Beginner's Guide to the Watchmen graphic novel and What to Read Next

Watchmen is generally considered the holy grail of graphic novels, one of the bestselling trade paperback collections in stores. With the Watchmen movie in theaters and getting good reviews, Collected Editions blog readers -- many of whom are new to waiting-for-trades, may be wondering about all the Watchmen products out there, and if you liked Watchmen, what to read next. Here's the Collected Editions run-down:

The Books:

Watchmen: The Absolute Edition
Collected Editions owns the Absolute Watchmen, and if you want the Watchmen experience with all the bells and whistles, this one is for you. At 13 x 9, this hardcover is a good bit larger than the regular paperback (IMAX size, for instance, versus seeing Watchmen in the theater), and includes a bunch of additional information about the history of Watchmen, including promotional art by artist Dave Gibbons, and excerpts from writer Alan Moore's Watchmen scripts. Might be interesting to compare the comic book scripts with the movie, come to think of it. (Read the Collected Editions review of Absolute Watchmen.)

Watchmen
On the other end of the spectrum is the Watchmen softcover, which contains all twelve issues of the original series. This comes in at less than $15 on Amazon, cheaper than most trade paperbacks, so if you want the Watchmen experience without all the frills, this is a fine alternative.

Watchmen: The International Edition
Recently released, this paperback is somewhere in between Absolute Watchmen and the regular edition. It's got some of the retouched pages from the Absolute edition apparently, a new cover, and it may also contain some of the bonus pages from the Absolute edition (though I have conflicting reports on that).

Ancillary Titles:

Watching the Watchmen: The Definitive Companion to the Ultimate Graphic Novel
That this is a book about Watchmen written by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons is likely just about all most people want to know. Gibbons talks both about working on Watchmen and also offers more promotional and unpublished art from the series. If you're really into Watchmen, this is a great companion.

Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test
I'm a fan of these pop culture philosophy books (which also include Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way). A bunch of philosophers and essayists consider issues of politics and morality (in addition to the most important: is a comic book literature?) in a series of vignettes about Watchmen. A great companion to the book or movie, in my opinion.

The Dark Age: Grim, Great & Gimmicky Post-Modern Comics
This gem from a few years backs talks not just about Watchmen, but the whole grim and gritty era that Watchmen began and that carried through both the economics and storytelling for the comics era in the 1980s and 1990s. Writer Mark Voger looks at Image Comics, Spawn, the deaths of Robin and Superman (and the breaking of Batman's back) in this comics journalism volume.

Background Titles:

The Question: Five Books of Blood
As you may or may not know, the Watchmen characters are based on Charlton Comics characters later bought by DC Comics, including the Question (Rorschach), Blue Beetle (Nite Owl), and Captain Atom (Dr. Manhattan). DC recently replaced the original Question, Vic Sage, with Gotham police detective Renee Montoya, and this is her first solo adventure. It's written by Greg Rucka, one of my favorite writers, and worth a look.

The OMAC Project
Greg Rucka also writes this story of Blue Beetle. Though Beetle only appears in the first chapter of the book, the story deals with his legacy and how he affected other heroes. There's good parallels here between Blue Beetle and Nite Owl's journey in Watchmen.

Captain Atom: Armageddon
This recent Captain Atom volume has him traveling to the Wildstorm Universe (a bit rougher and more Watchmen-esque than the DC Universe). Captain Atom is far more "human" than Dr. Manhattan, but it might be interesting to see on what the Watchmen character was based.

What to Read Next:

Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book 1
A new DC Comics promotion will release single issues that might interest fans of Watchmen -- but why read a single issue when you can get a whole collection? DC's first suggestion is Saga of the Swamp Thing; this ground-breaking horror collection by Watchmen writer Alan Moore contains his first eight Swamp Thing issues.

Transmetropolitan Vol. 1: Back on the Street
Writer Warren Ellis offers this sarcastic post-modern tale of investigative journalist Spider Jerusalem. Funny and cynical, "Transmet" (as it's lovingly called) survived a failed DC science-fiction imprint to later join Vertigo comics, and is one of my favorite series.

Absolute Planetary
It's hard to describe Warren Ellis's Planetary except to say that it's a dark conspiracy-ridden cross between The X-Files and Indiana Jones. Ellis is known for the kind of dark meta-interpretive superhero comics that take their inspiration from Watchmen; if you like Alan Moore, chances are you'll like Warren Ellis.

Preacher Vol. 1: Gone to Texas
Preacher is a dark, violent, urban supernatural western (how's that for a description!) as a fallen preacher travels cross-country with a vampire on a search for God. Fans of Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill will enjoy this thoughtful, gory, take-no-prisoners comic.

Identity Crisis
Of all the books listed above, Identity Crisis is the most "superheroic," involving Superman, Batman, and the rest of the Justice League. Like Watchmen, however, Identity Crisis involves a dark conspiracy among the heroes, leading back to their predecessors; like Watchmen, this story by Brad Meltzer is a serious, human look at the people behind the costumes. (Read the Collected Editions review of Identity Crisis.)

Absolute Dark Knight Returns
How DC could recommend a group of books to go with Watchmen and not mention The Dark Knight Returns is beyond me (collected here with the controversial sequel, The Dark Knight Strikes Back). Published about the same time as Watchmen, this definitive Batman story by Frank Miller (300, The Spirit, Sin City) is credited, with Watchmen, with beginning the grim and gritty era of comics. In a future Cold War America, a criminalized Batman leads an urban revolution against the corrupt government, ending in a famous showdown-to-the-death with Superman.

Extras:

Nite Owl Dark Roast
This Watchmen coffee tickles me every time I see it. Comes in a collectable Watchmen can; I'll probably drink it and then keep the can to refill with store-bought coffee.

Collected Editions blog readers are a knowledgeable bunch -- if you've got questions about Watchmen books that I didn't answer, just leave a question below. And for those who have read the book, what else should new readers try?

More about →

Official Final Crisis hardcover details revealed

Newsarama's got confirmation from Mega Con on the story you originally heard at the Collected Editions blog, that the Final Crisis hardcover will indeed now contain the seven-issue miniseries, plus Superman Beyond #1-2 and Final Crisis: Submit. The Final Crisis Companion, originally supposed to include Superman Beyond and Submit, will have the Final Crisis #1 Director's Cut and Final Crisis Secret Files, along with Final Crisis: Requiem and Final Crisis: Resist.

Read these related Collected Editions stories:
* Final Crisis collection details change, and Batman RIP hardcover news
* Trade Perspectives: Batman: RIP and Final Crisis Further Thoughts
* Trade Poll: Which to read first, Batman: RIP or Final Crisis?
* Final Crisis hardcover solicitation
* How do you want Final Crisis collected?

In other Mega Con news, Dan DiDio and Vince Letterio (Direct Sales) downplayed the possibility of a Young Justice trade paperback right now, though the recent upswing in requests for this makes Collected Editions think it's not too far away ...

So the real question is, with the change in the Final Crisis hardcover's contents, will current orders be cancelled, and will be book be resolicited with a new price?

More about →

Number 479


Fanthorpe comics


I've had this incredible web site bookmarked for several years, referring to it occasionally. It has some fantastic book covers, which apparently wrap around some of the worst science fiction of all time, courtesy of British author R. L. Fanthorpe, using his own and several pen-names. I haven't read any of the books, but according to the web site, Fanthorpe was a one-man industry.

It also includes scans from some of the comic books that were adapted from Fanthorpe's stories, and I've swiped a couple of them to share with you here. This is not top-of-the-line stuff here, guys...more like fanzine work. But it's fun in a twisted sort of way. Were these comics actually sold on British newsstands at one time? The page itself doesn't date the comics, since the authors of the site don't know. Maybe one of our British readers can shed some light on the Fanthorpe comics.

More about →

Review: Superman: Shadows Linger trade paperback (DC Comics)

Kurt Busiek delivers the last stories of his Superman run, before moving to the weekly Trinity series, in Superman: Shadows Linger. I've enjoyed Busiek's run on Superman even as I haven't been able to shake the feeling of disparity between the heft, for lack of a better word, between Busiek and Geoff John's simultaneous run on Action Comics. Shadows Linger, I think, provides some good examples of where Busiek's run succeeded for me, where it didn't quite work, and how it was ill-served, if not by DC Comics, than at least by the circumstances themselves.

Since Busiek and Johns re-introduced Superman's super-intelligence in Superman: Up, Up, and Away, Busiek has continued to impress me with his use of it. Busiek's Superman, whom we posit fights three evil geniuses and an alien invasion before breakfast, seems especially good at his job, with all the requisite knowledge--of chemistry and physics, especially--such a job might take. To this end, Superman's able to identify specific moon dust on sight in Shadows Linger's first story, and trace the trajectory of a baseball hit toward the moon a week earlier in such a way as to make it perfectly bean an errant bad guy; in all of it, Busiek finds a way to make Superman not standoffish or more alien, but more likable and fun because of his knowledge. That the second story ends with Superman creating a stalwart library of Earth's knowledge is a fitting coda to Busiek's run.

At the center of Shadows Linger is Busiek's reintroduction of two classic Superman villains, Insect Queen and the Galactic Golem. Of the two, I liked Busiek's reinterpretation of the Insect Queen better because he stuck largely to the original mythos, connecting Lana Lang to the queen (though not, unfortunately, tying this Insect Queen to the one Lex Luthor worked with in JLA: World War III). I found the ins-and-outs of the Galactic Golem in the second story too hard to understand for the creature to really resonate with me, but I did like Busiek's demonstration of how Superman's self-sacrifice turned the heart of the villain Paragon.

Unfortunately, both these stories felt fairly light to me. Possibly it's because Busiek is leaving Superman, and as such it's unlikely we'll see Insect Queen or the Galactic Golem again soon; possibly it's because, as this story's being told in the weird space between the pages of Superman: Last Son, we already know for the most part what's going to happen to all these characters around the corner. But also, I can't help compare this story to the big shiny return of the Legion of Super-Heroes in Action Comics, which had Gary Frank on art, ran six issues, lead into Final Crisis, and received a hardcover collection. It has no bearing on Busiek, but one can't help but see his Superman as one to be flipped through before the main event.

Alternatively, DC has given new Superman writer James Robinson's first solo arc on Superman, The Coming of Atlas, hardcover status. They started Busiek in hardcovers, too, before going to paperback, while Robison's solo stories are quickly folded in to the ongoing New Krypton storyline with the next volume. Will Robinson's stories feel off-sided as well, and will Robinson handle the super-intelligence as well as Busiek? I'll be curious to see next time around.

[Contains full covers.]

Thanks to Kurt Busiek for some entertaining Superman stories; I'll also be eager to see how some of the plotlines he began in Superman reach over into Trinity.

You voted for what Collected Editions reviews you wanted to see, and Superman: Shadows Linger won! Tune in soon for our runners-up!

More about →

Number 478


Handyman


How many times have we seen horror stories about the detached hands of killers wreaking vengeance? More than I can count, offhand (yuk-yuk).

I can add this entertaining entry, "Spell of the Hypnotic Chord," from Beyond #4, 1951, to that sub-sub genre of horror fiction. Sorry I don't know who the artist is, but the style seems familiar.

More about →

Review: Robin: Violent Tendencies trade paperback (DC Comics)

[This review contains spoilers, no pun indended, for Robin: Violent Tendencies]

By the last two chapters of Robin: Violent Tendencies, legendary Robin writer Chuch Dixon has righted a major wrong and likely saved DC Comics some face in the process; the conclusion, while not terribly surprising, is wholely satisfying. Unfortunately, perhaps through editorial fiat, Dixon must take four other chapters to get to that point, which ultimately don't feel like much more than filler.

It was great to hear that Chuck Dixon was taking the reigns of Robin again, as Dixon previously wrote nearly 100 issues of the series plus a couple mini-series; Robin, like Nightwing, has had highs and lows under various writers, but no writer quite seemed to "get" the series like Dixon. As hoped, Dixon brings with him a couple former stalwarts of the series, namely Robin Tim Drake's good friend Ives, and Robin's Redbird car. And while the story may have had one-too-many narration boxes at times for my tastes, Dixon certainly still has a flare for Tim's voice; when he talks in the bowling alley about how female villains are his weak spot, this was clearly classic Dixon/Robin.

But unfortunately what Violent Tendencies offers in terms of nostalgia value doesn't quite pad out what it misses in terms of story. The crux of Violent Tendencies is that Robin goes in the trail of a violet-hued thief named, ironically enough, Violet, who puts him in mind of his former love Spoiler, believed dead; it's coincidence then that someone dressed like Spoiler follows not too far behind. Violet is for the most part just as one-dimensional as the name/clothing match suggests, and Robin trails her for a good majority of the book. What follows are some fairly engaging action sequences and lots of Robin's internal dialogue, but nothing earth-shattering until the end of the book. Dixon leaves Robin after this collection (and apparently, DC Comics) and as such I have no expectation of ever seeing Violet again; it makes much of the beginning of this story feel flat.

The important thing here, of course, is that Spoiler is now no longer dead. At a time when DC Comics was likely bumping off one too many female heroes at once, Spoiler's death is one that shouldn't have happened and has now been rectified (though no one could argue that the death wasn't intended to be permanent until fan outcry came along). I also appreciated that Dixon handled Spoiler's resurrection in a fairly logical manner, as opposed to the take-it-and-move-on rebirth of Jason Todd.

However, the difficulty that remains, in my opinion, is the same one that caused DC to want to bump off Spoiler in the first place. Chuck Dixon did such a good job the first time around of making Spoiler Stephanie Brown the perfect girlfriend for Tim Drake that no one else could measure up, and that makes for boring, boring storytelling if you're a writer wanting to inject some romantic tension into a Robin story. The concept that the protagonist can never, ever date anyone else than the character they're dating right now is something writers have a hard enough time with in Superman, let alone the teen drama Robin. My guess is that even though Spoiler's back, it won't be long before DC imprisions her in a Kryptonite-powered warsuit finds some way to write her out, else I fear some other writer will come along and take a hatchet to her.

There's a lot, I'd say, that my own comics reading, as well as Birds of Prey, Nightwing, and Robin owe Chuck Dixon. I had some sharp words on the situation when Dixon left DC, but as I finish this Robin trade with appearances by Ives, Spoiler, and the Redbird, I did want to acknowledge Dixon's contributions. Maybe he'll find his way back to DC, one day. Robin: Violent Tendencies isn't perfect, but it does what it's supposed to, and I don't imagine most Robin fans will miss it.

[Contains full covers]

Up next ... you chose what review you wanted to see, and the Collected Editions blog delivers! Tune in, coming soon!

More about →

Number 477


Two cups of Joe


Like coffee? I love coffee, but after my recent surgery didn't have any for a week. I'm feeling well enough to be sitting here now with a cup of joe and two stories by Joe Sinnott.

"I Am A Robot" is from Journey Into Mystery #90, 1963, and "Shark Bait" is originally from 1954, scanned here from Marvel's 1976 Weird Wonder Tales #16.

I'm a fan of Joe Sinnott, and you can either click on his name in the links beneath this posting or enter his name in the search engine above to see the rest of the Joe Sinnott stories I've posted. I like Sinnott because he was like several others of my favorite Golden Age artists: He could draw anything. That he is best known now for his inking over Jack Kirby is OK, but as much as I liked that work I really liked his solid solo drawing style.

(SPOILER ALERT. Here's where I tell you what's wrong with the endings.)

The stories, though...eh. They both have fatal flaws in their plots. I don't expect other writers to observe Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, but to use half of the first law and ignore the second half is more designed for a snap ending than logic."A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." In the shark story, it seems the criminals who fed jewels in smaller fish to the shark may have forgotten that like all critters, human and otherwise, sharks gotta excrete, so they were taking a big chance that by the time they got the shark their jewels weren't shark scat all over the bottom of the ocean.

More about →

Number 476


Red Tiger


Those sneaky commies. Is nothing beneath them? Even tricking people to live in Russia? They need a slightly better plan than running a giant armed red tiger train to pick up emigrés. It's a little much, wouldn't you say?

From Blackhawk #71. Art by Dick Dillin and Chuck Cuidera.

**********

Speaking of Russians, my son, David, sent me this link to a very unusual Russian comic book.

More about →

Number 475


Vampire of the North Country


I think this story is a really good example of why Jack Davis was not only funny, but one of the greatest horror comics artists ever.

Four men in the frozen North, and a vampire set loose. Who couldn't love a story like that? The best part is Jack Davis' wonderful artwork, which shows how good he was at portraying tension and suspense. The story isn't anything surprising from EC, which had many stories which stuck to this formula, but...

...those eyes in the chink of the logs, watching, waiting. It still creeps me out, just like it did when I was a kid.

According to the Grand Comics Database, the script is by Otto Binder.

I'm alternating pages of this story from Haunt of Fear #26 with the original art, found on Heritage Auctions. Davis' talent at portraying the macabre was matched by few others in the field, and like Bob Powell and some others, I love seeing the originals.

Because of the fragile condition of my copy of Haunt #26, I scanned the printed pages from the reprint produced in 1999 by Gemstone.

More about →