Watchmen Costumes Revealed and Other Random Geekery

Over at WatchmenComicMovie.com they have pictures of the cast of THE WATCHMEN movie in costume. The images were posted on the WB site at 11:55 PM last night, that's a easter egg for all you fans out there, and are quickly spreading through the internet.

I wish I were more excited about this production. Zack Snyder is directing, which bodes well. But this is still THE WATCHMEN we are talking about. It's the book that comic snobs use to praise themselves for being fans of an "art form." Here's a sample of dialog with one of these bozos:

ME: "Hey fellow comic fan, what books are you currently reading?"
COMIC SNOB: "Warren Ellis' new book, that new thing by Neil Gaiman, something edgy by Garth Ennis, the latest Grant Morrison, a bunch of indies, and I just picked up the ABSOLUTE WATCHMEN."
ME: "That's cool. How is the new Grant Morrison book, I find him to be hit or miss. ANIMAL MAN was great, but his JUSTICE LEAGUE left me flat -- as did his DOOM PATROL. He just seems to have no feel for straight books, or how to do camp without it being parody."
COMIC SNOB: "WTF?! How dare you question the great Grant Morrison. Next thing you'll be trashing on WATCHMEN, which is indisputably the best piece of writing in the latter 20th century and one of the best works of political philosophy to date."
ME: "I thought it was okay, but I think that Steve Ditko would take issue with the fact that Moore made Mr.A/The Question into an insane person. I still prefer the old Charlton tales that Moore based the Watchmen characters on. As for the political philosophy...you're kidding right? I mean taking a stereotypical 60s doomsday clock vs. the aliens story isn't exactly deep analysis, and his twisting of Objectivism is laughable."
COMIC SNOB: "You obviously don't know what you are talking about. You can keep your Keith Giffen written JUSTICE LEAGUE, I'll read literature."

WATCHMEN is the cool book to like and the sentiments that many of the snobs who like it have result in things like JT LeRoy and other manipulators of the "cool." The comic book literati, and the real literati who like WATCHMEN, are just too much for me. There's some rebellious part of my soul that wants to tell these pretentious boobs, who likely prefer Lichtenstein to Russ Heath, where they can stick their "graphic novel." I'll just open my long box, pull out the 12 issues and read the comic book.

As a comic book, WATCHMEN is great. As a "piece of literature," I'll stick to Chesterton and Faulkner. As a work of "political philosophy," I'll stick to Hegel, Marx, Strauss, Plato, and Rand.

All that said, I really do like WATCHMEN. I even actually believe it is of artistic and literary merit. I think it is genuinely great...though that ending is a little to John W. Campbell formulaic. As long as things like AVENGERS FOREVER, or better yet INVINCIBLE, are being overlooked in favor of something ideologically trapped in the Cold War cynicism of the 80s, I'll keep my own pretentious rejection of pretense.

It's the same reason I like Michael Chabon, but don't like most of his fans. They seem to want to be hip by liking "the best," but they lack the genuine desire for fun of a "real" fan.

I sincerely hope, and think, that WATCHMEN will be a good comic book movie. Peter Cannon -- Thunderbolt's costume, I mean Ozymandias's, looks great, but why is the OWL so thin?

My credo? "Down with Graphic Novels! Up with Comic Books!"

Alea Iacta Est: Ernest Gary Gygax ( July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008)

For geeks like me, today is a day of great sadness. E Gary Gygax, co-creator with Dave Arneson of the Dungeons and Dragons game, died this morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

As I wrote, it is a sad day for me. After all, this man created a game that provided me with untold hours of entertainment, a game that introduced me to great literature (and horrible drivel), a game that helped me form life long friendships. Because of this man's creation, my life (and many others) were made better and more enjoyable. My prayers go out to Gary's family, especially his wife Gail.

Surfing the internet today and reading people write about Gary has been a very nice experience. It seems that today is the day when no gamers are fighting. The grognards and the noobs are consoling each other for the loss. It's nice, if not a little surprising. As one might guess from reading Matt Forbeck's entry on the topic, Gary Gygax was a bit of a controversial figure within the gaming community. Not because the community wasn't thankful for his contribution, rather because of his disdain for others in the field and his temper at those who continued his legacy. Gary didn't really like others "improving" on his creation. To be fair no one would expect him to, but those of us who have moved on from Gary's truly original creation to later "refinements" have had to endure venomous comments from Gary and his most ardent admirers. To be honest more from the admirers than from Gary, but Gary gave his share as well.

It seems that every gamer worth his or her salt has a Gary Gygax story, and I envy those that do their stories. I have no "when I met Gary story." Instead, I have a when I "almost" met Gary story.

You see...last April I was on a trip for work in eastern Wisconsin -- Racine to be specific, and I decided I wanted to do two things. First, I wanted to watch a baseball game in Wrigley field. I am a huge Cubs fan, and there is no better place to watch baseball. Second, I wanted to tour Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the birthplace of gaming in America. Trust me. Whether you play modern boardgames, video games, collectible card games, or role playing games, the game you are playing likely has some connection to the gaming movement started in that small Wisconsin town.

So I drove to Lake Geneva and toured all of the locations that once housed the offices of TSR, the company that published D&D. Then finally, I stood in front of Gary's house and took about 10 pictures from across the street. It was relatively early in the evening and I contemplated walking up to the door and knocking, just to tell Gary how much entertainment his game has provided me over the past three decades. I walked up to the cars parked in front of the house (pictured below), but then I thought..."what if it is the wrong house?"


What if I walk up to the door, knock and ask for Gary and it's the wrong house? What if it's the right house? What kind of crazy stalker gamer knocks on a game designer's door uninvited?

So...I walked to the library, took a couple of pictures of the beautiful lake, walked around the small downtown area, and left. I was angry at myself for not emailing/message boarding Gary earlier, or later, and I promised myself that I would do so when I next traveled to the Wisconsin or Chicago area.

That day cannot come now.

God bless you Gary.

My group and I will have a moment of silence this weekend and I think we'll even do a small reading from one of the books you wrote. We all need to push through a little Gygaxian prose every now and then. Maybe I'll open up "Master of the Game," or read the introduction to the Player's Handbook (1st edition) one more time. That introduction made me feel like I was part of something special, even before I rolled my first die.

Gary Gygax has passed

Gary Gygax the creator of Dungeons and Dragons has died at the age of 69. Personally, I am a little sad at this news, it is like part of my childhood slipping away. In a small way the world won't be the same.