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Watchmen prequels now official and announced

Started by Colin YNWA, 01 February, 2012, 12:59:50 PM

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TordelBack

Spot on re: Silk Spectre, Blue.  I like it because it's fun and it looks great, and most importantly generally ploughs its own furrow in terms of visuals and tone, even when it's doing the almost inevitable homage scenes.  Similarly Minutemen continues to be fresh and interesting - I'd quite happily see a Watchmen reboot series taking these two as a new starting point for a new version of the universe.   

I found Ozymandias and Rorshach almost unreadable in their tired predictability and the pervasive sense of missing the point despite endless parroting of the originals.  Although the art in both was excellent.  Nite Owl and Comedian were just plain dull.  I'm not following any of those now.

Professor Bear

I didn't really get into Silk Spectre beyond the artwork as it heavily borrows from Brian Wood's coming of age travelogues like New York Five and Local, or Sean McKeever's Marvel titles, though fair play for giving material like that a go.  It's sadly under-represented beyond the odd - increasingly rare - shojo-aping teen book.

Zeb Oswalt

I'll have to read these at some point. Might pick up Minute Men , S.S. & Rochac I guess.

Montynero

I was optimistic about these, not knowing enough of the detail in the contract to take a moral stance.  But despite some amazing talent and everyone's best efforts (Amanda Conner, take a bow), it felt like reanimating the corpse of a loved one. Turns out watching someone you love dancing across the floor with the wrong voice and mannerisms is no fun at all. You'd rather remember them as they were.

The only book I enjoyed, on an emotional level, was Dr Manhattan 1. Whether it delivers on its promise remains to be seen. Jim Campbell described it as fanfic, and I know what he means, but I guess I don't see that as pejorative. Look at Zarjaz, some great stuff there. Isn't all of Before Watchmen fanfic, initially at least? Not using the proper typography is where the others felt inauthentic, to me. Sir Dave's lettering for Rorschach IS his voice, and if you don't use it...good luck to you!

What Dr Manhattan does is capture the mood and voice of the original, but without merely copying. Adam Hughes sequentials are stunning, and just as carefully composed as Dave's, delivering some original storytelling. It respects and understands the original, then adds new dimensions. Dr Manhattan is a hell of difficult hero to tell a dramatic story with, being so powerful and detached from humanity, so the solution Straczynski devised impressed me. Can he deliver on the promise? It depends on 'what's in the box'.

Link Prime

I assume we're all still reading this and just pretending to each other (and ourselves) we're not???
Anyway, just finished the 4th issue of 'Minutemen' (undeniably the premier mini in this series of minis).

Cooke is a f*ckin genius. The best 'Comedien' vignette since the original Watchmen series, and some horrifying backstory for Silhouette too.

If any naysayers were at all interested in this 'Project', they should pick up Minutemen- it's a bloody good comic by a AAA+ creator.

Colin YNWA

#290
A bit reluctant to kick start this thread as it can course bad blood and all that BUT interesting (and possibly annoying for some people) to see what DC are doing with the collections of these.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/12/10/before-watchmen-to-double-up-for-hardcover-collections/

Lucky with these doubling up of stories it leaves the stories I'm interested in together and while I'll probably  wait longer for the trade rather than the hardback, I'll be getting the Darwyn Cooke collection (Minute Men and Silk Spectre) and I'll consider the Len Wein one (Ozymandias and Black Freighter) as and when.

I guess the logic behind this is giving book shop readers who have picked up the original a similarly chunky lump of comics rather than a smaller collection that might feel light weight in comparison to Watchmen?

Apestrife

Quote from: Colin_YNWA on 10 December, 2012, 03:26:33 PM
A bit reluctant to kick start this thread as it can course bad blood and all that BUT interesting (and possibly annoying for some people) to see what DC are doing with the collections of these.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/12/10/before-watchmen-to-double-up-for-hardcover-collections/

Lucky with these doubling up of stories it leaves the stories I'm interested in together and while I'll probably  wait longer for the trade rather than the hardback, I'll be getting the Darwyn Cooke collection (Minute Men and Silk Spectre) and I'll consider the Len Wein one (Ozymandias and Black Freighter) as and when.

I guess the logic behind this is giving book shop readers who have picked up the original a similarly chunky lump of comics rather than a smaller collection that might feel light weight in comparison to Watchmen?

I was actually thinking about the possibility of them doing something like this, and I can't complain how they're paired the books. Especially not the Azzarello stuff (which I'v liked the best together with Cooke's Watchmen), even if I hope for a better cover (Rorsarsch issue one is too damn mint to pass up!)

Thing is with the comedian is that it started slow, but the stories are starting to connect with each other. And I'v actually started to feel a bit sad for the guy (). Rorsarsch has been a bit predictable, but it's only two issues in and I'm sure Azzarello have some trick up his sleave (his wording that ends 100Bullets, Joker, Luthor and Spaceman are insanely good, so I'm expect no less from his two watchmen books).
Cooke's Silk spectre was good fun, but minutemen really shines.

So maybe it'll be the deluxe version of Watchmen (got a hardback, but in swedish) paired with Rorsarsch/Comedian and Minutemen/Silk Spectre. Good times in june/july :)

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Apestrife on 10 December, 2012, 04:31:57 PM
Rorsarsch has been a bit predictable, but it's only two issues in and I'm sure Azzarello have some trick up his sleave

What, like writing some dialogue that actually sounds like Rorschach?

Cheers

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

JamesC

I found Rorschach to be the worst of the ones I've read.
I think Silk Spectre has been the best followed by Minutemen. This has only served to make me want to check out more Darwin Cooke stuff rather than more Before Watchmen though!

Apestrife

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 10 December, 2012, 05:17:16 PM
Quote from: Apestrife on 10 December, 2012, 04:31:57 PM
Rorsarsch has been a bit predictable, but it's only two issues in and I'm sure Azzarello have some trick up his sleave

What, like writing some dialogue that actually sounds like Rorschach?

Cheers

Jim

Could be too much of optimism for my part since I love Lee's art, and always hype Azzarello's stuff.

But of course. Rorsarsch saying "serious smack" sounds fun, but it isn't nowhere up there with monolog about the night he flipped. But still, it's not often Azzarello is a let down for me, and I certainly hope not in this case either.