late at night

Rorschach’s journal. February 14th, 1985.

Mugen goodies ^_^ Etrigan,The Demon!!!  One of the superheroes for the season!

Mugen goodies ^_^ Captain Marvel!!!

RIP Comic book master Joe Kubert (1926 - 2012). My heart goes out to Adam, Andy, and his family.

(Source: greggorysshocktheater, via lorrainecink)

You could say I am a fan of J. Michael (I even tried and helped out him and Chris Weston with the Twelve, dedicating my January column in Comikaze Magazine to an interview with Chris about the return of the book). I also always defend him when they blame him for the terrible editorial decisions taken with Spidey. Having said this, I try to always keep a level-head and be objective, even when I am a huge fan of the guy I’m reviewing, and this issue was the single worst comic book I have read this year. It begins with a Dynamic Duo re-fried plot that could have easily been skipped, more so because Hollis Mason, a secondary character, shines more than the main character, our beloved Dan Dreiberg. Plus, some stuff I think is out of place, or downright contradicts the original Watchmen, like the Owl’s Nest (that I guess Moore mentioned as a joke in the second issue. The characters just meant Mason’s house, judging by the tone) which appears to be his “Batcave”, where he keeps his “Batmobile” located in what it seems to be his auto shop. He didn’t have that until after he retired. Plus, the Nitemobile or whatever looked like a cute device, yet stupid. Hollis is not the kind of hero to have gadgets like that, and I don’t really think he had the resources or ingenuity to make that thing. And let’s not forget the fact that when Dreiberg asked Hollis for the mantle, Mason was already retired, Dan asked in the form of a letter, and he already had his gadgets (impressed by those, the original Nite Owl accepted passing the mantle to him).

Then there’s the father plot, blown way out of proportion. When Dan talks about it in the original series, it seems that he loved him, misses him and wishes he approved of his life decisions. The melodrama doesn’t even fit well with Dan’s personality, nor it makes a lot of sense if you think for two seconds about it; With a father that acts like that, how is it that he made his Nite Owl fanboy collection in the first place? The overall issue is written hastily, rushing through plots carelessly when it is not regurgitating things from the source.

The same thing can be said of the Kuberts’ work, one of their most unimpressive. And the pirate thing? It’s visually neat, but, the whole thing is stupid and stupidly planned editorially.

A word to the wise; if you want to step into Alan Moore’s shoes, you are gonna have to do your homework and not expect to get away with half-baked ideas that amount to a poorly planned fan-fic.

srsrazzmatazz:

echoing-artemis:

Batwoman by echoing-artemis.

Photography by Andy Wana (1 & 4) and Straw (2 & 3).

Batgirl by breathless-ness.

Highlight of the day was being recognised not only as Batwoman, but as JH Williams III’s Batwoman. Kudos to that guy, it made me so happy! Photo #3 is a tribute to the artist (though really, isn’t the whole costume?).

Thanks so much to the photographers for being amazing & making sure I had proof it actually happened! Thanks too to breathless-ness for being amazingly selfless and coming over to help with sewing at the eleventh hour. <3

(Supanova Sydney 2012)

Booster Gold and Blue Beetle are the HOTTEST!!! <3

(via turner-d-century)

Well, since these cats think they can be measured using the original as the ruler, let’s play their game… I’m gonna start by saying that I love Cooke’s work and this is the book I was most interested in reading. The art is cute, but it doesn’t match the level of composition found in Gibbons’ original work. Just the same old Timm-inspired style. The story takes some weird liberties with the characters that don’t really seem to fit into the Watchmen universe, specially with the Comedian, who seems to have more from the Joker than from the original Eddie Blake. The plot is not bad, but it’s nothing spectacular either. Even though there is a marked improvement in Darwyn’s dialogue technique, it is not even close to Snyder’s Batman, let alone Watchmen. This fits the universe, at best, as one of those vague tie-ins like Weird Western Tales in the Blackest Night crossover. As I stated in my essay, it’s impossible to fit these books into the Watchmen scheme as a prequel, being realistic, we can expect fillers and tie-ins that won’t really expand the Watchmen arc. As for the back-up story, I think it is pointless. In the original story, it was used as a narrative device, just like Proust’s Un Amour De Swann; it is a metaphor that reflects the main narrative and enhances the themes and symbolism. Crimson Corsair does none of that, at least when it comes to the Minutemen issue. I don’t know if this can happen in the long run, but I don’t think Len Wein has the chops. Let’s remember, he was the one who originally brought in Alan Moore to save his Swamp Thing book.

Some Easter fun for the true nerds! ;)

DC Comics has shocked the comic book medium with the confirmation this last week of the Before Watchmen “prequels” and an alarming lack of comprehension and respect for comics as an art form. Forgetting about the latest gimmicks of the editorial staff throughout the last year,  I would consider this a new low for the people that once were at Image robbing ideas (WildC.A.T.s) or almost drove Marvel Comics to bankruptcy (Heroes Reborn), not to mention their egos are flying high on very little merits (merits that should go out to other legendary people in the field). It’s not the first time that Jim Lee capitalizes over the work of Alan Moore, since he was the one that made America’s Best Comics a success, not Lee as a publisher.

Anyway, for starters, I’m a writer, and from my perspective, it is nearly impossible to write a Watchmen prequel. Call me shortsighted if you will, but the mythology constructed by Mr. Moore is so vast and meticulous, starting in the beginning of the 20th Century, that other than writing about how Hollis Mason was conceived by his parents, I don’t see room for growth. We already know what we need to know about the characters from the original 12 issues. Nothing this “geniuses” write will affect in any way the original neutron star-tight Watchmen tale. Folks, don’t let this clowns fool you, what we have is what we call in the biz “filler” (all fat, no muscle).

“After twenty five years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original” -Jim Lee & Dan Didio, DC Comics Publishers-

Did you, now? It is obvious Scott Snyder and Grant Morrison are the best writers DC has to offer right now, why aren’t they in on it? Neil Gaiman? Kurt Busiek? Rick Remender? Mark Waid? Warren Ellis? Joss Whedon? Terry Moore? Even Kevin Smith turned the idea down a couple of years ago, and he hasn’t put out a decent comic book since his Black Cat/Spidey series, and I’m pretty sure a lot of good folk in the medium did the same. I could bet that most of the names listed above were approached and turned this travesty down. But let’s see who is on board:

• J. Michael Straczynski: He is not a bad writer, plus, he even made an excellent Watchmen copycat for Marvel called The Twelve. In all honesty, his work is not nearly as good as its predecessor (and I love the hell out of that comic book, I even wrote about it and interviewed the penciller Chris Weston for Comikaze). JMS may think he can write as well as Alan Moore does, but he has never done it in his whole career.
• Brian Azarello: He is very good (when working with his own creations), but the man has never been strong with franchise characters to begin with, and just like JMS, he thinks he is that good. Well, I doubt it.
• Darwyn Cooke: Certainly my favorite of the lot, a man with love for comic book mythology. He should know better. His stuff is usually amazing, but still, not one of his works has been a game-changer for the industry. He claims he is not a huge fan of Watchmen and does not see why it is a classic, by the way.
• Len Wein: The man that called Alan Moore to fix The Saga Of The Swamp Thing (his very own creation) in the first place. Seriously?

I’m not leaving out the pencillers, but their craft is something I can’t dissect since I am not good at drawing, and, well, the script is the part of the medium that carries the weight of the piece. I know all these cats want cash, DC is obviously desperate for it, but one thing is to rehash their only parlor trick (multiverse reboot), and a very different one is to take the comic that pushed the envelope for the superhero genre and showed the world that comics are a craft just as relevant as anything else in the world of art! What’s next, are they “correcting” Hamlet? Is Rob Liefeld putting shoulder pads and guns to the Mona Lisa? This is not the way to do things, and I am specially disgusted when it comes to putting up the banner of “we are trying to keep the medium alive,” if you want to do that, YOU HAVE TO BE CREATIVE. You can’t rely on cheap marketing schemes that wear thin every six months. Seriously, DC Comics, you are alienating more fans than the ones you are generating. You are alienating the hardcore fans, the ones that have paid the bills for 40 years.

“I don’t want money, what I want is for this not to happen. As far as I know, there weren’t that many prequels or sequels to Moby Dick.” -Alan Moore when interviewed by the New York Times-

It takes three to tango in this case, and we should talk about why Mr. Moore deserves better. Many of the defenders of the Before Watchmen gimmick cast stones saying that, well, Moore has worked with many characters created by others, including the Watchmen characters, which are based in Charlton Comics characters. This is all true, but, they are forgetting he always had the consent of the creators (and not one ever objected), he works a lot with public property characters and their creators are gone, and the most important situation, he is not trying to alter or fill-in the original story where the characters were conceived. He has always created a new universe of his own and made an original mythology for them. DC is not incorporating the Crimebusters and the Minutemen into the new 52 scheme with their rebooted origins; they are directly leeching off the original story like parasites.

“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.” -Dave Gibbons when interviewed by the New York Times-

And then there was Dave Gibbons, the prodigal child with little interest for his legacy. Always cowardly neutral, and obviously partial to the paycheck. He gained notoriety for drawing DC stories that Alan Moore penned, and this is how he repays him. I think that this speaks of how small of a person, an artist, and a friend he is.

Anyway, let’s talk about what DC is really concerned with, the bucks. They are putting out the 4 part miniseries Rorschach, Nite Owl, Dr. Manhattan, and Silk Spectre, and the 6 part miniseries the Comedian, Ozymandias,and the Minutemen, all of this issues will include the back-up story Crimson Corsair, plus a one-shot epilogue. 35 issues at $3.99 a piece gives us the grand total of $139.65. You can get a brand new Absolute Watchmen (first printing) for $125.00, the most luxurious printing of the original story (an over-sized hardcover with extras), you do the math… will you be watching out for Before Watchmen???

Paco Medina (Ultimate Comics; X-Men, Deadpool) made this one last night! Magritte is also one of my favorite painters!

Move over, Lindsay Lohan! (Yeah, I have a Gen13 fetish, deal with it!)

About Anonymous: The mask and the revolution idea comes from the brilliant comic book V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, show respect goddammit!!! Even the mask was stylized by Lloyd both after Guy Fawkes and DC’s the Joker, V is kind of the Joker with an ideal, anarchy; as opposed to the chaos that is the Joker.

I was also quite heartened the other day when watching the news to see that there were demonstrations outside the Scientology headquarters over here, and that they suddenly flashed to a clip showing all these demonstrators wearing V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes masks. That pleased me. That gave me a warm little glow. -Alan Moore-