Collectible Nite Owl Coffee: Who Watches the Watchmen's Caffeine Intake?

It's subversively good!

Beyond the obvious - which is to say the countless cast members gracing magazine covers, ubiquitous billboards at every major crossroads from the East L.A. intersection to the beach - the Watchmen blitz is clearly on. The wait for the long-awaited film adaptation of the Citizen Kane of comics is nearly over, and if the advance sales are anything to go by (opening weekend screenings at the Cinerama Dome are virtually sold out) it will be a big turnout from both casual filmgoers and geek-literate crowds alike. It's the latter, of course, whose anticipation has been gradually building for months (if not years) and are devouring all things Watchmen with a ravenous appetite.


Enos signs his mega coffee table book. And he brought the coffee!

Good thing, then, that one of the promotional tie-ins for the film is something one can literally consume - that'd be Nite Owl brand organic coffee, brought to you by New York's Organic Coffee Cartel and the brainchild of Watchmen on-set photographer Clay Enos, who dropped by Sunset Blvd. comic mecca Meltdown on Thursday to promote the brew as well as his exhaustive and extraordinary Watchmen Portraits book, a collection of black and white shots of virtually everyone and everything important to the superhero epic - from principle cast members to crew, extras, bit players, stuntmen and key costumes and props. 

Enos signed and chatted away amicably with fans who stopped by to pick up the book and sample the brew, perfectly stylized with Enos' portrait of Patrick Wilson's crime fighter and bearing the logo of Ozymandias' corporate empire, Veidt Enterprises. You can bet that with a limited run of 10,000 units produced, the Nite Owl coffee will probably stay in the can more often than not. (Though we can report it's a sturdy, full-bodied java well worth giving a try if you are willing to crack that seal and subsequently devalue your collectible. It's your call.)


Peter Aperlo, author of The Art of Watchmen, and Enos pose with their respective titles


Even pitch-perfect aging can't make Carla Gugino any less hot

Of course, this being Meltdown, the new toys on the block are numerous and varied, with a number of book tie-ins available as well as the brand-new Watchmen action figures and memorabilia. (Finally, a real Dr. Manhattan figure - you can throw away that Silver Surfer that you painted blue!)  With the exception of a minority of skeptics who seem to be holding out on embracing Zack Snyder's film opus until they've seen the final product, the interest has been unprecedented; staffers report that they have scarcely been able to keep the original printing of the graphic novel on the shelves ever since the first trailer hit last year.  For those who are familiar with the density and gravitas of Watchmen's story, it's probably a good thing we've got the coffee to go around... the newbies have got exactly one week left to catch up so they'd better keep their energy up.


The author shares some shot-to-shot secrets of live vs. poster art


Sadly, the Comedian figure does not include a working flamethrower.  Li'l Manhattan, however, can take apart your model tank with his mind.

Nite Owl Dark Roast is available online direct from Organic Coffee Cartel; yeah, it's pricey at $19.85 (Get it, Watchmen lovers?!) a can, but can you really put a price on the a beverage that can give you the sort of pick-me-up you need to protect humanity? We didn't think so.