Who Watches The Watchmen

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  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Im no expert but im really feelin this story.



    World War Hulk.

    Its bloated w/ crossover in almost every Marvel book like theyve done since Secret Wars/II.
    Im not pickin up all that shit. I cop the main story + The Hulk Book + whatever else I collect in Marvel.

    Hulk got shot to outerspace by Reed Richards,IronMan,Black Bolt & Dr. Strange.
    Dude survived on another planet and became King. Met a woman just like the Jarella days.
    She and alot of cats blow up cause of a timebomb onn the spaceship that Hulk arrived in.

    Dude assembled an Army, landed in NYC, and is FUCKIN EVERYBODY UP!!!!!!!!!

  • nzshadownzshadow 5,518 Posts


    Hulk got shot to outerspace by Reed Richards,IronMan,Black Bolt & Dr. Strange.
    Dude survived on another planet and became King. Met a woman just like the Jarella days.
    She and alot of cats blow up cause of a timebomb onn the spaceship that Hulk arrived in.

    Dude assembled an Army, landed in NYC, and is FUCKIN EVERYBODY UP!!!!!!!!!

    Thanks,

    Im off to the comic store.

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,898 Posts
    I guess David Banner just can't find beta blockers / Superhead.

  • HAZHAZ 3,376 Posts
    I won't go as far as Shig, but I'll say that Watchemen was a little dry at some points. All of the supplimental stuff, like faux magazine articles & stuff that came after the comics were okay, but there was a bit too much of that. What I found most crazy was how it felt like Watchmen anticipated alot of the political climate from the past few years. Frankly, I prefered Moore's Swamp Thing run, Grant Morrison's Animal Man, & other Vertigo comics to Watchmen. I'd take Dark Knight ahead of Watchmen. I'd also say that people's feelings about the book can also be influenced by the way that the story doesn't take place in the traditional DC universe (and there's no way it really could, if you want it to cover mature themes). I think some people like the familarity of the DC/vertigo universe & something outside of that might not appeal to some readers.

  • "Animal Man" was severely slept on.

    I'm somewhat enthusiastic about this Watchmen deal. Can they flip and hook up the concurrent pirate ship subplot?

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    I won't go as far as Shig, but I'll say that Watchemen was a little dry at some points. All of the supplimental stuff, like faux magazine articles & stuff that came after the comics were okay, but there was a bit too much of that. What I found most crazy was how it felt like Watchmen anticipated alot of the political climate from the past few years. Frankly, I prefered Moore's Swamp Thing run, Grant Morrison's Animal Man, & other Vertigo comics to Watchmen. I'd take Dark Knight ahead of Watchmen. I'd also say that people's feelings about the book can also be influenced by the way that the story doesn't take place in the traditional DC universe (and there's no way it really could, if you want it to cover mature themes). I think some people like the familarity of the DC/vertigo universe & something outside of that might not appeal to some readers.

    The watchmen were actually based on the Charlton Comics Roster.





    who were eventually absorbed into the DC univ.

    Roarshack is the Question.

  • nzshadownzshadow 5,518 Posts
    "Animal Man" was severely slept on.

    I'm somewhat enthusiastic about this Watchmen deal. Can they flip and hook up the concurrent pirate ship subplot?

    aparently not.

    "Snyder wanted a $150 million budget, but Warner Bros. prefer the budget remain under $100 million.[48] "The Black Freighter", a comic within the Watchmen comic, was included,[49] but was cut due to budget restrictions, though the scene was written in a manner that it could be reinstated on DVD.[50]
    "

  • Well that kinda sucks.

  • HAZHAZ 3,376 Posts
    I won't go as far as Shig, but I'll say that Watchemen was a little dry at some points. All of the supplimental stuff, like faux magazine articles & stuff that came after the comics were okay, but there was a bit too much of that. What I found most crazy was how it felt like Watchmen anticipated alot of the political climate from the past few years. Frankly, I prefered Moore's Swamp Thing run, Grant Morrison's Animal Man, & other Vertigo comics to Watchmen. I'd take Dark Knight ahead of Watchmen. I'd also say that people's feelings about the book can also be influenced by the way that the story doesn't take place in the traditional DC universe (and there's no way it really could, if you want it to cover mature themes). I think some people like the familarity of the DC/vertigo universe & something outside of that might not appeal to some readers.

    The watchmen were actually based on the Charlton Comics Roster.





    who were eventually absorbed into the DC univ.

    Roarshack is the Question.


    Wow. Charlton brings me back...I used to love their war comics when I was a kid. Yeah, Capt. Atom was a Charlton property. I think he might have crossed over to Wildstorm now.

  • HAZHAZ 3,376 Posts
    And I Guess Blue Beetle is the Owl & Capt. Atom is the big blue dude. It would have been interesting if they would have used the OG properties, but, for the sake of continuity & investment, I'm sure they couldn't.

  • DJBombjackDJBombjack Miami 1,665 Posts
    If they do drop the Pirate sub-story, I won't be mad. I felt like it never really added much to the overall story.

  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,785 Posts
    [bump]

    Just saw this yesterday. Never read the comics, so didn't go into it with any expectations.

    Easily my favourite comic adaptation movie. Very dark, great story, great cinematography, great characters (has there ever been a nastier good-guy committed to film than the Comedian?), I even liked the soundtrack, which was often a little weird, but it all worked for me.

    Best character was probably Rorschach, and he had the coolest ******SPOILER EDIT*******.

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,898 Posts
    I didn't think the film's ending was as good as the books. I mean, in the film they basically framed Doc Manhattan as a mass murderer and persona-non-grata on earth, when in the books, Veidt had engineered something entirely more distracting.

    But yeah, I enjoyed watching it again. Doc's wifey#1 is LAVA....

  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,785 Posts
    J i m s t e r said:
    I didn't think the film's ending was as good as the books. I mean, in the film they basically framed Doc Manhattan as a mass murderer and persona-non-grata on earth, when in the books, Veidt had engineered something entirely more distracting.

    But yeah, I enjoyed watching it again. Doc's wifey#1 is LAVA....

    What had Veidt done in the books?
    Having already seen the film, is a read of the books worth it? From the earlier posts, it looks like quite a time commitment doing the whole lot.

    Lots of hot women in the film!

    Best line might've been

    "What ever happened to the American dream?"
    "This IS the American dream!"
    (Comedian then proceeds to torch some rioters or something equally harsh)

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    I own it.

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Duderonomy said:
    Having already seen the film, is a read of the books worth it?

    Dude

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts

    Thank you. It???s kinda hard to be cranky at a pace that???s not manic [laughter]. Most of the reason I get cranky is when perfectly sensible people act in perfectly stupid ways. Like in comics, like right now. I???m talking about how comics people relate to the rest of the world. It???s really strange. It???s really weird. It doesn???t make any sense. Think of it like, we know we need a lot from the rest of the world. We???re trying to be really good. We???re showing our sunny best to the doorstep. We bring flowers and presents and ring the doorbell and then we run like hell. We got issues, the kind we can???t stuff into a mylar snug. Is it a love/hate relationship or is it a lust/fear relationship? I don???t know. We???re confused. We???re sending more mixed signals than the Florida electorate. Just listen to us.

    "Excuse me? Rest of the world? [pause] Please notice us. Please notice us. Way over here, the guy with the bad haircut, that???s me. Excuse me, rest of the world? Please??? don???t notice us. You might censor us. Please. Please. I???ll censor myself so thoroughly it???ll make your head spin. I???ll be vewy vewy qwiet. Excuse me, rest of the world? Please give me Hollywood money [laughter]. Just a little bit of it. Just a little of what you???ve got would mean so much to me. Excuse me, rest of the world, once you???ve had your way with me. Once you???re??? done with that, you don???t have to leave a note or anything. But please don???t laugh at me."

    Mixed signals is damn confusing. Still and all, we live here and we better figure out what the hell we???re doing. The Direct Market is about as hale and hearty as a beached whale and Marvel Comics has spent the last few years muttering to itself and pushing around a shopping cart [laughter]. So failing to look for new readers and new venues would be eight kinds of stupid, we gotta shop around. Two questions then: What do we want from whom? And what do we have to offer?

    First off, then, [scornfully] "the rest of the world." It???s really sad that so many of us call it "the outside world." Sadder, worse yet, is that we call it "the real world." If it???s real, then what are we, fake? So having established that we are not a laboratory experiment or an incredible simulation, let???s postulate that the very large part of the world that is unconcerned with comic books is not an alien planet. We???re part of it, it???s our world too. So what do we want from it? Let???s just think clearly, what do we want from this world? More readers? Well, absolutely. Money? Sure. With money just make sure that you read the fine print, keep your eye out for two terms, "perpetual license" and "your first born." And don???t drop the soap [laughter].

    What else? Respect. Mass market acceptance. Well, with that, kinda like a gerbil being dropped into a Cuisinart, it gets a little dicey. After all, there???s a reason they call it the mass market. It???s massive. It???s fat, it???s big, and it???s dumb as a post. You see, it all gets down to mouths. Not brains, not heart, not soul, just mouths. It all gets down to food. This will make sense soon, I promise.

    People who call our culture a consumer culture are on the right track, but they don???t go nearly far enough. Ours is a devouring culture. Our choices of words are revealing, look at how even in our own field the creative work is called "product." It???s just product. Look at how artists, writers, brain surgeons, and pig farmers are all lumped together under the term "provider." If she saves your life on the operating table, she???s a provider. If he flips your burger, he???s a provider. Would you likewise lump together Walt Whitman, Michelangelo, and Rosie O???Donnell as content providers? [Laughter.]

    Product. From Denny???s to McDonalds to Texaco to Exxon, the mass market makes one preeminent demand of its product and that demand is that it be consistent. You wanna know what you???re gonna get. No challenges, no surprises, a cheeseburger in Boise must taste and look exactly like a cheeseburger in Seattle. Everything has gotta be easy to swallow. Everything has gotta be the same every time, no challenges, no surprises. Of all of the homogenous products ingested equally today, the most uniquely predictable is entertainment. Vast media entertainment. Hollywood. Swimming pools, movie stars [laughter]. And don???t get me wrong, working in Hollywood can be a gas. It???s a fun business, a glamorous business, a sexy business. But the operative word here is business. You must never forget that when you???re dealing with these folks. It???s business, it???s always business. You???ll meet lovely people, sweet people, even honest people, really. I???ve met [pause] two [laughter]. The honest people are the ones telling you that you???re as disposable as used cat litter and just as valued. Endure the happy talk, but be aware that it???s friendship when they want free work out of you and it???s just business when they turn around and fire your sorry butt. Expect to be fired, it is an axiom in Hollywood. You???ll hear it from any veteran screenwriter between bitter sips of whisky at Musso and Frank???s, you will be rewritten. It???s not becaus anybody???s being particularly malicious, most of the time anyway, and it isn???t necessarily because what you write sucks. It???s the money, honey.

    Comic books cost, what, about two grand to publish? That isn???t even a tip for a caterer. The stakes are so high, they paralyze the mind here. They need so many butts in so many seats that they can???t afford to annoy, offend, or confuse anybody, ever. Product has got to be safe, dependable. No challenges, no surprises. You wanna know what you???re gonna get. It???s a pleasant and ruthless business, Hollywood is. So when they come calling, and they will come calling???these days movie options are falling across our field like pieces of the Hindenberg???when Hollywood comes calling play it smart. If you want to play the game, stay smart. And never forget that you hold the only card that counts: ideas. Stay smart, don???t be snowed. They???ve got all the money in the universe. They???ve got offices the size of football fields, they???ve got gorgeous trophy wives, and they???re so awfully busy that they???re chatting in a cel phone and watching dailies when you???re trying to talk to them. And they even refer to really famous people by their first names. But they???re running a little dry when it comes to ideas.

    That???s not exactly right, they???ve got ideas, they got bags of ideas. There are very talented minds in Hollywood and lots of them, and there are people who work very hard and aspire to bring fine ideas to fruition. There???s even a tiny handful who???ve achieved something really wonderful, but God, so much of it ends up as roadkill. It???s the money, honey. The money and the fear, they???re close personal friends. There???s another close personal friend who happens to be his boss and he???ll fire your close, personal friend the instant your project doesn???t look that sure. The sure thing. Safe. Consistent. Predictable. Easy to swallow. So even when ideas are generated in Hollywood, they might as well be submitted to the Teleban Arts Council [laughter].

    And here we are. We???re just ripe for the picking; we???re just bursting with fresh ideas. We must look like a pinata to those folks, and they???re certainly treating us like one. Give it a whack, break the sucker open and see what falls out. These ideas that we???ve got, it???s not that we???re smarter than Hollywood???well, yeah, we???re smarter than Hollywood???but it???s not that. It???s that in comics we can take an idea the distance without running up the national debt. Our ideas don???t need to go through that abortion clinic they call "the development process." We???ve got what they want because they can???t make it happen. We have to know this, we have to be aware of this. So if you???re gonna do business with Hollywood, never think of yourself as a second class citizen.

    Stay smart, stand tall and steel yourself. Get ready. Know that one of three things is gonna happen. Thing #1: Your creation will be translated to a work of utter genius. It will make millions and millions and millions of dollars and Gwynneth Paltrow will call you seven times a day and Jennifer Lopez will drape herself all over you as you accept your Oscar for best picture. Thing #2: You???ll make some pretty good money, but that creation that you took all that time writing and drawing will be remembered for all time as one really crapo movie. Thing #3 is where things get really depressing. Thing #3 is where your creation is consigned to the elephant???s graveyard. The elephant???s graveyard is what I call a certain set of shelves that just about every development executive seems to have. These are shelves piled high with dead screenplays. I know this sounds strange, I???ve seen a lot of them. I don???t know why they display these unproduced, unloved, God forsaken scripts from movies that never got made all stacked like cord wood, but they do. And it???s weird. Stay smart. Get it in writing. Don???t put your baby on the block unless you???re ready to see her sold and stand tall. If they talk to you, they want what you???ve got. Nobody???s doing anybody any favors out there.

    And keep this in mind, if you lie down with dogs, you get fleas. If you lie down with tapeworms, you get [holds up a copy of Wizard] tapeworms [laughter]. I feel that???s over Hollywood. That???s the only reason publishers kow-tow over this rag, this bible written by Satan. Hollywood executives are notoriously poor readers. And they really are. Why do you think they hire people called "readers?" [Laughter]. Duh. Readers. Those are wanna be writers who provide coverage and that???s a term you???ve gotta love. Coverage. I mean we???re talking about scripts, not the damned Gulf War. These envious wanna-be writers provide coverage for executives who don???t read much. And get this, they???re proud of not reading. One TV guy I met, full of hyperactive disdain, he sniped at me, "I don???t read comic books. I read scripts." You???re lost pal.

    They don???t read comic books, they read Wizard Magazine! Or at least the publishers think they do. Either way the result is the same. For all the disgust you???ll hear about Wizard and its shoddy practices when you talk to publishers and marketing folks???and I have yet to hear a single good word from anybody about this thing that ought to come on a roll???for all of that, the publishers kow-tow. Even though this tree killer here regularly cheapens and poisons our field. Aesthetically and ethically, they grovel.

    Even though this monthly vulgarity [rips off front cover] reinforces all the prejudice people hold about comics [rips out pages] they cry to all the world that we???re as cheap and stupid and trashy as they think we are, we sponsor this assault. We pay for the @#%$ privilege. But really, when will we finally get around to flushing this thing, this load of crap, once and for all [tosses torn magazine into a trash can onstage. Applause].

    And when are we going to finally realize what we???ve got? Just look at the candidates for these awards that are coming up. Free minds, free hands, producing work that no committee could come up with, no development executive could allow, no focus group could approve. Minds like Harvey Kurtzman???s alive now and working. Look at what we???ve got. What we have in our little field???and it???s little, but it???s smart, damn smart???what we have is magic. Magic that certain people are eager to bottle. Deal with them then, if you wish, but don???t look up at them. Look down. And be certain of this, our field will pull out of this slump and won???t be Hollywood that???ll rescue us. And it ain???t gonna be the internet either, it???ll be the books. It???ll be the comic books.


    Frank Miller

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,898 Posts
    Duderonomy said:
    What had Veidt done in the books?

    You have to read it. You'll get it done in a couple of nights. Skip the parallel "Tales of the Black Freighter" storyline running through it. It's a decent analogy to the main plot, but will hold you up.

  • facesdfacesd 236 Posts
    For anyone that missed this, its an Alan Moore interview with Wired last month. Dood is just really on another level:

    http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/07/alan-moore-league-1969/

    And on a somewhat related note, I am reading 'From Hell' right now...who has got down with this? It is very good, but man, is it disturbing. What a mind to create something like this....the story is fascinating.


  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    J i m s t e r said:


    You have to read it. You'll get it done in a couple of nights. Skip the parallel "Tales of the Black Freighter" storyline running through it. It's a decent analogy to the main plot, but will hold you up.

    or just take 3 nights and read the whole thing.
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