Never Compromise...Even In The Face Of Armageddon!

"Rorschach's Journal October 12th, 1985: Dog carcass in alley this-morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face." These are the famous opening words of probably the single most important sequential artwork story produced in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Tonight a comedian died in New York.

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is as far as I'm concerned, the finest piece of comic book story telling in print on this planet. Watchmen is set in 1985, in an alternate history United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union (the Doomsday Clock is at five minutes to midnight). It tells the story of a group of past and present superheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. Watchmen depicts superheroes as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who struggle with neuroses and failings, and who (with one notable exception) lack anything recognizable as super powers. Watchmen's conventional superhero archetype, combined with its innovative adaptation of cinematic techniques and heavy use of symbolism, multi-layered dialogue, and meta-fiction, has influenced both comics and film.

Rorschach By Dave Gibbons.

The story begins with the murder of one such former hero (though I use the word loosely): The Comedian. This attracts the attention of one of his former team-mates Rorschach, a character who is the embodiment of faceless vigilante justice. Rorschach starts an investigation into what he believes is a "Cape Killer", an investigation which will lead him not only to his former retired team-mates but into a conspiracy to bring about a new world order through the atomic fire of all out nuclear war between the global superpower states. The world Watchmen inhabits is often what I feel allowed the book to set itself apart from other superhero stories. It is a world that is given a sense of seriousness and grounded reality through the inclusion of real life historical events, and how the characters of this world fit into those events such as the Kennedy Assassination and the Vietnam War. This allows the reader to be truly enveloped by the story as you get a sense that this could actually have happened.

Publication.

 

Originally published by DC Comics as a monthly limited series from 1986 to 1987, it was later republished as a trade paperback, which popularized the "graphic novel" format. To date, Watchmen remains the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award, and is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time magazine's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present".

Alan Moore, who wanted to transcend the perceptions of the comic book medium as something juvenile, created Watchmen as an attempt to make "a superhero Moby-Dick; something that had that sort of weight, that sort of density." Moore also named William S. Burroughs as one of his "main influences" during the conception of Watchmen and admired Burroughs' use of "repeated symbols that would become laden with meaning" in Burroughs's one and only comic strip, The Unspeakable Mr. Hart, which appeared in the British underground magazine Cyclops.

The Watchmen By Dave Gibbons.

Moore and Gibbons originally conceived of a story that would take "familiar old-fashioned superheroes into a completely new realm." Initially, Moore looked towards the defunct MLJ Comics line of superheroes for inspiration. "I'd just started thinking about using the MLJ characters — the Archie super-heroes - just because they weren't being published at that time, and for all I knew, they might've been up for grabs. The initial concept would've had the 1960s-'70s rather lame version of the Shield being found dead in the harbour, and then you'd probably have various other characters, including Jack Kirby's Private Strong, being drafted back in, and a murder mystery unfolding. I suppose I was just thinking, 'That'd be a good way to start a comic book: have a famous superhero found dead.' As the mystery unravelled, we would be led deeper and deeper into the real heart of this superhero's world, and shown a reality that was very different to the general public image of the superhero. So, that was the idea."

The Charton Comics Characters.

Dick Giordano, who had worked for Charlton Comics, suggested using a cast of old Charlton characters that had recently been acquired by DC. However, the Charlton heroes were being slowly integrated into the normal DC continuity. Because Moore and Gibbons wanted to do a serious storyline in which some of the newly acquired characters would die and the world would be drastically altered by story's end, using the Charlton heroes was not feasible. Giordano suggested that Moore and Gibbons simply start from scratch and create their own characters. So while certain characters in Watchmen are loosely based upon the Charlton characters (such as Dr. Manhattan, who was inspired by Captain Atom; Rorschach, who was based upon the Question; and Nite Owl, who was loosely based on the Blue Beetle as well as Batman), Moore decided to create characters that ultimately would only casually resemble their Charlton counterparts. Originally, Moore and Gibbons had enough plot for only six issues, so they compensated "by interspersing the more plot-driven issues with issues that gave kind of a biographical portrait of one of the main characters." During the process, Gibbons had a great deal of autonomy in developing the visual look of Watchmen and inserted details that Moore admits he did not notice until later, as Watchmen was written to be read and fully understood only after several readings.

Reception Upon Release.

 

Watchmen was published in single-issue form over the course of 1986 and 1987. The miniseries was a commercial success, and its sales helped DC Comics briefly overtake its competitor Marvel Comics in the comic book direct market. Watchmen also received several awards spanning different categories and genres including: Kirby Awards for Best Finite Series, Best New Series, Best Writer, and Best Writer/Artist; Eisner Awards for Best Finite Series, Best Graphic Album, Best Writer, and Best Writer/Artist; and a Hugo Award for Other Forms.

Watchmen received praise from those working within the comic book industry, as well as external reviewers, for its avant-garde portrayal of the traditional superhero. Watchmen became known as a novel which allowed the comic book to be recognized as "great art", rather than a lowbrow or unsophisticated genre. Time magazine, which noted that the series was "by common assent the best of breed" of the new wave of comics published at the time, praised Watchmen as "a superlative feat of imagination, combining sci-fi, political satire, knowing evocations of comics past and bold re-workings of current graphic formats into a dystopian mystery story." Don Markstein of Toonopedia wrote that, "What The Maltese Falcon did for detective stories and Shane did for westerns, Watchmen did for superheroes. It transcended its origins in what was previously considered a lowbrow form of fiction."

Rorschach's Mask.

Watchmen's status as a seminal book in the comic book field was recently boosted when acclaimed comic book author Stan Lee, responsible for creating the majority of Marvel Comics' most successful characters, called it his "all-time favourite comic book outside of Marvel." A review by "Revolution SF" goes on to say that Watchmen is "one of the most important stories in comic book history". Moore himself acknowledged that the plot closely resembles an Outer Limits episode called "The Architects of Fear". According to him, while he was around issue 10, he came across a guide to cult television that featured this episode and was surprised by its similarity to his already planned ending. A belated nod to "The Architects of Fear" is made near the end of Watchmen . He also accepted responsibility for the proliferation of "dark" comic stories, featuring classic characters, that followed Watchmen. In his review of the Absolute edition of the collection, Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times wrote that the dark legacy of Watchmen, "one that Moore almost certainly never intended, whose DNA is encoded in the increasingly black inks and bleak storylines that have become the essential elements of the contemporary superhero comic book," is "a domain he has largely ceded to writers and artists who share his fascination with brutality but not his interest in its consequences, his eagerness to tear down old boundaries but not his drive to find new ones".

Watchmen The Motion Picture 

 

2009 - Watchmen - Movie Poster.

Watchmen is a 2009 film adaptation directed by Zack Snyder. Set in 1985, the film follows a group of costumed vigilantes as full-scale war threatens to break out between the United States and the Soviet Union. Feelings among fans were mixed on the film. I personally love the Ultimate Cut of the film which contains the comic within a comic, Tales of the Black Freighter reintegrated with the Directors Cut of the film.

The film is well cast with Jackie Earle Haley as Walter Kovacs (Rorschach), Billy Crudup as Jon Osterman (Dr. Manhattan), Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Eddie Blake (The Comedian), Patrick Wilson as Dan Dreiberg (Nite Owl II), Malin Akerman as Laurie Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre II), Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias),  Carla Gugino as Sally Jupiter (Silk Spectre I) and Stephen McHattie as Hollis Mason (Nite Owl I).

Go watch it and judge for yourself. Though don't expect to see Alan Moore's name anywhere in the credits. He quite publicly distanced himself from any and all film adaptations of his written works.

Silk Spectre & Nite Owl

Before Watchmen - Prequel Comics 2012

Following months of rumours about a potential Watchmen follow-up project, in February 2012 DC announced it was publishing seven prequel limited series under the "Before Watchmen" banner: Rorschach, Minutemen, Dr. Manhattan, Comedian, Silk Spectre, Nite Owl, and Ozymandias. Among the creators involved are writers J. Michael Straczynski, Brian Azzarello, Darwyn Cooke, and Len Wein, and artists Lee Bermejo, J. G. Jones, Adam Hughes, Andy Kubert, Joe Kubert, and Amanda Conner. Each issue would feature an instalment of the backup series "Curse of the Crimson Corsair", written by Len Wein and featuring art by original Watchmen colourist John Higgins, and the project will conclude with a Before Watchmen: Epilogue one-shot.

The Before Watchmen Promo Banner by Lee Bermago.

Gibbons stated, "The original series of WATCHMEN is the complete story that Alan Moore and I wanted to tell. However, I appreciate DC's reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work. May these new additions have the success they desire."

Moore criticized the project, calling it "completely shameless", and stated he was not interested in monetary compensation, but rather “What I want is for this not to happen.”

I really enjoyed reading the series of prequels, though I did feel that as a whole the project could not live up to the original. Go read them and judge for yourselves

Watchmen - By Nerd Invasion 

 

To those who don't know, this week's theme - Alan Moore & Dave Gibbon's Watchmen - was chosen by  Nerd Invasion's friend Darrin O'Toole (writer of Tales from the Void, Earthruler and countless others in the future), who was the lucky winner of our recent Facebook draw. He even went so far as to provide us with a Ozymandias piece himself. So without further ado here's Darrin's contribution (and kickstarter) to Watchmen week.

 

Ozymandias - "I don't mind being the smartest man in the world, I just wish it wasn't this one".

Ozymandias by Darrin O'Toole.

 Adrian Alexander Veidt, a.k.a. Ozymandias in the manner of Ramesses II, he is a modified version of the character Thunderbolt from Charlton Comics, and is a member of the Crimebusters. His name recalls the famous poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, which takes as its theme the fleeting nature of empire. 

 

Next up is Chris Duffy's contribution for Watchmen week

The Comedian - "Justice is coming to all of us".

The Comedian By Chris Duffy.

Edward Morgan Blake, better known to the public as The Comedian. He is one of the only masked adventurers (along with Captain Metropolis) to be a member of both the Minutemen and the Crimebusters, and had been active for forty-five years through the aid of government-sponsored activities and the press conjuring him into a patriotic symbol of war and victory. Blake is a cigar-chomping, gun-toting vigilante turned paramilitary agent. He is described variously as "deliberately amoral" with a "practiced cynicism", meaning that he usually has little regard for social conventions or human life. Always in character as the Comedian, he describes the world as a sadistic joke that only he understands, but in the end his practiced cynicism is shattered when he discovers a plot that he regards as a "practical joke" even he can't believe anyone would pull.

Next up is Luca Pizarri's contribution for Watchmen Week

Moloch The Mystic - "And for my next trick"

 

Moloch The Mystic By Luca Pizarri.

Edgar William Jacobi, also known as Moloch the Mystic, is a retired supervillain. He was a prominent enemy of both Dr. Manhattan and the Comedian in the post-Minutemen era. Moloch. Beginning his magician career as a teenager, he transitioned to crime. It is revealed in Hollis Mason's Under the Hood that he had been a frequent enemy of the Minutemen.He was part of Adrian Veidt's conspiracy to get rid of Dr. Manhattan, in which he was hired by Dimensional Developments and given cancer (unbeknownst to him).

Next up is Daryl Cox's contribution for Watchmen Week

Nite Owl II - "What happened to us...what happened to the American dream?"

Nite Owl II By Daryl Cox.

 

 

Daniel Dreiberg, a.k.a. Nite Owl II relied more upon technical wizardry and tools than toughness, which set him apart from his fellow costumed adventurers. Still, he has demonstrated more than adequate skills when defending himself. All of his gadgets and costumes are based on an owl theme. He uses an owl-shaped flying vehicle nicknamed the "Owlship" or "Archie" (after Archimedes, Merlin's pet owl in The Sword in the Stone), equipped with a variety of offensive and defensive devices.

 

So I never contribute pictures as I can't draw! ... But I did dress up with some friends as the Watchmen a few years back!

 

Dr. Manhattan - Johnny Osbourne, The Comedian - Ciarán Marcantonio, Silk Spectre - Gill Dempsey, Rorschach - Darragh Rushe.

Gratuitous Comedian shot!

So that's all from us here at Nerd Invasion for Watchmen Week I hope you have enjoyed it. Stay tuned to Nerd Invasions Facebook page for updates on upcoming themes. Finally here are some interesting videos so go I'll ask this final question.

Who Watches The Watchmen?

 

Alan Moores Reaction to Before Watchmen Announcement - Part I

 

Alan Moores Reaction to Before Watchmen Announcement - Part II

Can't we all just get along?... NO... HADOUKEN!!!

 

Let me just start by saying I'm shocked! Not one of the Nerd Invaders decided to draw Ryu, Ken, or M. Bison. I thought the announcement of a Street Fighter week would lead to an all out battle to the death between our artists to draw these characters but instead everyone calmly chose their characters and went about there sketches (which are great - scroll down the blog to see them). So this weeks theme is Street Fighter: the world famous video game franchise set in the "Beat Em Up" genre. I could literally write forever on this subject so I'm just going to focus on its beginnings and the most famous version - Street Fighter II.

Humble Beginnings.

Street Fighter - 1987

Street Fighter made its debut at the arcades in 1987, designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto. The player took control of a lone martial artist named Ryu, who competes in a worldwide martial arts tournament spanning five different countries (United States, Japan, China, England, and Thailand) and ten opponents, two per country.

Street Fighter 2010 - The Final Fight - 1989

After the release of the original Street Fighter, Capcom produced an NES game known as Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight. This futuristic action game bore no real connection to the original Street Fighter or it's canon, although the English localisation of the game changed the main character's identity from Kevin to Ken, implying that he is the same Ken from the original Street Fighter. The side-scrolling beat 'em up Final Fight was originally promoted with the working title Street Fighter '89. While the game's title was changed due to its drastically different game play, Final Fight, unlike Street Fighter 2010, does take place in the same universe as later Street Fighter games.

Following on from the release of Final Fight, the decision was made to make a direct sequel to Street Fighter which would incorporate the game play changes from Final Fight and once again feature Ryu as the main character. This game would go down in legend and forever change the beat 'em up genre. Street Fighter II was born. Notably, even when Street Fighter II was released, Capcom had no idea what sort of phenomenon it was about to create. It believed that the game would do somewhat (but an unknown quantity) better than its CPS-based contemporary games, Final Fight and Mercs.

The Game That Changed The World.

Street Fighter II - Original Promo Poster

Street Fighter II was the first one-on-one fighting game to give players a choice from a variety of player characters, an option which created previously unknown levels of depth and replay value for an arcade game. Each player character had a fighting style with roughly 30 or more moves, including previously non-existent grappling moves such as throws, as well as two or three special hidden attacks per character. In the game's single-player mode, the player's chosen character is pitted against the seven other main characters before confronting the final four opponents, who were CPU-controlled characters that were not selectable by the player. Like in the original, a second player could join in and compete against the other player in competitive matches, with the multiple available characters allowing for more varied matches.
Street Fighter II proved to be popular due to all these factors, eclipsing its predecessor in popularity, eventually turning Street Fighter into a multimedia franchise. Numerous home ports of Street Fighter II followed the original arcade game (Arcade, SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, PC Engine, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, 3DO, Sega Master System, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Mobile phone, Xbox Live Arcade). In fact, demand for the game was so high that pirates created an unsanctioned, copyright-infringing Famicom/NES version, which saw a very limited release in Asian markets. Computer versions were released for 16-bit PCs, first by a number of copyright-infringing fans who strove to develop a PC version of the game, and later by Capcom, working with an external programming house.

A selection of format screens Arcade, Snes & Sega Magadrive

Street Fighter II follows several of the conventions and rules already established by its original 1987 predecessor. The player engages opponents in one-on-one close quarter combat in a series of best two-out-of-three matches. The objective of each round is to deplete the opponent's vitality before the timer runs out. If both opponents knock each other out at the same time or the timer runs out with both fighters having an equal amount of vitality left, a "double KO" or "draw game" is declared and additional rounds will be played until sudden death. In the first Street Fighter II, a match could last up to ten rounds if there was no clear winner; this was reduced to four rounds in Champion Edition and onward. If there is no clear winner by the end of the final round, then either the computer-controlled opponent will win by default in a single-player match or both fighters will lose in a 2-player match.

After every third match in the single player mode, the player will participate in a "bonus game" for additional points. The bonus games includes (in order) a car-breaking event; a barrel breaking bonus game where the barrels are dropped off from a conveyor belt above the player; and a drum-breaking bonus game where drums are flammable and piled over each other. The bonus games were removed from the arcade version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo.
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Like in the original, the game's controls uses a configuration of an eight-directional joystick and six attack buttons. The player uses the joystick to jump, crouch and move the character towards or away from the opponent, as well as to guard the character from an opponent's attacks. There are three punch buttons and three kick buttons of differing strength and speed (Light, Medium and Heavy). The player can perform a variety of basic moves in any position, including grabbing/throwing attacks, which were not featured in the original Street Fighter. Like in the original, the player can perform special moves by inputting a combination of directional and button-based commands.

The original Street Fighter II character select screen

Street Fighter II differs from the original due to the selection of multiple playable characters, each with their distinct fighting styles and special moves. Additionally, the player can also "cancel" during animation by performing another move, allowing for a combination of several basic and special moves. Both of these features would be expanded upon in subsequent installments.

From here the franchise grew to become a multimedia sensation spawning multiple sequel, spin off & crossover games (my favorite being Marvel Vs. Capcom III) in numerous formats; comic books, an animated series, a series of animated films and of course the much hated 1994 live action film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme  (the less said the better). So now lets move on to the characters our Nerd invaders decided to focus on for their sketches this week.

AKUMA - Chris Duffy's Monday Sketch.

 

"I am the master of the fist!"

Akuma (悪魔 or アクマ, "Demon, Devil"), known in Japan as Gouki (豪鬼, Gōki, "Great Devil", "Great Demon" or "Great Ogre"), is a popular fighter as well as a popular villain in the Street Fighter series and UDON comics. He is known as "The Supreme Master of the Fist." Originally appearing in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and hidden boss, he is Gouken's younger brother and Ryu's adoptive uncle. Akuma is voiced by Tomomichi Nishimura in all of Capcom's 2D Games; in Street Fighter IV, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Street Fighter X Tekken he is voiced by Taketora.

Akuma by Chris Duffy

Akuma is a cold and extremely powerful warrior whose sole purpose of existence is to hone his fighting skills by battling and destroying strong foes. He rarely displays any signs of emotion, aside from occasional bursts of anger, and almost never smiles. He takes his training very seriously, and deals brutally with those who dare interrupt him, as seen in his Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike ending. Occasionally, he likes to test himself against worthy rivals (e.g. Gen, Oro). In combat, Akuma almost never resorts to his true strength since he has yet to find an opponent who can withstand the full extent of his powers.

Akuma detests his brother Gouken for not giving in to the dark side of their arts which is, according to Akuma, the way they were intended to be used. He also blames Gouken for sealing off the darkness within Ryu thus preventing Ryu from reaching his true potential. This forces Akuma to give up on his planned duel with Ryu as he believes that only a fellow practitioner of Satsui no Hado can one day hope to defeat him.
Akuma refers to himself as a 'denizen of hell' and 'evil incarnate', and is seen as such by many.

Guile - Rob Carey's Wednesday Sketch.

 

"Are you man enough to fight me?"

 

Guile (ガイル, Gairu) is introduced in Street Fighter II. Although his role in the Street Fighter story was at first minimal, he is considered the third leading and best male character in the series, after Ryu and Ken, largely due to his effectiveness as a character and his popularity. 

Guile by Robert Carey performing a Sonic Boom.

When Guile was a trainee in the United States Air Force, he befriended his superior officer, Charlie Nash and asked him to teach him in his unique form of fighting, which Charlie agreed to do. Guile learned the style, but his hot temper caused him to lack proficiency in the moves (shown in how Charlie can shoot Sonic Booms with one hand, while Guile needs both.) 

Holding M. Bison responsible for the death of his best friend, he seemingly dedicates his whole life to exacting revenge on Bison, who has somehow survived the explosion. A court case against the Shadaloo dictator fails when Bison bribes all the judges to let him go free. Bison by this time wants revenge on Guile, Chun-Li, and many other people who had hindered his syndicate's efforts. To this end, he sets up the second World Warrior tournament to trap them, among other reasons.  Guile, for his part, takes the bait, deserting his wife and daughter to pursue the vendetta.

Sagat - Luca Pizzari's Thursday Sketch.

"You are not a warrior; you're a beginner!"

 

Sagat (サガット, Sagatto/สกัด, Sagad)  was originally a boss character in the early editions of the series. He was later turned into a regular, playable character. According to Street Fighter co-creator Finish Hiroshi, Sagat's style was modeled after dramatic television kick-boxing personalities - particularly that of Muay Thai/Thai Kick Boxing - as Sagat is also referred to as "The King of Muay Thai" or "The God of Muay Thai" in the games, as well as possessing various attacks similar to that of a Muay Thai kick-boxer.

Sagat by Luca Pizzari.

Sagat rose from a childhood of extreme poverty in Thailand, being constantly bullied by other boys from his village due to his "abnormal" height and general lack of finances. Sometime in his early days he watched a small-time Muay Thai championship, which motivated him to practice the martial art, using his height as an advantage in combat.

After long, extensive years of training, Sagat won the title of Emperor/God of Muay Thai from Nuah Kahn as a teenager, and became a national hero. He defended his title from a fighter named Go Hibiki in a match where Go destroyed Sagat's right eye (explaining his eyepatch), causing the ominous former Muay-Thai Emperor to violently beat Go Hibiki to death in a fit of uncontrolled rage accidentally. Go's son, Dan Hibiki, swore revenge on Sagat. The scar on his chest is the result of an early battle with Ryu.

Dhalsim - Daryl Cox's Saturday Sketch.

 

"I will meditate, and then destroy you."

 

Dhalsim (ダルシム)  hails from Kerala, India. Dhalsim is famous throughout the Street Fighter series for his unique personality, his stretchy, lanky body and fire attacks.Dhalsim enters the tournament to raise money for his village, but realizes that it contradicts his pacifist beliefs. Dhalsim retires from fighting after the second World Warrior tournament, and continues to roam the world helping those in need.
 

Dhalsim by Daryl Cox performing Yoga Flame.

Dhalsim shares some character similarities towards Ryu, as he is equally stoic, serious, self-disciplined, humble and very stern when needed. Being a pacifist, he will never hurt more than necessary or kill an adversary, even the most evil ones such as M. Bison. His pacifistic beliefs also allow him to be a greatly loving father and husband towards his family, just like Guile. Being an extremely altruistic man, Dhalsim fights mostly for the poor and oppressed, as he constantly tries his best to raise money for his poverty-stricken people. In contrast with Ryu's younger (but still serious and self-focused) type, Dhalsim has a more "mature" and less "enthusiastic" nature. He regularly relies on his traditional yoga meditation rites to expand his spirituality and keep his inner neutrality off any emotional involvement that may prejudice his discipline.

So as Street Fighter week comes to a close I'd like to thank all of the artists for their contributions especially Daryl Cox, this week making his Nerd Invasion debut. I look forward to seeing more great sketches in the weeks to come.

Next weeks theme will be MORTAL KOMBAT. The following week we will have a special week. To celebrate reaching 100 likes on Facebook we held a competition and at random selected one of our followers to pick the theme. The winner, Darrin O'Toole, chose WATCHMEN as the theme and has even said he will contribute a guest sketch for the week. I really look forward to seeing what the Nerd Invaders will come up with for this. Until next week that's all from me.