It might surprise you to learn this, but as a comics fan, I have no interest in seeing the Watchmen movie.

It’s a position that often raises a few eyebrows. After all, Watchmen is one of the greatest comics of all time. Why WOULDN’T I want to see it? When you think about it, it’s not really a hard decision.

Frank Miller’s Spirit already demonstrated perfectly well why you might not want to see Watchmen. The beauty of Eisner’s comics was never anything to do with the pulpy characters – it was all about the design of the page, the flow of the storytelling, the very act of Eisner re-inventing a medium even as he worked within it. You can try to make a film reflect that, but the one thing you can’t do is copy it.

And that’s the same for Watchmen. You can translate Watchmen to the screen – you could even be more faithful than Snyder has been - but as with any adaptation, something will be lost in the process. The thing about Watchmen is that it’s a piece of work about its own medium. Move it to another, and you’ve lost the very thing that made it important in the first place.

That’s not to say I’m above adaptations – after all, I enjoyed V For Vendetta, also by Alan Moore, because it adapted the source material in a way that made it relevant to today – an interesting, (if imperfect and inferior) version of the story, making something new from the same basic elements. By his own admission, Watchmen is nothing more than Snyder attempting to get people to read the graphic novel – and hey, I’m way ahead of him.

Those defending Snyder’s work have said that just as Watchmen deconstructed superhero comics, Snyder now deconstructs superhero films, but to say that is to miss one simple fact – virtually all the big budget comics movies ever made are already post-Watchmen. They’ve been deconstructed already. Watchmen was a bomb dropped on the superhero, and whether you’re aware of it or not, the concept hasn’t been the same since.

And further to that, one thing we have to remember about Watchmen is that even though it’s one of comics’ most holy cows, it should be kept in mind that it is getting on for being 25 years old. The points it made – at least, some of them - have been well-heeded, and built upon. Watchmen is a compellingly-written story, but deprived of its context, that’s all it can ever be – and there are plenty of those around already.

So come release day, I won’t be first in line. I won’t be in line at all. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go, nor would I judge you for seeing it – but this is one case where the book isn’t just better than the film – it makes the film unnecessary.

James writes Alternate Cover every Monday at Den Of Geek. His previous column can be found here.