Watchmen weekend

   So for the first time in a long time, I was truly happy to work at the Apple Store; We got the opportunity to watch the movie Watchmen, in IMAX, one week before it is officially released.  Not only did I get to have a print of Dave Gibbon's Roarshack but now I get to watch the movie as well.   Now, even though I am fairly new to comics, I am a huge Alan Moore fan and I was a little worried after I found out that he had no involvement in this film.  And going into this I knew that it had no chance to be as good as the comic because that comic is, as A.Moore described it, "un-filmable."  But that was a good way to feel because I would not be disappointed so easily.  the movie was much better than I expected.  The first ten to twenty minutes of the film were the best of any movie I can remember.  Maybe only Saving Private Ryan kept me so intrigued as the Wathcmen.  Holy shit! I had never been hooked so fast.  The actors were pretty much dead on when compared to their comic counterparts, the only let down was the Silk Spectre who was played by the blonde girl from that one Ben Stiller movie in which he gets married to the girl in a hurry. The two best actors were definitely  the ones who portrayed The Comedian and Roarshack.  the visuals were amazing but by now CG does not really impress me, but the color and palette was perfect to bring the atmosphere of the comic into the film.  I was a little dissapointed with the change at the end but at the same time I understood why it had to be changed.  If i was not a fan of the comic I might not have liked the true ending, actually if I was not a fan I don't know if the movie would have been what I expected.  The marketing was a superhero action movie in the vain of Spiderman or X-men, but the Watchmen is so much more then those movies and comics wished they could be.  The Watchmen is about human emotion, choices and consequences.  About utilitarian philosophy and liberal ideologies.  But, don't tell anyone, I had not been so giddy over a movie since Episode I, and we all now how that went. 

the past few months

Fables

This series from Vertigo/DC comics was written by Bill Willingham.  It's one of the more modern series that I have read, it was made in '02.  So the premise of the comic is that some dark army called "The Adversary", came to the land of the fables and stories to take over and kill everyone.  Some got out and now live in New York City as regular humans, but it is only the ones who can appear as humans that get to live in the City.  The other fairy tale and fable creatures have to be in the farm up in norther NY. That is why the first book is called Legends in Exile.  So you start off by being introduced to some of the main characters; Bigby Wolf, Snow White, Prince Charming.  So this first of the series is about a murder to one of the fable members is murdered and Bigby Wolf, who is lead detective, must solve the murder.  Snow White is the mayor of fable and assistant mayor of NYC so she oversees B.Wolf.  It is very entertaining and nolstagic once you start hearing all those names you heard as a child or teen.  Beauty and the Beast make a surprise appearance which is rather funny and true. 

The second of the on-going series is very fittingly named Animal Farm.  As you can guess this has to do with the second class citizens, the farm creatures, feel they are getting the shit end of a shittier deal by being trapped in a community which they cannot leave because of who they are.  But it is also about sisterly love and how one can turn on the other if the right circumstances arrive.  It was a good story and this Fables series reads how you think a comic that is not too heavy on the serious side of spectrum should read. It's very entertaining and even though it's not top of my list, I would read it again. 

The Golden Age by James Robinson

A comic based on post World War II, heroes from the JLA, which in all honesty I had not herd of before; but it consist of Green Lantern, Hawkman, Atom, the Flash, and a few more.  Well in this, Watchmen inspired, comic the heroes have become disillusioned, have become druggies, and or just quit the hero life.  This comic takes place from World War II in flash backs all the way up to 1956 I believe.  Much like the Watchmen, this comic is about the super heroes behind their mask and inside their own homes.  No one likes to let other people know how they really are in private, that's why it's called privacy.  It was also about growing older and finding yourself in a place where you might not belong anymore and looking to have a enriching experience relying on your past heroics or achievements. You grow to feel sorry if not pity for the old heroes and you get to see these heroes sacrifice themselves just to feel like they belong in the world again. When it comes to the drawing and ink work I liked how the artist tried to keep the art work in a more classical type of illustration.  The coloring was amazing, I honestly felt like I was looking at a vintage comic even though it was made in '95.  There was one quote in the back cover which made me think, this is the quote " ...to use the charming innocence of those beloved mystery men as a wonderful metaphor for a country still trying to convince itself it was a land of innocent dreams."  But what does that mean in context with the comic?  Well Americans were the freedom bearers for the Europeans but at home we were becoming tyrants i.e. McCarthyism,  and we dropping the Atomic bomb in Japan plays a big role in this comic especially with the Green Lantern.  But this comic was written in '95 so how does it apply to us? Well it made me think on how I believe many Americans feel innocence when it comes to our responsibilities and the outcomes of our choices as a nation over the past sixty years. Many people just don't want to see it and still want to be those G.I.'s on Normandy beach even though the situation is different.  Because of all this I highly recommend this comic.  

Amazing art

I have to give it up to this artist named Reza. It took him 2 years and 6,000 physical paintings to make this video, it is intense to think of how painstakingly tedious it must have been to finish it.  That is true art though.  Spending 2 years of your life for an end product that is only 5 minutes takes extraordinary commitment.  I can say that this guy has at least inspired me to start my art again if not more. 

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/02/6000-separate-p.html

watch it and take not just the video but the process, the brush strokes and the color change. 

Fuck yeah!

newscientist.com/article/dn16620-first-liquid-water-may-have-been-spotted-on-mars.html

Dr. Manhattan was there before us, Arnold was going to see Ricter at the party on this planet, and Jack Nicholson was killed because this planet Attacked us and now they have found, hopefully, water on MARS. 

Dave Gibbons at the Apple Store

this is a scanned copy of a drawing made by D. Gibbons at the store using Anime Studio 5.  It was fun to see him make this quick but very well made drawing of Rorschach.  I enjoyed hearing him speak of his youth and how the studios actually asked for his input in the new Watchmen movie instead of just plowing through it. I just hope the movie can be a quarter as good as the comics. So right now I am re-reading the Watchmen by the madman Alan Moore so I will be writing what I think about it once I finish it.