Thread 149777307

Can someone tell me why this shit is important without asking ChatGPT? It's supposedly revolutionized comics and redefined how we approach the graphic novel as a medium... but why exactly?

Because it was exceptionally good. There wasn't anything really like it before and tons of stuff that came after tried really hard to emulate it

>>149777307 (OP)
Every comic writer ripped off the it's superheroes are le bad premise and misunderstood the entire idea that it was a parody of the superhero genre.

>>149777307 (OP)
It had a good story, but also had a developed world and art that rewarded you with neat details if you were willing to dig deeper. A lot of things were interconnected so if you removed something the rest of the story would be weaker.

>>149777307 (OP)
>tell me what to think so I don't have to read

>>149777317
>There wasn't anything really like it before
What do you mean? What exactly about it was unique? It was made in 1986, not fucking 1926.

Adult. Sold lots. Excellent.

>>149777307 (OP)
It's a edgy comic book published by DC when usually those types of books were published by publishers outside the US or ones that weren't as mainstream here in the states. Also the plot structure is unconventional. It's more of a mystery than a typical capeshit story.

>>149777337
Read some capeshit comics from 1986 to get a feel for it.
Back then comics were cheap melodrama and a lot of the stories were shallow action adventures. Nothing wrong with either of those, I'm just saying they weren't high art for the most part. You had exceptions like The Death of Captain Marvel, but it was still larger than life superheroes.
Watchmen juggled several themes, complex ones too like the perception of time and how it affectes the nature of humanity. It also dealt with exploring the psyche of all the characters and grounding everything so they were people first and superheroes second.

>>149777337
Well why don't you try reading some comics from between the introduction of the CCA and 1986? I'm pretty sure you'll see what I mean.

>>149777307 (OP)
It's "artsy". That appealed to pretentious faggots. That's literally all there is to it.

>>149777317
Ignore this faggot.

>>149777319
Ignore this retard.

>>149777373
This poster is dumb.

>>149777329
This. OP, stop being a faggot. Either read it or don't, but don't ask us to explain it to you.

>>149777307 (OP)
What an interesting question! Here are some answers why the comic you posted revolutionized comics and redefined how we approach the graphic novel as a medium:
https://gprivate.com/6hxqw

>>149777389
Low effort posts deserve low effort replies.

>>149777307 (OP)
>without asking ChatGPT?
Sure. Use kaptainkristian's video instead. In a few seconds he lays out its fundamental elements.

Moore's a writer from a variety of background interests, literature, tv, etc. interested in seeing how those elements could be applied to comics.
Gibbons was an illustrator with etc etc.
Higgins etc.
They all liked what they did and were eager to see what they could do with it given free rein due to the expy characters and setting not being confined to predilection.

The other horse teams before and after 1.couldn't run, 2.could but are never given the freedom to, or 3.could but didn't bother unless it could be adapted to big multi-media bucks. Just that simple.

>>149777411
>3.could but didn't bother unless it could be adapted to big multi-media bucks
This is Image Comics in a nutshell. Every title is just a "for your consideration" for some bigwig Hollywood exec.

>>149777307 (OP)
Normal comicbook, but a bit more deep.
That's it.

>>149777374
>>149777373
Ok so this only applies to dumb American superhero shit for children published only in a certain especially shitty era of that already shitty subgenre? This is your "standard" lmfao?

>>149777411
>Moore's a writer from a variety of background interests, literature, tv, etc. interested in seeing how those elements could be applied to comics.
So was Pratt, and he's been making great comics for like 40 years before the publication of Watchmen? Similar timeline for Breccia, ever since WW2? Valerian and Laureline = from the 70s, Incal = 10 years before Watchmen, and so on.

Did Americans just not read anything at all except what they picked up on the children's section of a news stand?

I think it's interesting that Alan Moore did his whole meltdown routine about Watchmen and comic fans over the past decade, and that he seemingly retroactively sucked all the depth and nuance out of Watchmen as petty vengeance against them, but we're staunchly at a point where Watchmen in its original, uncut forme is going to outlast Alan Moore.

>>149777307 (OP)
How about you try reading it

>>149777307 (OP)
Its really boring so I've never been able to concentrate enough to figure out why they say this

>>149777573
I did, it's just a comic, nothing special.

>>149777307 (OP)
Form your own opinion instead of shopping for one.

>>149777549
Every weekend this desperation for engagement comes thinly veiled in disingenuous debates before instigators leave befuddled where an aversion to humor them stems from.

I am not American, nor stirred to interest from any vacuous jingoism.
Watchmen's recognition and imitation from those remotely familiar with the aspects of comic construction stems from being built from creative constraint. Not any assumed grandeur or novelty compared to its antecedents and contemporaries, but laborious architecture to a design blueprint. A reluctant comparison is Citizen Kane, simple film, studious cinematography.

Hugo Pratt did not beholden himself start to finish to the treatise Watchmen was devised under, Corto Maltese was distinctly a creative endeavor not a comparative one.
Only a defective mind would imagine namedropping the distinct merits stemming from one makes for a more fitting argument than smashing a square peg into a round hole.

The opening post, however mala fades, asks a specific question that has a specific answer regardless of taste or distaste for it.
Watchmen pointedly submitted a specific answer to a specific question of comic book formalism, regardless of taste or distaste for it.

>>149777863
Finally found a use for that thesaurus?

>>149777427
Image has done more harm to comics than any other single company.

>>149777863
>mala fades
Fides retard lmfao.

>>149777905
What the fuck happened to Image post-Spawn? I read Spawn in the early days and liked it, as far as American retard comics go, but now I'm looking at the things they publish and it's all some kind of sex pervert and feminazi shit?

>>149777307 (OP)
It was a real full colour big two comic that had nudity in it. That is literally where 99% of the hype came from, anything else is revisionist history. You will think I am joking but you can look up articles and discussions about this book from that time both inside and outside of the comics world. Without the penis you would barely know Watchmen existed it would be like every other good comic that you only hear about in some youtube video but never gets reprinted or adapted and the characters never show up again so nobody actually talks about it

>>149777905
Image has been an objectively positive influence on the industry and just because you don't like what they publish doesn't mean that isn't true. Before Image was a thing the idea of a creator-owned comic was basically unheard of (no, underground comix don't count), which is unlike any other arrangement in the world of publishing. Imagine if novelists had to completely surrender their intellectual property in order to be published, and after doing so, they only get chump change as compensation. Then the publisher is allowed to hire someone else to churn out sequels to the original work ad infinitum. That's what the Big 2 did then, and continue to do today: basically the same system as the AAA video game industry.

Marvel and DC both had a monopoly and writers/artists had to play by their rules or get fucked. That's why those same creators founded Image, to keep that from happening and change the industry to be more creator-friendly.

>b-but muh Dark Horse
Image offered a much better deal than Dark Horse ever did, and unlike Dark Horse, Image has proved to be an actual competitor to Marvel and DC.

>b-but muh Valiant
lol

>>149778062
>That's what the Big 2 did then, and continue to do today: basically the same system as the AAA video game industry.
The animation industry too. How many times have cartoon creators been fucked over by cancelling shows before they were done (or even before they began) and then just sitting on the IP so the creators can’t continue them in some form or take them elsewhere, even though they’re doing nothing with it?

>>149778084
Image Comics but for animation could unironically become a multi-billion dollar powerhouse in the industry. Imagine what creators like Michael Cusack, Psychicpebbles, Egoraptor etc. could do with total freedom and an actual budget.

>>149778062
>Before Image was a thing the idea of a creator-owned comic was basically unheard of
Again, in American superhero subgenre.

>>149778146
here's some reading for you anon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share

>>149778156
What are you trying to say, that Americans are too stupid to read anything else? Don't be racist dude.

>>149778146
>>149778164
If manga is what you're whimpering about, the Japanese invasion was still taking place in the 90s when Image was formed. Asian publishers still didn't have a foothold in the west until at least the late 2000s.

>>149777307 (OP)
Why? Alan Moore had a great idea and fun with the concept. Because they didnt gave him the original characters, he amped the project up and made gold.

i don't read comics much, but even a dumb fuck like me could get a glimpse of all the running themes, parallels between seemingly unrelated stories, callbacks, and just plain fun with the art in the panels as a sort of double entendre for the themes

>>149777569
>Alan Moore did his whole meltdown routine about Watchmen
>"I read some clickbait quotes about Moore calling Rorschach stinky"

>>149777322
This. It was and still is very complex and deep.

>>149778233
>American thinks only superhero and manga exists
Holy shit.

>>149777569
How come when posters like you always peddle this ridiculous sensationalized drivel you always use an image from Doomsday Clock to go with it? (or at least I think its Doomsday Clock I don't know I'm never reading that) That didn't even have Kovacs in it. Are you sure the original Watchmen is going to outlast Moore if you guys can't even use art from the actual comic?

>>149777887
>Cool story bro in 2025
My bones creak

>>149777307 (OP)
It is very complex, well written and mature in theme. But not mature as in edgyness liek the 90s, but like literature.