The insane surge of interest in the just-turned-drinking-age Watchmen ignited by the film’s trailer forced DC to go back to press for 300K copies. Those are big numbers for a graphic novel reprint.

“I don’t think there’s record of a trailer moving books with this velocity,” says DC Comics president Paul Levitz. “Bookscan records Watchmen selling 10,000 copies in one week. We’ve put more than 300,000 copies in print in the last two weeks. That’s a pretty amazing record for a 21 year old book.” In 2007, the title sold about 100,000 copies.

Levitz is right. A film obviously moves books. But a trailer…? Insane.

What the hell are people going to make of Tales of the Black Freighter is what I want to know.

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