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Dave Pruitt
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: April 16 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 6173
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 9:10pm | IP Logged | 1
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Anyone catch this five page piece in the new ish of Entertainment Weekly? Lots of sweet Dave Gibbons artwork, commentary from the Alan Moore, Gibbons, and editors Len Wein and Barb Kesel. Neil Gaiman, John Higgins (colorist) and a few other people (Jude Law?) have some comments too. Moore gets the last word, discussing the impending movie adaptation:
"David Hayter's screenplay was as close as I could imagine anyone getting to Watchmen. That said, I shan't be going to see it. My book is a comic book. Not a movie, not a novel. A comic book. It's been made in a certain way, and designed to be read a certain way: in an armchair, nice and cozy next to a fire, with a steaming cup of coffee. Personally, I think that would make for a lovely Saturday night." (C) Entertainment Weekly
All the talk recently of stupid, POW! BAM! stories in the mainstream press, I think it's cool when a story is done straight like this. I also loved this issue because of the gorgeous Charlize Theron cover, and a couple nice pics inside to boot.
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
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Joined: April 16 2004
Posts: 36364
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 9:14pm | IP Logged | 2
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Mmmmmmmm...Charlize Theron. I'm still mopping up the drool from the full page pic in the article. Haven't gotten around to reading the "Watchmen" article, though.
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Eric Kleefeld
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: December 21 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4422
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 9:19pm | IP Logged | 3
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What are the opinions of people here about Watchmen? I don't mean the
bad imitations it spawned, nor the way people treated an experimental work
as how super-heroes should be done regularly, or any other consequence
that followed from the reaction to it. I mean your opinions about Watchmen,
period.
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
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Joined: April 16 2004
Posts: 36364
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | 4
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It's hard not to view it through the lens of the last 19 years and what it spawned, both good and bad, but I do remember liking it when I read it. It's been just that long, nearly two decades, since I picked the book up. It had some truly beautiful art by Dave Gibbons and interesting concepts by Moore. I am really glad, however, that the story wasn't told with the Charlton characters as was originally intended. I know many are close approximations, but we didn't see those characters changed to fit Moore's story.
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Mark Haslett
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Joined: April 19 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 6980
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 9:33pm | IP Logged | 5
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I'll jump in and say I was impressed with the art and the storytelling right away, but totally uninterested by the first issue when it came out. I was 15 or so and the story so-far in issue one was too confusing and I didn't know any of the characters and I wasn't drawn to any of them. I dropped it immediately and figured it would be another indie book that I would never hear about again (like so many Eclipse titles I ignored -- not to judge them, but just to say they were never again pushed in my face. Not like Watchmen).
When I got around to reading Watchmen, as an adult, I expected to be blown away. But I confess I was not. I think it isn't fish or fowl-- it isn't straight forward or thrilling enough to be good superhero stuff, but it's "edginess" isn't original enough to stand as great adult fiction. I admire some of it, but the overwhelming "greatest comic of ALL-TIME" praise it often receives puts me in mind of all its flaws. I find Rorshach a mildly offensive swipe at Ditko, I find the "cold-war" sensibility dates it, I find the rape ridiculous, and the most exciting big ideas seem like watered down Jack Kirby stuff.
If I was the only one who liked it, I'd be recommending it. But in a world where people can't seem to praise it enough, I have to say "tone down the praise. It's over-rated."
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Jason Fulton
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Joined: April 16 2004
Posts: 3938
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 9:33pm | IP Logged | 6
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I enjoyed it the first time I read it, and I think it looks really really great - but it's hard for me to divorce the consequences you mentioned when I pick it up now. It was my first exposure to the Charlton characters (I didn't read Watchmen in comic form, I read it via the Graphitti HC).
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Gregg Allinson
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Joined: April 16 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4252
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 9:35pm | IP Logged | 7
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I like Watchmen, but I'm a little tired of seemingly everyone on the planet telling me it's the absolute greatest work of literature ever in the history of the English language. It's not even my favourite comic book of all time, for god's sake.
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Eric Kleefeld
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Joined: December 21 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4422
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 9:38pm | IP Logged | 8
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Matt Reed:
I am really glad, however, that the story wasn't told with the Charlton
characters as was originally intended.
=========
Alan Moore himself has said as much.
I think Watchmen works best when looking at it as a clash of
philosophies, how these characters seek a moral direction in what is
acknowledged as a godless, empty world. We have the Comedian's
nihilism, Rorschach's absolutism, Dr. Manhattan's determinism, and
Ozymandias's relativism.
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Leroy Douresseaux
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Joined: April 29 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 1657
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 9:41pm | IP Logged | 9
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Whenever I got to the picture show and I see that Aeon Flux one-sheet, I could lick it up.
As for Watchmen, I still think it's one of the great mainstream comics, though not the greatest superhero comic book or story ever, as some hold it. Gibbons' art is sublime, and I'd love to see a sequel just to see something really challenge Gibbons' immense talent as Moore would (They did collaborate on a nice tale for The Spirit: The New Adventures).
I'm assuming Watchmen being in EW and getting a mention in a Time magazine "bestest" list has something to do with The Absolute Watchmen.
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Jon Godson
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Joined: January 05 2005
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 9:51pm | IP Logged | 10
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I like Watchmen, but I'm a little tired of seemingly everyone on the planet
telling me it's the absolute greatest work of literature ever in the history
of the English language. It's not even my favourite comic book of all
time, for god's sake.
******************
I agree. It's for people who dislike Super-HEROES, who want to show
their ugly side. At least DC had the good sense to not use the Charlton
heroes or any of DC's regular characters. I'll admit that at the time it first
came out, I was intrigued, but it's lost its cachet.
After twenty years of such crap, I now appreciate the novelty of the
Super-Hero. The guy (or gal) that is virtuous, that does what's right
because it's the right thing to do. He doesn't rape a member of his team,
doesn't hire himself out as an assassin for the CIA, doesn't have mental
problems, doesn't get off sexually when others see him in his tight-fitting
costume, doesn't slaughter millions to make a point, doesn't divide
himself into more beings to have an orgy with his girlfriend - heck, he
doesn't even smoke or swear.
Don't get me wrong. I think Moore is a great writer. But his Swamp Thing
was better than Watchmen.
(edited for punctuation)
Edited by Jon Godson on October 22 2005 at 9:53pm
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Trevor Colligan
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Joined: October 14 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 547
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 10:03pm | IP Logged | 11
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I do feel that Watchmen is overrated. When I got the trade, I got it on
the pretense that it was the greatest blah blah blah. I`ve had it for a
couple of years and haven`t finished it. I don`t like it that much. It
doesn`t hold up after the years with the cold war and such, but then
again, I don`t believe Alan and Dave ever planned for it to last over
the years. They very much based it on the headlines at the time.
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Dave Pruitt
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Joined: April 16 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 6173
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| Posted: October 22 2005 at 10:05pm | IP Logged | 12
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I thought the story was pretty good when I read it in college. It was part of the reading for a Sci-Fi class I took. I read it in the 80's too when it came out, and was blown away by the Gibbons art, and all the density in those pages.
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