactic battle in Antarctica.

Weaknesses: As "Watchmen" creator Alan Moore recently told Entertainment Weekly, "I didn't particularly like the book '300.' I had a lot of problems with it, and everything I heard or saw about the film tended to increase [those problems] rather than reduce them: [that] it was racist, it was homophobic, and above all it was sublimely stupid. I know that that's not what people going in to see a film like "300' are thinking about but ... I wasn't impressed with that ..."

Special Abilities: The ability to make millions of people who have never spent $5 on comics claim to be longtime comic book fans.

"The Spirit"

Strengths: It's written and directed by Frank Miller, a man renowned for producing blood-boiling action comics, and is filmed using the same green screen method that made "Sin City" so memorable. It's got a giant cast of A-listers and it isn't going to have to live up to the ungodly amount of hype that "Watchmen" will.

Weaknesses: Groundbreaking, but truly unknown outside of the comic book world. If "Watchmen" is the comic book for pretend nerds, "The Spirit" is geek caviar.

Special Abilities: Frank Miller has a certain way of portraying his female characters in a light that leaves them nude or semi-nude in almost every scene. This sure as hell doesn't look like it's going to be an exception.

Have an idea for a Masterclash? Let us know in the comments section.