With the award season finished, it’s seems as good a time as any to very belatedly talk about the other films I saw in the cinema in 2011 (I discussed the first six months in these two posts). An aside: I’m begrudgingly happy that The Artist has done so well (I can’t be angry that a black and white, mostly silent French film is being celebrated) but, although I thought it was a very good film that I enjoyed, I didn’t think it was the best film of the year.
A note: now that I'm a freelancer, my schedule isn't as flexible as it was, so my cinema going was completely banjaxed in the second half of 2011, and there were lots of movies that I wanted to see but missed (Super 8, Hugo, My Week With Marilyn, Crazy Stupid Love, Moneyball, Tyrannosaurus, The Guard, Midnight In Paris ...), which means that this list of films is going to seem pretty anaemic and eclectic.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Already reviewed: see here.
Captain America: The First Avenger
Already reviewed: see here.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Despite the fact that I read comics, I don't have the love affair with talking apes which seems endemic in the medium, nor have I any particular love for the series of Planet of the Apes films (although I do enjoy the original). This meant I wasn't expecting much going in to this film, which led to a pleasant surprise: this was one of the really good blockbusters. Directed by the chap who made The Escapist (a good small British film with Brian Cox set in a prison), it told a good story in a clear fashion, with a great combination of Andy Serkis's motion-capture acting and fantastic CGI to make you believe in Caesar, the chimpanzee who could. It takes its time, builds to the big action climax and earns its emotions. DAVE
Cowboys and Aliens
I tend to do full reviews for films that are based on comic books, which this film technically is; however, the execution and origins (it started out as a title and one-sheet instead of there being an actual story, an impromptu pitch that was bought and then took ages to enter production, with the comic book acting as a piece of advertising to re-energise the flagging fortunes of the movie before it was actually made) meant that I couldn't summon the willpower to write anything. It's all right; the build-up and sense of mystery of the idea (which is a good concept: dangerous aliens in the Wild West) are perfectly fine, but once you find out what it's about (the aliens want gold? Really?) and we get the action climax, it ripples into shore like a soft tide instead of a crashing wave. The actors are fine, although Harrison Ford mumbles throughout the film, and the direction is adequate, but it slips out of the mind as soon as the credits roll. DA
One Day
I haven't read the book, although I have read David Nichols' first book, Starter For Ten, and enjoyed the film adaptation (like me, Nichols went to the University of Bristol, which influenced the book even though it didn't implicitly state the location). However, I will never read this book because of how much I didn't enjoy the film: it was bad enough spending nearly two hours with the annoying male lead character; there is no way on earth that I will sit down to read about him. I'm sure the book is a better place for this story, but it didn't stop my loathing of the egotistical, stupid, vain, arrogant, self-obsessed idiot of a man for whom the female lead inexplicably holds a torch since their university days. Anne Hathaway is a good actress but the accent was pretty poor, and her character is interesting (if a little too perfect), but it couldn't compensate for me wanting to repeatedly punch the male lead repeatedly in the face any time he was on screen. D
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Thank goodness for an excellent book adaptation: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was the best film (and perhaps my favourite 'best' film) of 2011. I hadn't read the book or seen the well-known BBC adaptation with Alec Guinness, but it didn't matter: this was superb cinema, absorbing and entertaining, making you pay attention without losing you, recreating a bygone era with ease and with one of the best casts of the year giving perfect performances. Gary Oldman in particular was fantastic: keeping everything controlled so that when the emotion is exposed, it has a huge impact. I also loved how the film played with my expectation of the mole, based on the casting and playing with the reasons for why the mole should be the mole, which left me smiling for the rest of the day. Wonderful. DAVID
Drive
I was surprised to see this film on so many 'Best Of' lists because it's not the sort of movie you expect to make it there; it's extremely violent, it oozes style, it has a taciturn lead, an unusual score and is very much its own thing. All the actors are good, the directing is good and Ryan Gosling became a star, all in a film where the lead drives a car and wears a unique jacket. DAVE
We Need To Talk About Kevin
The worthiest title on my list, an adaptation of a supposedly unfilmable book with a thoroughly miserable premise: the film follows Tilda Swinton as a woman trying to cope with life after a traumatic event, intercutting to scenes in her life from courting her eventual husband (John C Reilly) and the birth and growth of their son (the child who plays him as a baby really looks quite evil). It is extremely well done, with an unnerving atmosphere and really good performances, particularly from the always great Swinton, but it's not exactly an enjoyable film, if you know what I mean. DAVE
Adventures of Tintin
Already reviewed: see here.
The Ides Of March
This is an enjoyable political drama, with George Clooney directing himself as a governor trying to win the Democratic nomination, but it is mostly about Ryan Gosling as his upcoming PR man who discovers the difference between his ideals and the reality of politics. There are lots of great performances from good actors (Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Wright, Philip Seymour Hoffman) and a good turn from Evan Rachel Wood, who is the hook on which the plot turns. Clooney does a great job directing in an unfussy, clean fashion, making for a classy movie about modern politics. DVD
Contagion
A very modern disaster movie: instead of climate change (The Day After Tomorrow), apocryphal Mayan predictions (2012) or the Rapture (Knowing), the population of the world is in danger from a virus, with specific reference to the recent bird/swine flu epidemics. Steven Soderbergh gathers a famous cast (always important for a classy disaster movie) and tells the story in an upscale documentary style, charting the movement of an incredibly infectious and destructive flu-like disease as it wipes out a significant portion of the US population. The story is believable and powerful, imagining the army being called in to quarantine cities, the looting of pharmacies, people trying to make money from death, and a lottery for vaccinations. It even gets the science right (even if it does have the scientists explaining things to each other in a fashion that they wouldn't if they were having a normal conversation that wasn't in a movie), which only adds to the plausibility. After watching this film, you won't go near another human being who has a sniffle or cough, and you will wash your hands all the time. DAVE
50/50
The cancer comedy that works: even though it has Seth Rogen in it (whose presence in a film I find disrupting, with his mewing delivery and overpowering presence), this is a funny and moving film about a young man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) whose life changes when he finds out he has a rare cancer. Based on the experience of the writer's own life (which is amazing in itself), it is believable and touching without being worthy or mawkish. Gordon-Levitt is very good, demonstrating an ability to bring out small moments in a character who is not perfect but without descending into easy sentiment to achieve emotional weight. I'm not ashamed to admit that a tear was brought to my eye. It is also very funny (I liked the line, after a pre-emptive head shaving: 'I look like Voldemort') at the same time as being serious, which is a very tricky balance to accomplish. DAVE
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
The first film directed by Guy Ritchie was a pleasant surprise and an enjoyable bit of fun, so I was rather looking forward to this sequel. I wasn’t disappointed: the bromance between Downey Jr and Law was as good, Stephen Fry provided laughs as Mycroft (I liked that he called his brother Shirley – has anyone else done that before?), Jared Harris was excellent as Moriarty, channelling intelligence and evil in a great fashion, and I really liked the climax at Reichenbach Falls. The problem was with the women, or the lack of them: Noomi Rapace had to be shoehorned into the plot very inelegantly, just so there was a woman in the main story, with Kelly Reilly quickly shunted to the sidelines, but the worst was (this is a spoiler but it happens early, so it doesn’t matter too much) the needless killing of Irene Adler, just to prove that Moriarty is evil. You do not dispose of The Lady in such a cavalier fashion. Wrong, wrong, wrong. DVD
[Explanation of my updated film rating system]
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Monday, 27 February 2012
Saturday at the London Super Comic Con
I think this is the first comic book convention I have attended which gave me an actual, not metaphorical, headache at the end of the day; I’m trying to work out if it was because I enjoyed the con too much or if I’m an inexperienced attendee. Despite coming home to pain killers and an early night (I am so old), the London Super Comic Con (or LSComicCon for short, used as the Twitter name) was a lot of fun because it was primarily a convention about comic books.
My headache didn’t start until I came home, but it might have been set in motion by the queue to get into the con. Having learned my lesson from attending Saturday at the London MCM Expo in the same location last May, I arrived with pre-purchased tickets (a birthday present from my lovely girlfriend) – this was originally the only way you could attend, but the organisers changed their minds the night before when Stan Lee, the guest of honour, appeared on The One Show the night before (where Chris Evans got the name of the con wrong and Stan was only on for 10 minutes despite it being an hour-long show on Fridays) and they announced that tickets would be available on the day.
When I arrived at just after 10am, when the con was supposed to start, the queue to get in was outside the main entrance to the ExCel Centre, snaking down the stairs and almost to the water. I joined the queue and it took an hour (which felt longer) to get to the entrance to the con itself, which was at the other end of the exhibition centre, and another fifteen minutes of queuing in the con itself before I had got my shiny plastic pass on cord (like a backstage pass at a gig) and was allowed in properly.
An aside: while waiting to get in, I was amused to notice that there was a Zumba instructors conference in the ExCel at the same time – there would be no problems with attendee crossover there, despite the fact that the instructors looked like how comic book artists draw female superheroes: slim, healthy women with exposed stomachs and tight tops (although nowhere near as pneumatic as the women who grace the covers of far too many comic books).
My first impressions were that the space wasn’t as large as used for the MCM Expo, which was held in a different hall near the main entrance, and that there weren’t as many people as the MCM Expo. There were lots of people, but they were mainly queuing for Stan Lee: as the main draw for this event, his presence had attracted a huge crowd of people who were there just for him. He hasn’t attended a UK con for decades, so it was something of coup to get him; at 89 years old, the man is doing amazingly well, full of energy and charm, but I don’t know if he’ll be back for another con in this country.
Another initial impression was there weren’t as many cosplayers as had attended the MCM Expo. The MCM Expo seemed to be mainly about the cosplay: there were hordes of them inside and even more outside, who I began to think hadn’t bothered to enter the Expo but just hang around outside to enjoy the atmosphere. The LSComicCon had a good showing of cosplayers, the majority keeping to comic book characters (for example, there was a very good Galactus roaming the hall), and they made for an impressive sight when they were in the queue to enter the cosplay competition at the end of the day; however, they were in the minority compared with the other attendees.
One of the main attractions for me was the presence of such a stellar Artists Alley: the impressive line-up included Howard Chaykin, Bill Sienkiewicz, Kevin Maguire, Brian Bolland, Jock, Sean Phillips, Mark Buckingham, Duncan Fegredo, Jim Cheung, Phil Jimenez (see here for a full list – Mike Deodato Jr unfortunately missed his flight, so he wasn’t there on Saturday). There were also some writers in attendance (Fred Van Lente, Mike Carey, Paul Cornell) but I wanted to see the artists. It was great seeing them in person and seeing some of them sketch (I saw Chaykin knocking out a Logan sketch with consummate ease) but I realised that I was an amateur when it came to attending a con to see artists: the long queues for the artists were full of people who had bought small comic book boxes for signing or small suitcases on wheels with stuff to sign. Having suffered enough queues for the day, I left the professionals (both the artists and the people who wanted stuff signed) to their own devices.
Instead of standing in a queue, I attended two panels where I could sit down and listen to people talk about comic books: How To Write A Comic Script and 35 Years Of 2000AD. The first had Fred Van Lente, Mike Carey, Kieron Gillen, Andy Lanning and, briefly, Simon Spurrier – he relinquished his seat at the last minute in response to Paul Cornell’s Panel Parity, allowing Tammy Taylor to take his place. It was an interesting panel, with each giving an introduction, talking about how they broke in, their experiences with different script formats (the first script Carey saw was Alan Moore’s ridiculously dense script in the back of the Watchmen trade paperback, so for years he thought that was how you were supposed to write them) and how they approach writing. The sound system wasn’t great, but Van Lente easily made himself heard (he is American, after all), and Gillen was effusive and cheeky on various topics (for him, plot and character are the same, and writers who aren’t interested in people are not proper writers in his opinion), and it was a shame that the panel had to end as soon as it did.
The second panel I attended was a cosier affair, as the three artists on the panel talked about their work. Jock, Duncan Fegredo and Brian Bolland chatted about their cover work for 2000AD (Bolland was surprised to discover that one of his old covers is appearing on a stamp for Royal Mail; he also thought that they could have chosen a better and more classic cover) as led by a chap who I assume is an editor at 2000AD but whose name I didn’t catch because the sound system was even worse in this panel. The artists were nice blokes, sharing a nice camaraderie; Jock and Fegredo were very happy to have done Dredd covers for the comic that was so important to them, and they had a lot of respect for Bolland. Bolland was a great panel member, sharing little anecdotes and talking about how he didn’t have the time he does now and how the covers and classic artwork was put together so quickly. He also talked a lot about Mick McMahon, saying that he was in awe of him and how McMahon was the one who designed Mega-City One; Jock had to step in and say how Bolland had defined Dredd to the majority of people. Another enjoyable panel.
As I said, the focus of this con was comic books and that was the great aspect of it. The booths of comic book companies such as IDW and Markosia, the small press sections, the portfolio review booth, the guests and the stalls selling comic books (I did enjoy myself picking up cheap trades and issues missing from my collection, after fighting my way through the others with similar intentions) were all about comic books and not about movie tie-ins or games or television shows. This was reflected in the audience, which seemed to skew older and had a larger proportion of men than the MCM Expo.
It has to be said that the majority of people were there for Stan Lee – the queues for signing and photos were amazing (Rich Johnston has video footage of the con and Stan at Bleeding Cool, although there should be a warning because he is an awful cameraman; it looks like really bad found footage and will cause nausea if watched for too long) and Stan's panel, which I didn’t attend, was standing-room only – the panels I attended were only about a third full. The crowd loved him: the roars of approval when he arrived on stage and then left at the end were deafening. Perhaps they should have called it the Stan Lee Convention …
According to Johnston, the convention seems to have been a success with around 8,000 people, and publishers/vendors/creators selling everything they brought with them. That’s good news because it means the LSComicCon can continue and improve, and we can have a regular comic-specific con that is well organised and enjoyed by all attendees. Just as long as I don’t keep getting headaches by attending them.
My headache didn’t start until I came home, but it might have been set in motion by the queue to get into the con. Having learned my lesson from attending Saturday at the London MCM Expo in the same location last May, I arrived with pre-purchased tickets (a birthday present from my lovely girlfriend) – this was originally the only way you could attend, but the organisers changed their minds the night before when Stan Lee, the guest of honour, appeared on The One Show the night before (where Chris Evans got the name of the con wrong and Stan was only on for 10 minutes despite it being an hour-long show on Fridays) and they announced that tickets would be available on the day.
When I arrived at just after 10am, when the con was supposed to start, the queue to get in was outside the main entrance to the ExCel Centre, snaking down the stairs and almost to the water. I joined the queue and it took an hour (which felt longer) to get to the entrance to the con itself, which was at the other end of the exhibition centre, and another fifteen minutes of queuing in the con itself before I had got my shiny plastic pass on cord (like a backstage pass at a gig) and was allowed in properly.
An aside: while waiting to get in, I was amused to notice that there was a Zumba instructors conference in the ExCel at the same time – there would be no problems with attendee crossover there, despite the fact that the instructors looked like how comic book artists draw female superheroes: slim, healthy women with exposed stomachs and tight tops (although nowhere near as pneumatic as the women who grace the covers of far too many comic books).
My first impressions were that the space wasn’t as large as used for the MCM Expo, which was held in a different hall near the main entrance, and that there weren’t as many people as the MCM Expo. There were lots of people, but they were mainly queuing for Stan Lee: as the main draw for this event, his presence had attracted a huge crowd of people who were there just for him. He hasn’t attended a UK con for decades, so it was something of coup to get him; at 89 years old, the man is doing amazingly well, full of energy and charm, but I don’t know if he’ll be back for another con in this country.
Another initial impression was there weren’t as many cosplayers as had attended the MCM Expo. The MCM Expo seemed to be mainly about the cosplay: there were hordes of them inside and even more outside, who I began to think hadn’t bothered to enter the Expo but just hang around outside to enjoy the atmosphere. The LSComicCon had a good showing of cosplayers, the majority keeping to comic book characters (for example, there was a very good Galactus roaming the hall), and they made for an impressive sight when they were in the queue to enter the cosplay competition at the end of the day; however, they were in the minority compared with the other attendees.
One of the main attractions for me was the presence of such a stellar Artists Alley: the impressive line-up included Howard Chaykin, Bill Sienkiewicz, Kevin Maguire, Brian Bolland, Jock, Sean Phillips, Mark Buckingham, Duncan Fegredo, Jim Cheung, Phil Jimenez (see here for a full list – Mike Deodato Jr unfortunately missed his flight, so he wasn’t there on Saturday). There were also some writers in attendance (Fred Van Lente, Mike Carey, Paul Cornell) but I wanted to see the artists. It was great seeing them in person and seeing some of them sketch (I saw Chaykin knocking out a Logan sketch with consummate ease) but I realised that I was an amateur when it came to attending a con to see artists: the long queues for the artists were full of people who had bought small comic book boxes for signing or small suitcases on wheels with stuff to sign. Having suffered enough queues for the day, I left the professionals (both the artists and the people who wanted stuff signed) to their own devices.
Instead of standing in a queue, I attended two panels where I could sit down and listen to people talk about comic books: How To Write A Comic Script and 35 Years Of 2000AD. The first had Fred Van Lente, Mike Carey, Kieron Gillen, Andy Lanning and, briefly, Simon Spurrier – he relinquished his seat at the last minute in response to Paul Cornell’s Panel Parity, allowing Tammy Taylor to take his place. It was an interesting panel, with each giving an introduction, talking about how they broke in, their experiences with different script formats (the first script Carey saw was Alan Moore’s ridiculously dense script in the back of the Watchmen trade paperback, so for years he thought that was how you were supposed to write them) and how they approach writing. The sound system wasn’t great, but Van Lente easily made himself heard (he is American, after all), and Gillen was effusive and cheeky on various topics (for him, plot and character are the same, and writers who aren’t interested in people are not proper writers in his opinion), and it was a shame that the panel had to end as soon as it did.
The second panel I attended was a cosier affair, as the three artists on the panel talked about their work. Jock, Duncan Fegredo and Brian Bolland chatted about their cover work for 2000AD (Bolland was surprised to discover that one of his old covers is appearing on a stamp for Royal Mail; he also thought that they could have chosen a better and more classic cover) as led by a chap who I assume is an editor at 2000AD but whose name I didn’t catch because the sound system was even worse in this panel. The artists were nice blokes, sharing a nice camaraderie; Jock and Fegredo were very happy to have done Dredd covers for the comic that was so important to them, and they had a lot of respect for Bolland. Bolland was a great panel member, sharing little anecdotes and talking about how he didn’t have the time he does now and how the covers and classic artwork was put together so quickly. He also talked a lot about Mick McMahon, saying that he was in awe of him and how McMahon was the one who designed Mega-City One; Jock had to step in and say how Bolland had defined Dredd to the majority of people. Another enjoyable panel.
As I said, the focus of this con was comic books and that was the great aspect of it. The booths of comic book companies such as IDW and Markosia, the small press sections, the portfolio review booth, the guests and the stalls selling comic books (I did enjoy myself picking up cheap trades and issues missing from my collection, after fighting my way through the others with similar intentions) were all about comic books and not about movie tie-ins or games or television shows. This was reflected in the audience, which seemed to skew older and had a larger proportion of men than the MCM Expo.
It has to be said that the majority of people were there for Stan Lee – the queues for signing and photos were amazing (Rich Johnston has video footage of the con and Stan at Bleeding Cool, although there should be a warning because he is an awful cameraman; it looks like really bad found footage and will cause nausea if watched for too long) and Stan's panel, which I didn’t attend, was standing-room only – the panels I attended were only about a third full. The crowd loved him: the roars of approval when he arrived on stage and then left at the end were deafening. Perhaps they should have called it the Stan Lee Convention …
According to Johnston, the convention seems to have been a success with around 8,000 people, and publishers/vendors/creators selling everything they brought with them. That’s good news because it means the LSComicCon can continue and improve, and we can have a regular comic-specific con that is well organised and enjoyed by all attendees. Just as long as I don’t keep getting headaches by attending them.
Friday, 24 February 2012
Comic Book Review: Damaged
Created by Michael Schwarz and John Schwarz
Written by David Lapham
Illustrated by Leonardo Manco
Coloured by Kinsun Loh, Jerry Choo & Sansan Saw
Lettered by Todd Klein
Edited by Renae Geerlings
Published by Radical Publishing
I was fortunate to receive preview pdfs of the first five issues of this six-issue mini-series from the nice people at Radical. I have to admit that I’m an old-fashioned guy who likes his comic books on paper but I was able to overcome my deficiencies to read a well-told story by people who know what they are doing. A sign of a good comic book is that you want to know how it ends; I need to read that last issue to see how the narrative is resolved.
Damaged is a comic book created by the Schwarz brothers (who are partners with the film star Worthington, who helped in the creation of the original outline) but, unlike Rosario Dawson with Occult Crimes Taskforce or Samuel L Jackson with Cold Space who created/co-created and co-wrote comic books with the stars in the lead, the book is scripted by David Lapham, the Eisner award winner best known for Stray Bullets, illustrated by the excellent Leonardo Manco and lettered by the great Todd Klein. This tells you that although the Schwarz brothers might not have a track record in comic books, they know that you get talented artists to produce your comic book for you and the right ones to pick.
Damaged concerns two brothers, both policemen but whose careers diverge: Frank stayed on the force to eventually become head of the special task force on organised crime in San Francisco, while Henry had to leave the police due to events that are part of the backstory revealed in the book. We are introduced to Henry in the opening scene of the book, as he dispenses vigilante justice in a bar in Oklahoma, where four men who were considered responsible for the rape and death of two girls are having a quiet drink with their friends. Thirty-five years after the event that changed his life, Henry returns to San Francisco, executing members of the Russian mob in a violent and destructive fashion. At the same time, the mayor brings in a young detective (Cassidy) to take over the special task force from Frank, while another policeman (Lordsman) is arrested for letting two people burn to death in a car accident (even though they were members of the Russian mob). The story deals with the repercussions of the vigilantism and the escalation that occurs when Henry surrenders himself just so he can get into prison to spring Lordsman and train him up as a vigilante, only for Lordsman to take the initiative and cause events to spiral even more out of control.
The quality of the comic book itself is not in doubt: Lapham writes a lean script, with dialogue that tells the story without feeling expository, inner monologue captions that capture the characters and a strong sense of story, including the elements in flashback that drive the plot and the people. Manco produces great art: his realistic style is a perfect match for the material, portraying the violence in an unflinching fashion that doesn’t fetishise it; the action scenes are particularly effective. His characters all look like individuals, something that still seems to elude some modern artists, so you are never in doubt who is who, and his storytelling is excellent. He also imbues the characters with emotion: Henry’s eyes in the midst of certain action scenes become blacker and you can feel the chilling intensity in them. Credit must also be given to Klein for his excellent lettering, which helps the story flow smoothly.
Regarding the story, the elephant in the room is the fact that this is not an innate comic book – it is obviously a film idea that has been turned into a comic book mini-series. There is nothing wrong with this: there are lots of good comic books that tell a good story that don’t require them to exist in comic book form; however, the atmosphere of this book always feels like it is not in its natural state. Worthington might have talked about creating a work of art in his interviews about the book, but the business strategy of Radical (to create books for adaptation into other media) is apparent here. I spent part of the time wondering which character Worthington would want to play in the film version (I think it would be the new detective brought in to head up the taskforce, Cassidy, but that could change based on how the final issue resolves). This doesn’t detract from what is a good book and a good read, but it makes it feel like a product instead of a little slice of individual creative expression that a great comic book instils in a reader.
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Before Watchmen: They Did It 35 Minutes Ago
The internet has reacted as expected – Comics Alliance collects some of the best tweets and Topless Robot has my favourite headline – and there have been reasoned responses (such as Graeme McMillan at Blog@Newsarama) and extreme reactions (such as Alan David Doane’s post ‘List of Disgraced Watchmen 2 Scabs Revealed’ on Trouble With Comics).
I know I haven’t blogged regularly here, but I felt that Before Watchmen had to be commented on, even if what I have to say is not different to the many other reactions on the internet. Watchmen is one of the most pivotal books in my comic book reading; I read it on a regular basis and get something new out of it every time, and it changed the way I thought about comic books and what I wanted out of them. If I were to appear on Desert Island Discs (I won’t), it would be my book choice. In other words, I feel rather attached to it. So how am I supposed to feel about this announcement of a bunch of prequels that has nothing to do with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons?
I won’t be reading the comics. I won’t be boycotting them or signing petitions against them or decrying DC for being a company that wants to make money. I have no interest in stories that are set before the narrative told in Watchmen because the story was complete. Yes, the creative teams are impressive (Darwyn Cooke, Brian Azzarello, Adam Hughes, Jae Lee, Amanda Conner are definitely A-list talent) – I like Hughes’ cover I’ve posted (you can see the rest of the covers at The Source), despite the slightly dubious nature of the composition, and it would be great to see four full comics of interior art done by him – but the reviews for the series would have to be phenomenal before I would pay to see for myself. What’s the point (in the creative sense)? What is there to say? Where is the originality?
Comics has an obsession with its own past – how many times have we seen the origins of Superman and Batman, etc.? – but this seems a bizarre choice. The original series was in 1986; yes, the film was a few years ago, but why is this happening now? The people who are into comics now won’t care about prequel stories about something that’s so old? I didn’t think that Watchmen had that kind of pulling power to sell new comic books, when the only things that sell well are the famous franchises in crossovers that supposedly mean something or are considered important. Other revivals of old stories haven’t done well (First Wave, newuniverse, the Red Circle characters, etc.) so I can’t see why this is considered a successful proposition. Not only that, it’s a huge number of comics to publish in a short time; are they expecting people who are interested to buy them all? I guess this is why I don’t run a comic book company …
I understand Alan Moore’s reaction to this news (although it has to be remembered that Watchmen originated from a proposal by Moore to revive the Charlton characters for DC, who baulked at what he came up with the characters they had just bought, so he came up with thinly veiled versions of the same characters and, hey presto, comic book history changes) but commerce and art have always been uneasy bedfellows, and that’s not something that’s going to change soon. I shall to continue to read the comics I want and ignore the ones I don’t – feel free to do the same.
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