Step into the world of comics like never before with DC W.I.P. Get up close and personal with the stunning artwork from one of comics’ greatest artists. Featuring the art of Watchmen #1 from Dave Gibbons! The brilliance of Gibbons’s work can be seen like never before in this massive oversize presentation with a brand-new introduction by Gibbons. Don’t miss your chance to own this incredible, one-of-a-kind piece of comics history.
In the wake of the 2024 election, comics writer Mark Waid posted the following on BlueSky:
…I don’t believe in the basic goodness of my fellow Americans anymore, and without this, I cannot write superheroes. There’s no point.
Mark Waid is a writer for whom I have the greatest respect. His work on The Flash and The Fantastic Four with the late Mike Wieringo and others are essential reading. His despair is understandable but I hope that he can muster up whatever magic he needs to do the work in the wake of the horrific choice made by the majority of our countrymen. His stories do matter to a lot of people, never more so than now as the entire world begins a long, dark journey whose end is uncertain. Hope will be hard to find and we will often be unable to see the stars through the clouds.
Superheroes are not now and have never been figures of social realist fiction. Even Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen revels in the absurdity of the genre. Perhaps the most unrealistic thread at the heart of the concept is the notion that a person gifted with an amazing power or great wealth will use it for the benefit of others and not themselves.
Human beings are deeply flawed creatures. We must constantly choose between good and evil while trying to thrive (or at least survive) in a dangerous world. Our humanity is the sum total of the choices we make throughout our lives and can be squandered and regained many times. There are certainly points of no return, but to view the voting booths of Pennsylvania and Georgia as the equivalent of the gas chambers of Auschwitz or the killing fields of Cambodia is not helpful at this point.
If good and evil exist in reality as opposite ends of a spectrum painted in shades of gray, then the superhero must exist in the brightest primary colors we can get onto paper or the digital screen. They are not a reflection of the facts of life but a refutation of it. They are visions of power conjured up by the maligned and the marginalized (Jews, immigrants, people of color, LGBTQIA+ and women) at a time of turbulence for the entire world that was almost as great as the one we face today. The fact that we can even conceive of an alien from another planet who came only to do good, proves that we have at least the seed of goodness beneath all of the excrement on which the foul weeds of Hitler, Stalin, and their modern descendants sprout. To lose that would be to abandon the best part of ourselves, to feed the human to the beast.
I don’t really believe in God, certainly not the kind, benevolent, one of my Catholic upbringing. If he does exist though, the best he was able to create was humanity: flawed, broken and bound to the Earth. We created a champion of truth and justice who is as indestructible as he is incorruptible and who can show us the stars as he takes his dog for a walk on the moon.
If you ask me, when it comes to creators, we’ve done God one better. He made us and we made Superman. Superman does good and doing so inspires us to do better. That’s the point.
In an alternate world, the murder of a government sponsored superhero draws his outlawed colleagues out of retirement, into a mystery that threatens their lives and the world itself. Own Watchmen Chapter 1 on Digital 8/13.
Who watches the Watchmen? Warner Bros. has revealed Watchmen Chapters I & II, a faithful animated adaptation of the iconic graphic novel! The Clock is Ticking…
Graphic novels to read anywhere: DC Compact Comics collect DC’s bestselling, most iconic stories in a new size! Get the classic Watchmen for just $9.99!
Story: Alan Moore Art: Dave Gibbons Color: John Higgins
Get your copy in comic shops! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
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In November, DC announced a new line in their graphic novel slate: DC Compact Comics. Featuring a 5.5″ x 8.5″ standard book trim for trade paperback novels, the new format pulls bestselling, new-reader-friendly titles from DC’s evergreen library for $9.99. Now, the publisher has announced all ten launch titles along with when they’ll be released in 2024.
The initial DC Compact Comics launch in 2024 will offer the following titles at $9.99 US, and are available for preorder now:
June 4, 2024
Batman: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo
Watchmen byAlan Moore, Dave Gibbons
July 2, 2024
All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely
Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin, Jamal Campbell
August 6, 2024
Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee
Wonder Woman: Earth One by Grant Morrison, Yanick Paquette
September 3, 2024
Harley Quinn & the Gotham City Sirens by Paul Dini, Guillem March
Joker by Brian Azzarello, Lee Bermejo
October 1, 2024
American Vampire Book One by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, Rafael Albuquerque
Catwoman: Trail of the Catwoman by Darwyn Cooke, Ed Brubaker
DC has announced a new line in their graphic novel slate: DC Compact Comics. Featuring a 5.5″ x 8.5″ standard book trim for trade paperback novels, the new format pulls bestselling, new-reader-friendly titles from DC’s evergreen library as the first books offered in this new lineup of compact editions of adult graphic novels. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, among others, will go on sale beginning in June 2024, retailing at $9.99 US, to launch DC’s new program.
The format is more focused on the manga crowd who are used to this format as well as casual readers like you might find at bookstores, airports, and train stations. The initiative is squarely aimed at expanding the comic market as opposed to catering to the current readership. To watch out for is the second wave of releases and if DC uses the releases to get readers to explore comic shops or DC’s own services like DC Universe.
The new line will showcase DC stories across many genres, including science fiction, thrillers, horror, fantasy, adventure, and mystery. Featured among the DC Compact Comics launch titles in 2024 are DC’s recent Hugo Award-winning sci-fi graphic novel Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell, along with perennial classic graphic novels like Catwoman: Trail of the Catwoman, Batman: Hush, Batman: The Court of Owls, and more.
The initial DC Compact Comics launch in 2024 will offer the following titles at $9.99 US:
Watchmen (9781779527325) by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons
Batman: The Court of Owls (9781779527271) by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo
All-Star Superman (9781779527257) by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely
Far Sector(9781779527295) by N.K. Jemisin, Jamal Campbell
Wonder Woman: Earth One (9781779527332) by Grant Morrison, Yanick Paquette
American Vampire Book One (9781779527349) by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, Rafael Albuquerque
Batman: Hush(9781779527264) by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee
Joker(9781779527318) by Brian Azzarello, Lee Bermejo
Harley Quinn & the Gotham City Sirens (9781779527301) by Paul Dini, Peter Calloway, Tony Bedard, Guillem March, Andres Guinaldo
Catwoman: Trail of the Catwoman (9781779527288) by Darwyn Cooke, Ed Brubaker
Ahead of the official ceremony later this week, the winners for the 2020 Harvey Awards have been announced. The award ceremony has gone virtual this year with the initial group of nominees announced in August and then the winners chosen by vote.
The 2020 winners are:
Book of the Year: Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang (First Second) Digital Book of the Year: The Nib edited by Matt Bors (thenib.com) Best Children or Young Adult Book: Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru (DC Comics) Best Manga: Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama (Kodansha Comics) Best International Book: Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, translated by Janet Hong (Drawn and Quarterly) Best Adaptation from a Comic Book/Graphic Novel: Watchmen by HBO, based on Watchmen (DC Comics)
The Harveys will also be inducting Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy), Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother), and the founding members of Milestone Media which includes Denys Cowan, Derek T. Dingle, Michael Davis, and the late Dwayne McDuffie into this year’s Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.
The virtual ceremony will be broadcast on October 9 at 4:50 pm as part of New York Comic Con’s Metaverse. The ceremony will be hosted by Vivek Tiwary and will feature Gene Luen Yang, Neil Gaiman, Jill Thompson, and Damon Lindelof.
(Beware! SPOILERS abound for Lovecraft Country “I Am.”)
If you’ve stuck with Lovecraft Country up to episode 7 you might’ve already realized that this show is on a mission.
Each episode, almost self-contained in scope, puts the series’ heroes in situations more commonly found in storytelling genres dominated by white male narratives. War, horror, adventure, and science fiction each get the chance to be used as statements on the perils of narrowing the possibilities of story by not acknowledging the rich differences found in diversity.
The lead up to episode 7, thus far, has seen the show put its own racially-conscious spin on the haunted house story (ep. 3 “Holy Ghost”), the Indiana Jones-like adventure story (ep. 4 “A History of Violence”), the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-like doppelganger story (ep. 5 “Strange Case”), and the classic war/romance story (ep. 6 “Meet me in Daegu”), each sharing in cosmic horror as the common thread. While Tic (played by Jonathan Mayors) is still the driving force behind the main story, this layered exploration of genre lets every character have their turn behind the wheel.
It’s with episode 7, though, where the show lays its heart and soul bare, with us looking in as if through an open wound that shows signs of healing. It’s aptly titled “I Am.” and it’s where science fiction comes in to drive the following point home: not only does black representation matter, it can create stories the likes of which we haven’t been allowed to see.
In this episode, Hippolyta (played by Aunjanue Ellis) takes to the road to find answers about her husband’s death and the secrets pertaining to an orrery she had previously found. Her search leads her to a mysterious observatory that can open a rift in reality to other dimensions and universes.
Hippolyta’s love for astronomy is played to great effect here. What was once an endearing character trait that made her more relatable and interesting turns her into a key character with access to information few others in Tic’s group can access. Hippolyta felt like a strong background character all the way up until this episode and not having her play a more central role in the unraveling of the main mystery after everything that just happened to her would be doing a disservice to the character.
Lovecraft Country, episode 7 “I Am.”
What makes “I Am.” the proverbial heart of the show lies in its approach to science fiction as a genre that feels tailor-made to portray the black experience. The specter of systemic-racism creeps into the episode as Hippolyta’s journey into the multiverse puts her into several potential realities her character could’ve perfectly fit into if given the chance to define herself within it, hence the episode’s title. The show takes the opportunity to celebrate possibilities rather than merely protesting the lack of representation, something it’s already established and done well in previous chapters.
Throughout her multiversal jumps we see Hippolyta become one of Josephine Baker’s dancers in 1920’s Paris, an Amazonian warrior from the all-female Mino or Dahomey military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey, and a space explorer cataloguing alien life in a fashion similar to how her husband researched new safe routes for his travel guides, an activity he didn’t allow her to participate in for fear she would get hurt on the road (an excuse Hippolyta challenges in the episode to great effect).
Lovecraft Country, episode 7 “I Am.”
Each version closes with Hippolyta declaring “I Am…,” which claims the character’s right to create her own self-identity within each genre, unencumbered by the expectations and prejudices of white male-dominated perspectives.
The episode goes lengths to portray each version of the character as deserving of their own series. It continues the show’s mission of showing how black representation in these genres has been absent or downplayed for far too long, denied by a culture that systemically devalued non-white perspectives (and still does). We get a sense of the type of stories we’ve lost in the process.
While that sense of loss is present and palpable–as it is in every episode thus far–the storytelling realities the show has brought to the fore also come with an unrelenting sense of hope. Hippolyta’s science fiction voyage and its several stops provide new avenues of story that demand to be explored. It amounts to a resounding “it’s about damn time” for the masses.
Fans of HBO’s Watchmencan find certain converging ideas between Hippolyta and Dr. Manhattan, especially in that show’s eighth episode, “A God Walks into Abar.” Manhattan’s decision to give Angela Abar, a.k.a. Sister Night, the choice of remaking him into a black man in that episode spoke to the importance of giving black creators the leading voice in the storytelling process so what we can see how new perspectives come to life. Something similar happens with Hippolyta, only she’s recreating herself under her own conditions with no need for anyone’s permission.
“I Am”/”A God Walks into Abar”
Lovecraft Country’s “I Am.” is yet another statement on the importance of self-identity and creative agency in fiction. The show has been successful in showing how fiction can respond to the needs of many, regardless of skin color, but it’s in this chapter that we see the argument come full circle. It’s a call for justice in representation with the guarantee that it has no intention of settling for anything less than creative control. Hippolyta is now the new face of that claim in Lovecraft Country, and it looks like “I Am” is the new rallying cry.
The winners for the 72nd Emmy Awards were announced today. The ceremony became a virtual event this year due to COVID-19 doing an impressive job of balancing the jokes, the seriousness, and rotating through so many video feeds.
The 72nd Emmy Awards were hosted by Jimmy Kimmel who also served as executive producer.
Watchmen is one of the most nominated shows of the year with 26 nominations which also saw recognition for The Mandalorian as well. Watchmen made history as the first comic adaptation to win the top prize of best “Limited Series.”
Check out below for how the two shows did, winners will be marked as such and in bold.
Drama Series
“Better Call Saul” (AMC) “The Crown” (Netflix) “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu) “Killing Eve” (BBC America/AMC) “The Mandalorian” (Disney Plus) “Ozark” (Netflix) “Stranger Things” (Netflix) Winnter – “Succession” (HBO)
Jeremy Irons (“Watchmen”) Hugh Jackman (“Bad Education”) Paul Mescal (“Normal People”) Jeremy Pope (“Hollywood”) Winner – Mark Ruffalo (“I Know This Much Is True”)
Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Cate Blanchett (“Mrs. America”) Shira Haas (“Unorthodox”) Winner – Regina King (“Watchmen”) Octavia Spencer (“Self Made”) Kerry Washington (“Little Fires Everywhere”)
Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Dylan McDermott (“Hollywood”) Jim Parsons (“Hollywood”) Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend”) Winner – Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Watchmen”) Jovan Adepo (“Watchmen”) Louis Gossett Jr. (“Watchmen”)
Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Holland Taylor (“Hollywood”)
Winner – Uzo Aduba (“Mrs. America”)
Margo Martindale (“Mrs. America”)
Tracey Ullman (“Mrs. America”)
Toni Collette (“Unbelievable”)
Jean Smart (“Watchmen”)
Outstanding Cinematography For A Limited Series Or Movie – 2020
Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Limited Series Or Movie – 2020
Winner – Henk Van Eeghen, ACE, Editor (“Watchmen”)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Limited Series Or Movie – 2020
Winner – Douglas Axtell, Production Mixer, Joe DeAngelis, Re-Recording Mixer, Chris Carpenter, Re-Recording Mixer (“Watchmen”)
Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited Series, Movie Or Special (Original Dramatic Score) – 2020
Winner – Trent Reznor, Music by, Atticus Ross, Music by (“Watchmen”)
Outstanding Main Title Design – 2020
Paul Mitchell, Creative Director, Olga Midlenko, Art Director, Maciek Sokalski, Lead Compositor, Gabriel Perez, Animator, Benjamin Woodlock, Designer (“The Watchmen”)
Outstanding Casting For A Limited Series, Movie Or Special – 2020
Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series – 2020
Andrew S. Eisen, ACE, Editor (“The Mandalorian”)
Outstanding Special Visual Effects – 2020
Winner – Richard Bluff, VFX Supervisor, Jason Porter, VFX Supervisor, Abbigail Keller, VFX Producer, Hayden Jones, VFX Supervisor, Hal Hickel, Animation Supervisor, Roy Cancino, Special Effects Supervisor, John Rosengrant, Supervisor, Enrico Damm, Environment Supervisor, Landis Fields, Virtual Production Visualization Supervisor (“The Mandalorian”)
Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour) – 2020
Winner – Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS, Director of Photography, Baz Idoine, Director of Photography (“The Mandalorian”)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-Hour) And Animation – 2020
Winner – Shawn Holden, Production Mixer, Bonnie Wild, Re-Recording Mixer, Chris Fogel, Scoring Mixer (“The Mandalorian”)
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-Hour) And Animation – 2020
Winner – David Acord, Co-Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer, Matthew Wood, Co-Supervising Sound Editor, Bonnie Wild, Sound Effects Editor, James Spencer, Dialogue Editor, Richard Quinn, ADR Editor, Richard Gould, Foley Editor, Stephanie McNally, Music Editor, Ryan Rubin, Music Editor, Ronni Brown, Foley Artist, Jana Vance, Foley Artist (“The Mandalorian”)
Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Program (Half-Hour) – 2020
Winner – Andrew L. Jones, Production Designer, Jeff Wisniewski, Art Director, Amanda Serino, Set Decorator (“The Mandalorian”)
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score) – 2020
Winner – Ludwig Göransson, Composer (“The Mandalorian”)
Outstanding Stunt Coordination For A Drama Series, Limited Series Or Movie – 2020
Winner – Ryan Watson, Stunt Coordinator (“The Mandalorian”)
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Mrs. America • Shirley FX Networks • FX Productions Tanya Barfield, Written by
Normal People • Episode 3 Hulu • Hulu Originals in association with BBC Sally Rooney, Written by Alice Birch, Written by
Unbelievable • Episode 1 Netflix • CBS Television Studios Susannah Grant, Teleplay by Michael Chabon, Teleplay by Ayelet Waldman, Teleplay by
Unorthodox • Part 1 Netflix • Studio Airlift and RealFilm Anna Winger, Written by
Winner – Watchmen • This Extraordinary Being HBO • HBO Entertainment in association with White Rabbit, Paramount Television, Warner Bros. Television & DC Comics Damon Lindelof, Written by Cord Jefferson, Written by
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Little Fires Everywhere • Find A Way Hulu • ABC Signature Studios / Hello Sunshine Lynn Shelton, Directed by
Normal People • Episode 5 Hulu • Hulu Originals in association with BBC Lenny Abrahamson, Directed by
Winner – Unorthodox • Netflix • Studio Airlift and RealFilm Maria Schrader, Directed by
Watchmen • It’s Summer And We’re Running Out Of Ice HBO • HBO Entertainment in association with White Rabbit, Paramount Television, Warner Bros. Television & DC Comics Nicole Kassell, Directed by
Watchmen • Little Fear Of Lightning HBO • HBO Entertainment in association with White Rabbit, Paramount Television, Warner Bros. Television & DC Comics Steph Green, Directed by
Watchmen • This Extraordinary Being HBO • HBO Entertainment in association with White Rabbit, Paramount Television, Warner Bros. Television & DC Comics Stephen Williams, Directed by
