Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About Comics

We talk about the recent Watchmen animated movie and a little bit about the 2008 Zach Snyder film as well. Our blistering hot take: the comic is better!!!

We also read mail!

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Today we go over the merry, lighthearted life story of a little fellow called Rorschach. Gather the kids around and read them the story... no sorry, that's wrong, never do that! Watchmen #6 ("The Abyss Gazes Also") is a bleak albeit compelling tale that answers the question "What If Batman Were Truly Emotionally Damaged, But No, Like REALLY."

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This is an excerpt of our interview with Scott Aukerman about his experience writing the new Astonishing Spider-Man comic. To hear the full one, subscribe at screwitpodcasts.com -- proceeds pay our costs and then go to the charity Hero Initiative. Thanks!

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Writer / comedian / podcaster Scott Aukerman returns to the podcast for a third time, this time to discuss his new comic book Astonishing Spider-Man. Available exclusively on the Marvel Unlimited app, Astonishing Spider-Man is publishing in the "infinity" format, meaning it's one long vertical page designed for viewing on phones and tablets. We talk to Scott about how he got the gig to write his own Spider-Man comic, the experience of writing for this format, and what aspects of Spidey Scott wanted to focus on. A lifelong Spider-Man fan, Scott is giving his all for this series -- we hear about the research and thought he's putting into the stories in an attempt to make the kind of Spider-Man comic he'd like to read. And we finish up with the five Spider-Man arcs which influenced him the most when writing this series!

Rorschach gets captured! Also Ozymandias is almost murdered! And the entire issue has a symmetrical layout, something neither Kevin nor Will noticed for like 20 years! This is our continuing coverage of Watchmen!

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It's the Dr. Manhattan on Mars issue! The man (god? thing? electro magnetic lifeform?) who lives in all time! Although he only relives his life up until things we have already seen. No spoilers in the Dr. Manhattan all-time existence! 

This is one of the most iconic and memorable issues of a superhero comic book ever! We get into it!

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Watchmen #3! Dr. Manhattan is forced off of Earth because journalists are annoying! Take that, the media! We also see Laurie and Dan's friendship blossoming into something more. Or at least they seem to get sexually excited beating up bad guys. We also get our longest look yet at the most divisive part of Watchmen: the pirate comic!

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We continue our examination of Watchmen with issue 2! A funeral for a friend! Not a friend so much as a violent amoral psychopath - The Comedian! Writer Alan Moore's narrative mastery is on display as we learn about the Comedian from a series of flashbacks that show us the way he changed over the years from a 16 year old would-be-sexual assaulter, to remorseless mercenary, to finally a frightened man begging for help from his former enemy.

We also learn more of the world of Watchmen and how things changed with the arrival of the superpowered Dr. Manhattan, which we will learn even more of in the next two issues!

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Today we are republishing a discussion on the first issue of Alan Moore/Dave Gibbon's landmark 1986 comic book Watchmen. We first released this on Nov 27, 2019.  At that time, HBO was airing its television series adapation of/sequel to the comic, so Kevin and Will went through the first issue of the comic. Now five years later we want to go through the entire series. Listen to this epsiode and we'll be here next episode with a discussion of issue 2!

Watchmen is, of course, a 12 issue comic book series featuring superheros that live in a world much more realistic than we usually see them. It's about a merecenary superhero, The Comedian, who gets quietly murdered, and another superhero, Rorschach, an emotionally shut down detective, who finds out. Even though the "masks" have been banned by the government, they all start communicating to unravel this mystery. The one legal superhero -- the supernarually powered Dr. Manhattan -- has used his power to cement America as an unchallenged sole dominant nation. When he is forced to leave Earth, the world seems destined for a nuclear apcolypse unless the non-powered, legally banned "masks" can save it.

"Realistic superheroes" is an idea that's been done, but never with as much command as Watchmen. Each character -- created forthis series -- seems lived in with a rich deep history. The story is deeper and more complicated than most comics dare to present. The dialogue reveals the character's personality while also making ironic commentary on the story. And all along, it shows the darker side of superhero comics tropes and archetypes.

It's funny, fascinating, challenging, and it changed comics forever. 

EPISODE 291 - We take a break from our regular seasons to pay tribute to two great comics artists who passed away recently: John Casasdy and Karl Moline. Cassady is probably best known for his stunning work on Planetary (with writer Warren Ellis) and Astonishing X-Men. But also -- everything he drew was magic. Moline was a bit less known, but made a huge impact with his stellar work on The Fray, Route 666 and much else. Both of them are gone too soon. 

On cheerier subjects, we catch up on our mailbag in which we learn about some mistakes we (Will) made and that some people agreed with Kevin's opinions on Ultimate Spider-Man!

For our last episode on The Human Target, we go over the recent excellent run by writer Tom King and artist Greg Smallwood. Christopher Chance is back and this time he has to meet with members of the beloved 1980s version of the Justice League. You want The Human Target chatting on a couch with G'nort? You've got it. He also falls in love with Ice, works for Lex Luthor, has to look over his shoulder to check for Batman -- and lots of fun stuff.

Although a very different approach than Peter Milligan's, this is a delightful run! As fans of the 1980s JLI, we really enjoyed this!

Next episode we dive into a little-known indie comic called Watchmen (yep, that one).