r/Watchmen

Was at this show last night and couldn't believe they played it, I woke up like a sleeper agent when I heard Gerard say "I'm not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with me" before playing the song. Huge fan of Watchmen and it was just awesome to hear this song live. For those unfamiliar with MCR, outside of them being big fans of Watchmen themselves, they're currently touring their "The Black Parade" album and then do ~10 random tracks after from their discography. Desolation Row has not been played at all, with them only performing it once in 2022, and before then, it's all the way back in 2011. So a very nice surprise and fitting track to play when in DC

He also briefly talks a bit after the track about how nice Zack Snyder was and how he shot the whole music video for free!

I'm not claiming there is any kind of direct link or inspiration here (no EffMemeso), but I happened upon something this morning that is at least an interesting coincidence. Okay, that's all it is, but here goes:

Remember the movie, The Warriors? The surrealistic urban nightmare from 1979? It was based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Sol Yurick. Unlike the movie (which I love, and which has absolutely earned its cult classic status), Yurick's novel is far more realistic and grounded. Yurick had himself been a New York City social worker, seeing firsthand the kids and young adults who made up the gang culture he would later write about. In fact, He wrote The Warriors as a response to what he felt was the romanticization of street gangs in movies like West Side Story and other popular media. Little wonder, then, that He was ultimately dissatisfied with the cinematic adaptation of his own work.

Yurick's novel was inspired by Anabasis, an ancient tale by Xenophon about 10,000 Greek mercenaries stranded deep in hostile territory. They must then fight their way back to their homeland, surrounded by enemies.

In the novel, all of the main characters are either Black or Hispanic. One character, called The Junior, the youngest of the bunch, is constantly reading a comic book. The comic, as described in the novel, is obviously a retelling of Anabasis: "It was about ancient soldiers, Greeks, heroes who had to fight their way home through many obstacles, but in the end they made it."

This reminded me of Bernie in Watchmen. Though he is reading a pirate story, it isn't much of a stretch to see parallels to The Odyssey. The treacherous journey over vast seas to return home to family, the hero being changed by his trials, and so on. And, just like The Junior, Bernie is frequently shown reading his comic. Bernie is black, The Junior is either Black or Latino (it's never specified which in the novel). Edit: Also, both characters are reading comics that are meta-references to the stories they are featured in.

I don't really think this is anything more than a case of multiple authors being inspired by ancient tales, but with the parallels between Ozymandias and Alexander, it's cool that both of these stories are inspired by ancient Greek literature, and The Junior reminded me of Bernie.

Also, The Warriors is a fantastic book.

I eagerly await EffMemes' lengthy Substack post on how this ties everything together.

Doctor Manhattan know he was giving people close to him cancer? Movie

Guys I’m making an Adrian veidt abortion comic what do I do for the plot

Hi, finally got around to reading the original graphic novel / comic in its entirety (I saw the ultimate cut of the 2009 film years ago) and it was - as expected - amazing. I just had some questions that were maybe left open to interpretation and wanted to know what others thought or if they knew:

(Note that i'll be using the characters' given names later for simplicity's sake)

• When Ozymandias disintegrates Dr. Manhattan and Jon comes back a few seconds later, starts scolding Adrian while tearing through the building, was Jon about to kill Adrian but stops only when Adrian tells him the plan? We know Jon is by our standards apathetic, but he is willing to kill (e.g. Vietcong, bad guys at a bar, Rorschach a bit later) and to me all that with him crashing through the building and swiping at Adrian indicated that he was pretty pissed, even more so when he boasts of his godlike powers and how insignificant Adrian is compared to him. Idk, what do y'all think?
• Was Rorschach gonna kill his landlady if it wasn't for her kids? This is after he comes back for his stuff at his apartment and he sees her, and he's mad that she lied about him to the press. I genuinely thought this was a rare moment of moral compromise and sane-ness by Rorschach's standards. Sure, he scolds her and even calls her a whore to her face, but his face after she reminds him of her kids shows that he's pretty weary. He just seems tired, even a bit sad, and moves on with Nite-Owl. In my view, Rorschach at least wants to reserve his brutality for those who commit what he thinks is evil or those who must be stopped (like Ozymandias)
• When Ozymandias is rambling about his plan to his servants, they seem to be already dead; they're perfectly still, butterflies land on their face and wine glasses and one of them is even slumped over. But he keeps talking, on and on; is this a sign of mental illness? I'm being serious, Adrian is imo portrayed as an egotistical, hubristic child (he yells out "I did it!" when witnessing the destruction of New York, as though he were a kid winning a game). This to me is really interesting; could it be that he's just a narcissist and sociopath, viewing them not as people but as props to talk at and not to, and is driven by a need to have a sort of silent audience for a victory lap? Weird. Or then again it could be the medium of the story necessitates a scene for exposition and this just happens to fit in with his characterization
• Why does he lie about killing his servants to Dan and Rorschach? Is he secretly ashamed of what he did (a death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic) or is he simply establishing a cover story for Dan and Rorschach so they can't nab him? Or is he just saying all loose ends are covered up, no one living can testify against him. And if that's the case, why does he even spare Dan and Rorschach - I might've missed it, but does he say that no one would believe them?
• One of my biggest questions, why does Adrian open the atrium and lets the wind and snow blow in and destroy all the flora and fauna he cultivated? Was it just to cover up his killing of his three servants? Because sacrificing all that life and the time and energy just for the servants' coverup is extreme, but fitting with Adrian's characterization

Sorry if these questions are a bit surface-level, but thanks for reading 🙏

So we all know the ending "choice" to say the least of replacing the squid with Dr Manhattan and the reason why I was to save time on the film. What confuses me is why wasn't it in any of the other cuts of the film which are designed to be able to give more info and be a longer movie without the need of a theatrical release. Like if the complaint is runtime, you're making a special cut where you can add it. There's literally two cuts one where it makes it longer and the other where adds is the pirate storyline why not include the squid there?

I’ve seen this in a hundred places that it is sort of accepted wisdom that the only adaptation of watchmen that Allen Moore liked was the short video ‘Saturday morning Watchmen’

I love the video and the factoid is a fun one. But when I started thinking about it more it seems like it might be one of those things on the internet that just self perpetuates. Is this one true? Did he ever make a comment like that?