Prometheus 6

Hey, P6!

I saw some of the early images of Rorschach over a year ago and thought the EXACT same thing you did:

“…This is going to be really, really good or really, really bad.”

(Who would have thought that ‘Nite Owl’ of all people, would end up looking like one of the cooler characters in the movie?)

Personally, I’m not 100% sure they pull off Dr. Manhattan with true justice, (Who could?) but I’ll keep an open mind!

I can really understand and appreciate Alan Moore’s concerns about ANYBODY turning it into a movie. Not much unlike how a lot of Jim Steranko’s work (Late 60's - early 70's) on ‘Nick Fury, agent of S.H.E.I.L.D. would never hold up cinematically, even though it was rendered in a very cinematic style.

You lose those moments of true artistic genius where writing and art collide synergetically.

But I’ve got my fingers crossed, from all appearances, I would say it looks like the director Zack Snyder ‘Gets It.’

(…Did you happen to notice the picture of the brother reading ‘Tales of the Black Freighter’ at the news stand in the photo stills from the movie website? I STILL say he was a major character in the book!)

“We are all living in the Shadow of Dr Manhattan.”

(Dang! I got to go read that thing again sometime soon!)

Thanks for the heads up on the trailer!

(Who would have thought that ‘Nite Owl’ of all people, would end up looking like one of the cooler characters in the movie?)

Yeah...where's the pot belly? One of my daughter's professors is writinga book with the working title Watchmen and Philosophy. He's going to be upset over the lack of a pot belly.

He's working the Batman move when he lands on the street, but he doesn't drop into a low a crouch as Bats. And doesn't crush a car.

Personally, I’m not 100% sure they pull off Dr. Manhattan with true justice, (Who could?) but I’ll keep an open mind!

They might could. Ozymandias looked a little cheesy though.

Who was that woman in that mad leather suit?

Aagh. My Watchmen is in the bottom of a box somewhere.

I can't wait. I can't remember the woman's name, but she is the daughter of two "minutemen", one of which is shown in the trailer with a cigar and a flamethrower, the comedian.

The music and imagery have me betting this one will be goood.

Watching Iron Man, I was really struck by how the story seemed to almost work better in the context of modern "war on terror" than it did in original Vietnam setting.

But the 80s cold war nuclear arms race context of Watchmen is so important to the story that I can't imagine how it works at all in post-cold war telling.

it's the new silk spectre. she's the daughter of the original silk spectre and the comedian.

i must've burned a half hour or so just watching the trailer over and over again.

I found a page of stuff about the Watchmen on Wikepedia but I can't make heads or tails of what I read. Seriously.

Here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characters_of_Watchmen

Will somebody please explain these characters and their back stories for the uninitiated?

I know what you mean. I actually recorded a segment of E3 Live tha6t shows Mortal Kombay vs DC Heroes. I'm not even a gamer but it looked wild to me as a long time comics fan.

Okay, NOW I'm leaving.

"she's the daughter of the original silk spectre and the comedian."

The Wikipedia entry states that the Comedian raped or attempted to rape Silk Spectre? Is this true? And that another character was into homosexual sadism?

Yep, the part about the comedian is true. I can't remember the part about the sadism.

I first picked this up as a kid in the library. This book really screwed with me. It wasn't until I was older that I appreciated it.

My favorite motif in the book was how Rorschach/Owlman represented two sides of Batman, the dark/pessimistic side and the cleancut/optimistic side. Hopefully we can see this at work in the film.

Yes pt it is. I didn't want to give that away.

The premise of Watchmen is simple. "What if superheroes existed in the real world?" With real frailties and needs, with real geo-political realities (how would superman really affect geopolitical relationships?)? Because Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons were creating the equivalent of something like Apocalypse Now for superheroes there was no way in HELL they could use DC's stable of characters. So DC gave them characters from another company, and I believe that Moore and Gibbons changed them up a little bit. Owlman for example IS a fifties batman type character but he's also like the Blue Beetle.

Dr. Manhattan is the one blown up in the trailer. He's also the blue guy. He's the most powerful character in the Watchmen universe, and singlehandedly responsible for US global superiority (HE ended the Vietnam war).

The Comedian is the one thrown out of the window in the trailer. Kind of Captain America on drugs (which is redundant...but i digress). A sadistic bastard, who's always willing to crack a dark joke. They appear to give him superstrength.

Silk Spectre. There are two of them. The forties era one, and her daughter. I forget what their powers are, but both the first and the second allow for a much more mature (and problematic) rendering of gender dynamics in superhero comics.

Owlman. Again, like Batman, but more like the Blue Beetle. The everyman of the comic. Gadgetman extraordinaire. Can't have an erection without the suit on, incidentally.

Rorschach. I always spell his name wrong. He's the one who first realizes there is a conspiracy afoot. Definitely like Batman in his darkness and his rage. But I believe he is much more like The Question.

Ozymandias. The industrial genius. He's a skewed Captain America too, but skewed in a much more corporate direction. Also like Batman but in his case he doesn't turn to the dark to avenge crime, but rather to the light.

I don't think I missed anyone. If this doesn't help let me know.

It's worth reiterating that the graphic novel itself really does live up to the hype. It more than any other thing published really revealed the strength of the medium, placing it right alongside literature.

Hey, PT, this Wiki entry may work far better for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen
(Keep in mind, Wikipedia has never had problems with being a spoiler!)

Better still, I would suggest making a small investment in the graphic novel.

(Once, a pretty hard to find item, is now commonplace in places like Borders and Barnes & Noble.)

I don’t think it would take too long for you to see how it transcended the genre and raised the bar for all that came after it.

(…I can only imagine how the trailer must translate to those who aren’t familiar with the story!)

Thanks Spence and FamilyClone for your responses. Things are much clearer now but I still have a few more questions:

1. Prior to the publication of the graphic novel, the characters in the Watchmen had appeared previously in comic books published in 1940s. They had completely disappeared by the late 1950s when I began collecting and trading comic books with older guys, who were teenagers, in the housing project we all lived in. (I have often wondered if there was any significance to the fact that we were all black?) Was this earlier iteration of Watchmen published by DC Comics or another company? Does anyone know the name of that other company?

2. Who is the Blue Beetle?

3. Is Dr. Manhattan named after the Manhattan Project?

1. The characters were modeled after, but not identical to the ones from defunct Charleston Comics. These characters were incorporated into DC comics. They were initially given a separate earth, but merged into mainstream continuity after the crisis.

2. There is a new Blue Beetle comic starring a teenager, but the one you are referring to is Ted Kord, who was recently killed. He was a millionaire industrialist, kind of a lighter version of Bruce Wayne/Batman. I remember this character from the Crisis on Infinite Earths (he was one of the charleston characters), and the Justice League comic of the late 80s. He has beetle shaped weapons and vehicles, including a beetle-shaped aircraft, like that owlship in the trailer.

3. Yep

Keto -

This is a real blast from the past. When I was a kid Charleston Comics no longer existed but copies of its comic books were still floating around. I can't recall seeing any of its superhero mags at the time, although I must have, I do recall other mags with that imprint that I used to read and own.

I googled Charleston Comics but nothing came up. There must be some comic book history books that discuss this company and its history.

Wikipedia has a good entry Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) and Charlton Comics.

It's worth reiterating that the graphic novel itself really does live up to the hype. It more than any other thing published really revealed the strength of the medium, placing it right alongside literature.

Don't forget The Sandman. Fragging brilliant. I was thinking today that the best thing DC could do is make a Sandman movie, but contrat it out to Marvel's studio.

By the way, the Watchmen teaser ran before Batman and is WAY MORE BETTER on the big screen.

Rorschach. I always spell his name wrong. He's the one who first realizes there is a conspiracy afoot. Definitely like Batman in his darkness and his rage. But I believe he is much more like The Question.

Ozymandias. The industrial genius. He's a skewed Captain America too, but skewed in a much more corporate direction. Also like Batman but in his case he doesn't turn to the dark to avenge crime, but rather to the light.

I always pegged Rorschach as The Question, but Ozy was more Tony Stark than Steve Rogers.

we didn't get the watchmen teaser in baltimore. bastards.

Keto,

Thanks for helping me out with the correct name of the company. I think I am going to have to purchase some comic book history books. There are images floating around in my head now and I need to connect the images with names etc.

i've read comic books as long as i've been reading. "collecting" for almost as long. (put in quotes because after kids i didn't bag them anymore...)

i can't imagine what it would be like to come to watchmen cold.

PT,

Before you dole out some change, there is alot of material (images, history, etc) on the web. Actually, the first time since childhood that I read Watchmen was in graduate school. I downloaded it off of Napster.

BTW, here is a great online comic site, fueled by high-quality submissions: http://www.zudacomics.com/

kspence, I've gone on a hiatus from collecting for a while, since a month ago. The average bottom price for a comic is 3 bucks now, so I mostly wait and buy the graphic novel version of story arcs.

Keto,

Thanks for the tip but I think that standing in a book store and flipping through the pages of a book might serve me better than the 'net. There are comic books that I saw and read during the mid-to-late 1950s (I was an early reader) whose images I can recall but whose names are lost to me. The chance that these images might be found in a book is perhaps a little higher than finding them on the 'net.

...I thought his was a laudable effort in trying to reconceptualize TOTBF as a separate entity unto itself:

http://boredomfestival.wordpress.com/2007/12/11/tales-of-the-black-freighter/

I was browsing iTunes today, and came across an rudimentary adaption (in terms of content) of Watchmen. Apparently they are going to serialize this for free. The first issue is there now.

the first issue is free. you've got to pay for the rest.

keto i feel you on the price. i've recently begun downloading select runs through bit torrent and then reading them with comic reading software, that's remarkably dope.

I'm actually the editor of Watchmen and Philosophy, and my contribution is entitled "The Virtue of Nite Owl's Potbelly," so I assume I'm the professor in question - not many of my students know about it, though! (And for the record, I hope that scene is a flashback to when he was relatively svelte.)

There you go. Ariel is my daughter.

That scene is a flashback from what I'm told....

It just occurred to me that if the Watchmen movie is done well, that Watchmen and Philosophy book is going to blow the fuck up.

...Ariel would havebeen my first and only guess! Nice to "meet" her father!

have you been following the comicon in san diego? watchman is now #1 in amazon PERIOD. dc is going to have to put out yet another reprint of some 200,000...because they're all gone. i don't know what print edition i have, but i bet if i put IT on ebay now i'd make loot.

(as an aside i'm rereading it now in bits. it really really does capture what comics can do that neither non-comics literature nor television nor movies can capture. it is absolutely brilliant.)

Thanks, Prometheus - from your lips...