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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Saturday, February 11, 2012

The return of the Watchmen


"Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I'll look down and whisper "No."

"They had a choice, all of them. They could have followed in the footsteps of good men like my father or President Truman. Decent men who believed in a day's work for a day's pay. Instead they followed the droppings of lechers and communists and didn't realize that the trail led over a precipice until it was too late. Don't tell me they didn't have a choice."

"Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into bloody Hell, all those liberals and intellectuals and smooth-talkers... and all of a sudden nobody can think of anything to say."

Rorschach  (Watchmen) 1986
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A DC sequal to the "Watchmen" is coming.
Author Alan Moore brought the graphic novel to a form of high art by dealing with international politics, sex, philosophy and the nature of time itself.  Among his works are the Watchmen,  V for Vendetta,  From Hell  and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen


The 'Watchmen' prequel  -  DC expands on a modern classic
  • "Watchmen" made Time magazine’s 2005 list of “the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.”

By Gary;

The 20th century spawned a unique combination of both art and literature in book form.  At first it was called the comic book and was directed to young adults.  That has evolved into the modern graphic novel directed mostly to adults.

In 1986 a graphic novel titled "Watchmen" broke the mold in story telling.  Author Alan Moore created a sprawling, subversive doomsday tale of nuclear annihilation, a death wish, the nature of time and existence itself, murder, superheroes, alternate universes, philosophy, rape, vigilante psychopaths and death.

“Watchmen” was a seismic moment in comic-book history, in part because of the ambition of its story and its intricate tapestry — set in alternative history, the tale spanned decades and was both sci-fi mystery and a complex commentary on superhero lore.

The 416-page graphic novel has sold more than 2 million copies; it also made Time magazine’s 2005 list of “the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.”

“For comic-book fans, it’s the masterpiece, the classic that defines what you can do in a comic book, and you go back to it at your own risk,” Zack Snyder, director of the “Watchmen” film.

Alan Moore talks on the superhero genre from the 1930s on.




When there is money to be made you will always find a sequel. 

DC Comics is going back to the universe of “Watchmen” this summer by launching seven new prequel series that will collectively be referred to as “Before Watchmen,” marking the first time that characters such as Doctor Manhattan, Rorschach and the Comedian have appeared anywhere in comics since the original 12-issue series, which in a single-volume collection became the bestselling graphic novel of all time reports the Los Angeles Times.

“The nature of the undertaking is going to polarize a lot of the readership,” said Darwyn Cooke, the Canadian writer-artist whose six-issue “Before Watchmen” title is called “Minutemen.” “I think a lot of people will be excited about this and there are a lot of people that will be dead against it.”

Cooke declined to reveal too much about that story, but he said that in going back to the original epic, he decided to push away from the bleak, dystopian aura of Moore’s tale for “Minutemen” which will be set in the 1940s and 1950s.

“My instincts tell me that I should be bringing what I’m capable of bringing to this party,” Cooke said. “There’s a part of the characters that is heroic or they wouldn’t be together in this way.

It will be interesting to see what the final product is.  There is no real upside.  It is like re-making the Wizard of Oz, Ben Hur or Casablanca.  Everyone will be out to dump all over you.  

WATCHMEN Trailer - AMAZING!





The Age Old Superhero Myth

The myth of the Superhero is embedded deep in the psychology of man.  There is a strong inner need for man to be greater than the greatest or to have someone come to your rescue in times of need. . . . . a Deus Ex Machina character if you will.

We see these characters going back thousands of years ago.  Men with super powers, half Gods such as the invulnerable warrior Achilles, the super strong Hercules or Thor the God of Thunder.  Then there were the great mortal warriors such as Sinbad and Jason and his Argonauts.  All had fantastic adventures going to magical places, meeting monsters, and encountering supernatural phenomena. 

Always in the center was the eternal battle of good vs. evil.

The 1930s saw an explosion of the Superhero Myth.

The 20th Century  -  The 20th century saw a major revival of the superhero in literature.  Edgar Rice Burroughs created characters such as Tarzan and John Carter of Mars.  Robert E. Howard brought fans Conan and Solomon Kane.

Then comes the 1930s explosion with Superman, Batman, the Phantom, the Shadow and more.

The universe of Science Fiction and their Superhero characters keeps growing by the decade both in film and in print.  The last forty years has seen an amazing variety of mutants, aliens, zombies, vampires and costumed avengers of every type.  But most important, the more powerful the "Evil" character is, the "Good" character must be even stronger.  Good must win in the end.  It is all a morality tale.

Many of you may be fans of Batman or the X-Men and not be familiar with the Watchmen.  That would be a mistake. 

Unlike 99% of all books and movies made, the Watchmen requires the reader or viewer to THINK.  That is not easy in this "modern" age of illiterate high school graduates, MTV, Twitter and brain-dead cable TV crap like Hillbilly Hand Fishin'.  But for the minority out there with reasonable cognitive ability the Watchmen is a story that will pay off for you.

Read, watch and enjoy.
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(For more on this story)




"Soon there will be war. Millions will burn. Millions will perish in sickness and misery. Why does one death matter against so many? Because there is good and there is evil, and evil must be punished. Even in the face of Armageddon I shall not compromise in this. But there are so many deserving of retribution ... and there is so little time."

Rorschach  (Watchmen) 1986


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