Sean Dillon

It is often said that Watchmen is the most influential comic ever to be released. That comics wouldn’t be where they are without it, for good and for ill. But how did we get here, exactly? More to the point, just what influence did Watchmen provide to the larger world of comics? What, ultimately, is the legacy of Watchmen? Who watched the Watchmen?

Let us assume that Rorschach is exactly as good as Watchmen. Not simply that it is a good comic or even a great comic, but that it is as good as what many consider to be the definitive comic. The final statement on all things comics related. There are a number of absurdities with that statement, both with regards to Rorschach and Watchmen. But, for now, let us ignore this aspect and engage with the assumption.

Many of the conversations surrounding DC Comics’ follow-ups to Watchmen that are… critical of the works tend to frame the narrative of the follow ups as nothing more than shallow knock offs that didn’t need to exist. Indeed, even the best of these can be said to have been nothing more than a waste of the creator’s time. While the worst has destroyed any faith in comics ever being good. And Rorschach is good enough that claiming it’s exactly as good as Watchmen doesn’t feel like a cruel joke as it is the best of the direct follow ups to Watchmen DC has made by a country mile.

(There is another reason why I’m taking this approach with Rorschach. But that is perhaps best saved for subtext rather than text.)

By having a text that not only lives up to, but matches the original work, this narrative can be questioned. The implications of Watchmen as a text and its subsequent legacy can be engaged with on a level more akin to works like The Wicked + The Divine or From Hell. One as a work of fiction rather than as a metaphor for everything wrong with this wicked world of ours. As such, I can write a piece that won’t end with a horrific revelation about the nature of Watchmen’s Legacy.

[Read more…] about Who Watched the Watchmen? Tom King & Jorge Fornes’ Rorschach

It is often said that Watchmen is the most influential comic ever to be released. That comics wouldn’t be where they are without it, for good and for ill. But how did we get here, exactly? More to the point, just what influence did Watchmen provide to the larger world of comics? What, ultimately, is the legacy of Watchmen? Who watched the Watchmen?

In the wake of Watchmen, there have been many stories influenced by its style. There have been stories that riffed on what it was doing and ones that reacted against it. There have even been prequels to the narrative spun by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. But there had never been a direct sequel to Watchmen, let alone one that pushed the ultimate button: crossing over Watchmen with the DC Universe.

There had been attempts in the past, certainly. A cameo from Rorschach here. A thematic test image where Rorschach fights Frank Miller’s Batman there. And maybe one or two riffs to make things look spicy. But never anything as concrete as a complete sequel to Watchmen. That was… until Doomsday Clock.

Written by Geoff Johns with art by Gary Frank, Doomsday Clock is the big sequel to Watchmen. As part of the DC Rebirth initiative, a twelve issue miniseries was announced to pay off the big reveal at the end of the story: the DC Universe had been attacked by Dr. Manhattan.

A cursory glance at that sentence might make one… unsure. For all that the Before Watchmen comics weren’t uniformly good, there was a degree of draftsmanship to them. Not so much trying to one-up Watchmen as make a cheap cash-in without any sense of taste. But something like Doomsday Clock is… different.

[Read more…] about Who Watched the Watchmen? What Doomsday Clock Gets Wrong

It is often said that Watchmen is the most influential comic ever to be released. That comics wouldn’t be where they are without it, for good and for ill. But how did we get here, exactly? More to the point, just what influence did Watchmen provide to the larger world of comics? What, ultimately, is the legacy of Watchmen? Who watched the Watchmen?

“Poo-tee-weet?” one bird says to Billy Pilgrim. There is a fire. A man is in a box. A man is a giant. A man’s hand is smashing a window. Billy Pilgrim is in a box. A man is in a slaughterhouse. There is a war. The man is torn apart. A man discovers a conspiracy. A man is shot. A man is shaking hands with a friend. A man refuses to save the President. A man is screaming. A man is rebuilding himself. Jon Osterman is in a box. A woman is shot. A man kills the woman he loves. A man does nothing. Mars smiles. A box is glowing. A box is burning. A man swears revenge upon a stranger. A man shoots Billy Pilgrim. Jon Osterman does nothing. A bomb is dropping.

It is all going ghastly. A sun burns electric. Aliens are abducting Billy Pilgrim. Jon Osterman is burnt asunder. Billy Pilgrim steps out of a shrubbery. Jon Osterman reads a newspaper. Billy Pilgrim goes on a radio show. Jon Osterman goes on a talk show. Billy Pilgrim is dead. Jon Osterman leaves. A man is told that the world will end for reasons that could be prevented, but won’t. It has already happened. It is already done. A man claims nothing ever ends. [Read more…] about Who Watched the Watchmen? Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan

It is often said that Watchmen is the most influential comic ever to be released. That comics wouldn’t be where they are without it, for good and for ill. But how did we get here, exactly? More to the point, just what influence did Watchmen provide to the larger world of comics? What, ultimately, is the legacy of Watchmen? Who watched the Watchmen?

The following article utilizes William S Burroughs influential “Cut-Up” technique, as Burroughs is one of the major influences of Ozymandias. The texts it uses are as follows: Last War in Albion Vol. 2 by Elizabeth Sandifer, Watchmen by Alan Moore, Pax Americana by Grant Morrison, Naked Lunch by William S Burroughs, Alien Covenant by John Logan & Dante Harper, The Architects of Fear by Meyer Dolinsky, The Book of Urizen by William Blake, The Great Red Dragon by Nick Antosca, Steve Lightfoot, & Bryan Fuller, and The Matrix Reloaded by Lana & Lily Wachowski. The specific methodology of Cut-Up utilized a nine panel grid. [Read more…] about Who Watched the Watchmen? Before Watchmen: Ozymandias