DC unveils Watchmen prequels...

Also, Before Watchmen could not possibly be better than this:

www.warrenellis.com/?p=13655

Jackwraith wrote: To be honest, I think V for Vendetta is his finest work, purely on a story level, because it's not burdened with any of the superhero tropes that Watchmen is forced to engage. Of course, the fact that me makes most of those tropes work for his story is what makes Alan the writer that he is. There's simply a measured pace to V that is as obvious as the chapter titles, all of which start with the letter 'v' and all of which perfectly describe both the chapter and the next step in the process. It's a really a remarkable level of insight. Of course, if you ask Alan, he'll say that his finest work was Big Numbers. Everybody has their foci in life.

I read V for Vendetta exactly once, issue by issue, back when it came out. So maybe my recollection is off. But what I remember is being very disappointed at a shift in tone partway through the story. Maybe 2/3 of the way through. I don't remember now exactly what that shift was, but it didn't feel deliberate, it felt mistaken. Like Moore got writer's block partway through and lost his feel for the tone or theme or characterization or something important when he finally got back to writing. The only other time that I've seen that happen with Moore was Promethea, where it seemed like he got bored and just phoned it in for the last few issues.

Big Numbers? I bought the first issue, and it left zero impression. Not bad, not good, just nothing. I still have that somewhere... it isn't even comic-shaped, so it's in some other storage box and not with my comic collection.

My favorite work by Moore is probably Top Ten. The concept is both awesome and ludicrous, and then Moore sneakily includes a stunning variety of perversions into the mix. And then the whole mess works just great anyway, because Moore sticks to the basic cop show structure as much as possible, while imbuing the diverse cast with so much life.

Top Ten is my favorite to read, followed not that far behind by Tom Strong. But I don't think either are his best work as a "writer". They are just the most fun. When it comes to his best work, I dunno really. Watchmen is of course amazing but then the stuff he was doing with From Hell is also really incredible. Litle stuff with other characters like The Killing Joke or Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow are also some of, if not the singularly, best individual stories told with those characters. Dude is just too good and different projects showcase different aspects of how amazing he is.

Favorites eh? Tough call. Top Ten is good fun and Tom Strong was good for one book. Then the second one bored me and I stopped buying the series. At some point I read number 3 but don't remember it.

Watchmen is his best and very re-readable
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is his best too. The art is the most interesting Moore has ever had in a comic and he pushes boundaries no one thought were there. The Black Dossier is an incredible effort that really fucks with what people thought was possible in the medium of comics. I love how they steal the book and when they open it so do you, I love the 3D glasses and how it's not just a gimmick but makes sense in the story.
Swamp Thing is brilliant and was the blue print for Sandman. Gaiman took not just the characters from it but the style and feel too.
A Small Killing was an interesting Moore book as was From Hell. Turns out his does realism quite well and can tell a great story without any horror or super hero trappings.

I'm starting to think Lost Girl is up there too. A Phenomenal book and truly something no one else in comics history could have pulled off. An erotic comic that doesn't make a good one handed read but does make you think.

As for his small stories I think his Batman Clayface story is under-recognized and his fantastic Green Lantern stories as well. No one could save "Vigilante" it's just the dumbest character ever to exist and those bums were lucky Moore wrote them two issues because otherwise no one would have ever heard of this dude.

Shellhead wrote: I read V for Vendetta exactly once, issue by issue, back when it came out. So maybe my recollection is off. But what I remember is being very disappointed at a shift in tone partway through the story. Maybe 2/3 of the way through. I don't remember now exactly what that shift was, but it didn't feel deliberate, it felt mistaken. Like Moore got writer's block partway through and lost his feel for the tone or theme or characterization or something important when he finally got back to writing.

Ha. That's pretty perceptive, because there was a gap. It was begun in the British anthology Warrior, in the early 80s. When Warrior got cancelled, DC offered to pick up V but it didn't get sorted out for two or three years and he finished writing it around 1987. So, yes, there is a change of tone but I didn't think it was overwhelming. The pacing does change a bit because the original segments in Warrior were 12 or 15 pages, as opposed to the 24 of standard comic length, so there are adjustments that had to be made in that respect, too.

Shellhead wrote: Big Numbers? I bought the first issue, and it left zero impression. Not bad, not good, just nothing. I still have that somewhere... it isn't even comic-shaped, so it's in some other storage box and not with my comic collection.

I agree. I was never that interested in it, either, but he worked on it forever and I've heard him talk fondly of it more than once; moreso than most of his other work (that he feels gets 'tarnished' by one thing or another.)

Jackwraith wrote:

Shellhead wrote: I read V for Vendetta exactly once, issue by issue, back when it came out. So maybe my recollection is off. But what I remember is being very disappointed at a shift in tone partway through the story. Maybe 2/3 of the way through. I don't remember now exactly what that shift was, but it didn't feel deliberate, it felt mistaken. Like Moore got writer's block partway through and lost his feel for the tone or theme or characterization or something important when he finally got back to writing.

Ha. That's pretty perceptive, because there was a gap. It was begun in the British anthology Warrior, in the early 80s. When Warrior got cancelled, DC offered to pick up V but it didn't get sorted out for two or three years and he finished writing it around 1987. So, yes, there is a change of tone but I didn't think it was overwhelming. The pacing does change a bit because the original segments in Warrior were 12 or 15 pages, as opposed to the 24 of standard comic length, so there are adjustments that had to be made in that respect, too.

I didn't know that V for Vendetta started in Warrior. I just read the DC version.

By the way, since we're talking about everything Moore has written, I just want to take this opportunity to warn everybody again about Neonomicon. Moore did an amazing job with the Cthulhu Mythos in The Courtyard, but his follow up mini-series Neonomicon is really nasty. There are still some flashes of brilliance here and there, but way too much rape.

Wow, 3 pages of hate! Watchmen is my second-favorite comic, next to Akira. If these stories are good or at least visually interesting, I'll give them a chance, in trade form.

After the best steak you ever had, did you never eat another?

Shellhead wrote: By the way, since we're talking about everything Moore has written, I just want to take this opportunity to warn everybody again about Neonomicon. Moore did an amazing job with the Cthulhu Mythos in The Courtyard, but his follow up mini-series Neonomicon is really nasty. There are still some flashes of brilliance here and there, but way too much rape.

You warned me when I was half way through. So I had very low expectations for the ending. I read all the sex stuff after you warned me but after Lost Girls when I did get there it seemed really tame and kind of comical. Appropriate in some ways. I enjoyed it all in all, about as much as The Courtyard. Better then Promethea anyway. Not his strongest work but worth a read.

I think Promethea is when he first started playing around with what sex and sexuality can mean to character and story but it was still too creepy and he didn't seem to get it. I think his new wife or whatever their relationship is helped him a lot. Lost Girls (which she does the art for) really explores some interesting idea's about what sex can mean to story... Neonomicon is a little bit of that knowledge put into motion.

But they are not for the prudish I suppose. A friend flipped through Neonomicon at work and said if his wife found it he would have to have it removed. Personally I don't mind erotica and none of this stuff is anything other than story and ideas to me.

hotseatgames wrote: Wow, 3 pages of hate! Watchmen is my second-favorite comic, next to Akira. If these stories are good or at least visually interesting, I'll give them a chance, in trade form.

After the best steak you ever had, did you never eat another?

As a matter of fact, I dined on the most amazing steak in 1991, and it was years before I had another steak. I was at a small dinner party and the host had a built-in grill in his fancy kitchen. He cooked my porterhouse steak slightly well-done, just the way I like it, and seasoned it with chunky groundup black pepper. Amazing. I'm a reasonably good cook, but it was several years before I tried to replicate that steak, and the result was very disappointing. The next time I had steak was in '04, at a fancy restaurant, and it was very good, but not amazing. I've been eating more steak in recent years, but nothing has measured up to that porterhouse steak in '91 so far.

JonJacob wrote:

Shellhead wrote: By the way, since we're talking about everything Moore has written, I just want to take this opportunity to warn everybody again about Neonomicon. Moore did an amazing job with the Cthulhu Mythos in The Courtyard, but his follow up mini-series Neonomicon is really nasty. There are still some flashes of brilliance here and there, but way too much rape.

You warned me when I was half way through. So I had very low expectations for the ending. I read all the sex stuff after you warned me but after Lost Girls when I did get there it seemed really tame and kind of comical. Appropriate in some ways. I enjoyed it all in all, about as much as The Courtyard. Better then Promethea anyway. Not his strongest work but worth a read.

I think Promethea is when he first started playing around with what sex and sexuality can mean to character and story but it was still too creepy and he didn't seem to get it. I think his new wife or whatever their relationship is helped him a lot. Lost Girls (which she does the art for) really explores some interesting idea's about what sex can mean to story... Neonomicon is a little bit of that knowledge put into motion.

But they are not for the prudish I suppose. A friend flipped through Neonomicon at work and said if his wife found it he would have to have it removed. Personally I don't mind erotica and none of this stuff is anything other than story and ideas to me.

I'm intrigued but worried about Lost Girls. It sounds like it might technically be kiddy porn, but everyone who has actually read it speaks highly (though vaguely) about Lost Girls.

I'm intrigued but worried about Lost Girls. It sounds like it might technically be kiddy porn, but everyone who has actually read it speaks highly (though vaguely) about Lost Girls.

If the sex stuff in Neonomicon bothered you Lost Girls would possibly make you vomit. It's not sexy, it is creepy, and it is disgusting and yes, it borders on kiddie porn if you read it that way.

But it is surprisingly unsexy given the material. I found myself treating it all as ideas, not a single erection through the whole reading. I say that just to make it clear. But I think you'd hate it and should probably steer clear. I got it for super cheap and it was hard to pass up.

I'm going to read them. Screw the haters.

Steve"even liked the watchman movie- sorta"Avery

I don't want to read the last three pages of comments here because they'll probably make me vomit and lose respect for some posters here, but please read this if you're considering spending money on this (and a correction to my earlier post: Moore was not to get the rights to Watchmen "some number of years" after it goes out of print, but ONE single year after it goes out of print; he should have owned Watchmen over 15 years ago):

robot6.comicbookresources.com/2012/02/we...and-creators-rights/

Perhaps the worst thing about our current era is that those who have legitimate reason to complain about their mistreatment are the ones most frequently shouted down by a certain cross-section of their fans, a mercenary bunch who seem to care more for ensuring that they never, ever lose the chance to get more of the same in a timely fashion than if the people producing that same are treated with a certain amount of decency and respect.

Jackwraith wrote: Of course, if you ask Alan, he'll say that his finest work was Big Numbers. Everybody has their foci in life.

Huh, is this true? I'd be shocked if this were the case; he seemed very bitter about the dissolution of Big Numbers (it went unfinished due to various complications with both the artists, about which you can read the whole story in "How To Be An Artist"). I'd expect he'd say Lost Girls or From Hell.

Last night I was watching The Simpsons and it featured Alan Moore being asked by Milhouse to sign a copy of "Watchmen Babies in V for Vacation". And that appeals to me more than these prequel comics.