Watchmen from my own perspective
Seriously, I'll shut up about it someday, probably when I'm dead.
Okay, a lot of people are suddenly aware of the book, due to the impending movie. Or at least more aware than they would have been.
I was first introduced to it by an acquaintance about... oh... twenty some years ago. The book had just started coming out in single issues, and I drove to Maplecon, an Ottawa area convention, with one of my dad's nurses from his prison clinic and her son.
Actually, I was first introduced to it by some DC promotional material that showed the Comedian aiming a rifle out a window in Deely Plaza, and in an editorial that mentioned how Alan Moore had a great idea for using the Charleton characters, but if we used it we'd never be able to use the characters again! So stay tuned for Watchmen!
Anyway, after that I got a short intro to it by my traveling companion. I think issue #1 had just come out, so one of the most interesting character bits was Rorschach's tossing a guy down an elevator shaft.
Cut to... A year later.
Kingston had a series of comics stores. First off was Camelot Comics. I became a semi-regular there; whenever Pater would pick me up from school, he'd take me over and buy some funny books. It was located two blocks from my grade school, but we were verboten from leaving the school grounds. The guy there got grumpy one time when I picked up an issue of Love & Rockets. True, I can see how that would be bad.
Anyway, Camelot passed out of this world shortly, to be replaced (in the same location) by Cosmic Comics. The owner seemed a little more focused (he was older and wore glasses; I was a kid, these things meant thing back then) and I was a recognized customer there. So much so that he sent me to get his float from the bank around the corner one chilly winter morning. That stays with me. Cosmic was located next to the computer and electronics shop where I bought the very cheesy Marvel video games that were being released around that time. The shop eventually morphed into a video rental place, as they could make money on that.
One day, I saw at the counter a trade paperback copy of the Watchmen series I'd heard about. Tom, the cashier (who would eventually go on to own Comics Plus in Kingston), told me it was an excellent book, and offered me a discount as it had a bend in the corner. Sold!
And then, wow. The book has an effect when you first read it, regardless of your age. Admittedly, you miss stuff when you read it when you're just a kid. Homosexuality was a concept that didn't get discussed much at Holy Cross, either in or outside of class, so HJ & Nelly's relationship was a black void to me until I read Mayfair's rpg sourcebook for the universe, and just try to explain impotence to a teenager. No, go ahead, I dare you. They'll laugh you out of the building. Not getting an erection. That's crazy talk!
The book's been with me since then, an increasingly worn copy of the first printing trade. I've pulled it out with some regularity; sometimes to read it through entirely, sometimes to look at one bit or another. I still can't get into the damn bird stuff at the end of chapter four.
Anyway, over the past two decades, the book has become... worn. The front cover is not yet off, but it shows that it has traveled; seriously, it would be CGC graded in the fractions. Recently, Cynra took it with her to SDCC to get it signed by Dave Gibbons. In retrospect, I should have also sent her with my copy of For the Man Who Has Everything. I love that story.
I'll bet Gibbons was amused at how different he looked from his Bill Murray-esque author's photo, while Moore has changed little from then, no doubt thanks to his Yeti heritage. Well, as amused as anyone gets at looking at old photos of themselves. God, who thought photography was a good idea?
When she said that he was sketching in each book, I asked for a sketch of Dollar Bill. Primarily because I figured no one ever asked for a Dollar Bill sketch. I mean, why would they? He doesn't even get any LINES in the book. He poses for the photo, walks out the door, and next thing you know, shot in the head. So Dollar Bill needed some love.
Apparently, so few people do that he can't quite remember what he looked like, so he ended up looking inside to refresh his memory.
Apparently a few people commented on the aged qualities of the book. I've considered getting a replacement for it for a while. Well, not a replacement (definitely not now) but at least a supplemental that'll be better able to weather further reading. After loving my copy of the Absolute editon of The New Frontier, I'm contemplating getting a copy of the Absolute Watchmen (if I can find one; Chapters and Amazon.com are both coming up empty, but Amazon.ca looks like it might have a copy).
The story means a lot because it talks about the fears I can remember when I was young. A lot of people talk of Generation X and their slacker mentality. I think there's probably a certain fatalism to blame for that. We were raised to be aware that our world was dangling by a string; a well placed flock of geese, or a bundle of balloons, and we're game over. One of Watchmen's strengths is how it plays to that particular zeitgeist. My friend Gabe had a piece he wrote once about the effect of an oncoming nuclear armageddon on the people who grew up in its shadow.
I've read pieces where younger people (in their 20s) don't get the whole pre-apocalyptic vibe. That's fortunate.
Okay, a lot of people are suddenly aware of the book, due to the impending movie. Or at least more aware than they would have been.
I was first introduced to it by an acquaintance about... oh... twenty some years ago. The book had just started coming out in single issues, and I drove to Maplecon, an Ottawa area convention, with one of my dad's nurses from his prison clinic and her son.
Actually, I was first introduced to it by some DC promotional material that showed the Comedian aiming a rifle out a window in Deely Plaza, and in an editorial that mentioned how Alan Moore had a great idea for using the Charleton characters, but if we used it we'd never be able to use the characters again! So stay tuned for Watchmen!
Anyway, after that I got a short intro to it by my traveling companion. I think issue #1 had just come out, so one of the most interesting character bits was Rorschach's tossing a guy down an elevator shaft.
Cut to... A year later.
Kingston had a series of comics stores. First off was Camelot Comics. I became a semi-regular there; whenever Pater would pick me up from school, he'd take me over and buy some funny books. It was located two blocks from my grade school, but we were verboten from leaving the school grounds. The guy there got grumpy one time when I picked up an issue of Love & Rockets. True, I can see how that would be bad.
Anyway, Camelot passed out of this world shortly, to be replaced (in the same location) by Cosmic Comics. The owner seemed a little more focused (he was older and wore glasses; I was a kid, these things meant thing back then) and I was a recognized customer there. So much so that he sent me to get his float from the bank around the corner one chilly winter morning. That stays with me. Cosmic was located next to the computer and electronics shop where I bought the very cheesy Marvel video games that were being released around that time. The shop eventually morphed into a video rental place, as they could make money on that.
One day, I saw at the counter a trade paperback copy of the Watchmen series I'd heard about. Tom, the cashier (who would eventually go on to own Comics Plus in Kingston), told me it was an excellent book, and offered me a discount as it had a bend in the corner. Sold!
And then, wow. The book has an effect when you first read it, regardless of your age. Admittedly, you miss stuff when you read it when you're just a kid. Homosexuality was a concept that didn't get discussed much at Holy Cross, either in or outside of class, so HJ & Nelly's relationship was a black void to me until I read Mayfair's rpg sourcebook for the universe, and just try to explain impotence to a teenager. No, go ahead, I dare you. They'll laugh you out of the building. Not getting an erection. That's crazy talk!
The book's been with me since then, an increasingly worn copy of the first printing trade. I've pulled it out with some regularity; sometimes to read it through entirely, sometimes to look at one bit or another. I still can't get into the damn bird stuff at the end of chapter four.
Anyway, over the past two decades, the book has become... worn. The front cover is not yet off, but it shows that it has traveled; seriously, it would be CGC graded in the fractions. Recently, Cynra took it with her to SDCC to get it signed by Dave Gibbons. In retrospect, I should have also sent her with my copy of For the Man Who Has Everything. I love that story.
I'll bet Gibbons was amused at how different he looked from his Bill Murray-esque author's photo, while Moore has changed little from then, no doubt thanks to his Yeti heritage. Well, as amused as anyone gets at looking at old photos of themselves. God, who thought photography was a good idea?
When she said that he was sketching in each book, I asked for a sketch of Dollar Bill. Primarily because I figured no one ever asked for a Dollar Bill sketch. I mean, why would they? He doesn't even get any LINES in the book. He poses for the photo, walks out the door, and next thing you know, shot in the head. So Dollar Bill needed some love.
Apparently, so few people do that he can't quite remember what he looked like, so he ended up looking inside to refresh his memory.
Apparently a few people commented on the aged qualities of the book. I've considered getting a replacement for it for a while. Well, not a replacement (definitely not now) but at least a supplemental that'll be better able to weather further reading. After loving my copy of the Absolute editon of The New Frontier, I'm contemplating getting a copy of the Absolute Watchmen (if I can find one; Chapters and Amazon.com are both coming up empty, but Amazon.ca looks like it might have a copy).
The story means a lot because it talks about the fears I can remember when I was young. A lot of people talk of Generation X and their slacker mentality. I think there's probably a certain fatalism to blame for that. We were raised to be aware that our world was dangling by a string; a well placed flock of geese, or a bundle of balloons, and we're game over. One of Watchmen's strengths is how it plays to that particular zeitgeist. My friend Gabe had a piece he wrote once about the effect of an oncoming nuclear armageddon on the people who grew up in its shadow.
I've read pieces where younger people (in their 20s) don't get the whole pre-apocalyptic vibe. That's fortunate.