Absolute Watchmen Edtion

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

A reprinting of Watchmen, with digitally remastered colouring, sketches, script extracts, and other goodness.

Yesssss…

― carson dial (carson dial), Monday, 21 March 2005 00:04 (twenty-one years ago)

it's about time for me to buy it again i guess, my copy is in about 18 pieces

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 21 March 2005 04:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i wonder if i can ever re-read watchmen again though

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 21 March 2005 04:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Part Two of interview with Watchmen director Greengrass
http://chud.com/interviews/1985

― Huk-L, Monday, 21 March 2005 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

what about part one pal

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 21 March 2005 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I posted it somewhere. Maybe on the V Thread? or the Aronofsky thread?

― Huk-L, Monday, 21 March 2005 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

But here:
http://chud.com/interviews/1914

― Huk-L, Monday, 21 March 2005 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

slocki-why don't you think you could ever re-read Watchmen again? Because of the ending or because of other circumstances?

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 21 March 2005 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

because i've re-read it so many times!! in university it was one of the only comics i had lying around so i used it as a procrastination tool at least once a semester. also i've been a fan of watchmen since i was like 12 or something & i've revisited it many times. still pretty great though!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 21 March 2005 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

six months pass...

saw this for the first time in Gosh yesterday. it's HUGE and if i didn't already have 3 and a bit copies i'd've been tenmpted, even at 50 quid.

is there anything in it that isn't in the old graphito hardback edition?

― koogs (koogs), Saturday, 8 October 2005 10:41 (twenty years ago)

Is it made of vodka or something?

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Saturday, 8 October 2005 11:46 (twenty years ago)

It's quite nice, good recoloring job, but somehow too big.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Saturday, 8 October 2005 11:54 (twenty years ago)

I'd love to own this, but 50 quid! (By the way guys, apropos of nothing, I have a birthday coming up...)

― chap who would dare to kill all the threads (chap), Saturday, 8 October 2005 12:55 (twenty years ago)

I'm particularly pleased about the recolouring, the shonky colouring being one of the few things that keeps Watchmen from absolute perfection. If only they could get Moore to rewrite the odd bit of clunky expositionary dialogue...

― chap who would dare to kill all the threads (chap), Saturday, 8 October 2005 16:11 (twenty years ago)

And maybe digitally insert Jabba the Hutt.

― chap who would dare to kill all the threads (chap), Saturday, 8 October 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

"Comedian did NOT jump!"

― David R. (popshots75`), Saturday, 8 October 2005 17:21 (twenty years ago)

The cop who gets a harpoon through him shoots first.

― chap who would dare to kill all the threads (chap), Saturday, 8 October 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

BTW, I am springing for this now (because I am weak). Also, I have no idea where my 10+ year old copy of the trade went, so what the hell.

― David R. (popshots75`), Saturday, 8 October 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

Does Rorschach win in this one?

― mike h. (mike h.), Saturday, 8 October 2005 21:10 (twenty years ago)

This should come with vodka.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Sunday, 9 October 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

(bah Austin I hate you)

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Sunday, 9 October 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

It's okay, Dan. I hate me, too.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Sunday, 9 October 2005 03:15 (twenty years ago)

Roschach persuades Viedt not to go ahead with his plan, then Laurie calls Nixon and the head of the USSR and explains that they should, you know, just get along and be nice to each other, then Doctor Manhattan uses his powers to make the world a wonderful place full of bunny rabbits and rainbows, the end.

― chap who would dare to kill all the threads (chap), Sunday, 9 October 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

A quick perusal of this at my shop revealed that there's no new material in addition to what was reprinted in the Graphitti hardcover all those years ago. As I own one of those, the ABSOLUTE wasn't a must-buy, but I have to say that it is tempting. The coloring looks great, though I'll agree with Chuck in that it's just a tad too big. The hardcover was the perfect size and weight to flip through, but this one feels like you need to undertake special preparations in order to dive into its many secrets.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Sunday, 9 October 2005 20:11 (twenty years ago)

Has there ever been a variant Watchmen?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Sunday, 9 October 2005 20:51 (twenty years ago)

> Has there ever been a variant Watchmen?

what do you mean?

the tpb did come in different covers iirc (classic yellow / picture of comedian being pushed through window). plus the french versions came oversized and 2 issues to a book.

did they ever fix that annoying red splodge in the middle of issue one(?) in later tpb printings?

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 10 October 2005 10:02 (twenty years ago)

I just meant that specifying that this edition is identical to the the Graphitti hardcover seems to suggest that there have been other editions that aren't.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 10 October 2005 11:30 (twenty years ago)

yeah, all the TPBs.

― kit brash (kit brash), Monday, 10 October 2005 11:33 (twenty years ago)

the old hardcover had 'minutes' and 'seconds' sections containing scripts and sketches and promo posters and stuff which weren't in the tpbs, another 30 odd pages of background iirc. new hardback seemed to have both of these but nothing else that i could see but then i only skimmed it.

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 10 October 2005 11:46 (twenty years ago)

Anybody else watch Rome last night? Two characters escape from certain starvation on a desert island by building a raft stuffed with bloating corpses.

Has that gimmick been used anywhere else?

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 10 October 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

This is not a thread where I was expecting a Rome spoiler!

Why is that download taking so long! Oh well.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 04:32 (twenty years ago)

Apparently I need to reread Watchmen, because I don't remember that part at all.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 08:24 (twenty years ago)

Its in the pirate comic the street kid reads, and peripheral to main plot.

― chap who would dare to kill all the threads (chap), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 09:43 (twenty years ago)

In my latest reread of Watchmen I found myself wondering why Doc Manhattan's blue balogna is ok to show, but Nite-Owl's pink prick is off limits.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 13:16 (twenty years ago)

I used to have a Watchmen watch.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 14:08 (twenty years ago)

I used to have a Manwich man.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 16:20 (twenty years ago)

I bet my Watchmen watch (which was fucking hassle for a 12-yr-old who'd only every had a digital watch that turned into a robot before) is still somewhere in my mom's basement.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 16:49 (twenty years ago)

Er, it was a hassle because it had no numbers on the face. It was just the Comedian happy face button with the blood splotch.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

WATCHMEN SCORES SPOT ON BEST NOVELS EVAH POLL AT NYTIMES (Tintin not mentioned!):

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=5000622b4396f5911b655e4256b98856&threadid=46693

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 17 October 2005 16:58 (twenty years ago)

OOPSIES, that should be TIME MAGAZING not NYTIMES!
No bloated corpse cruise for me!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 17 October 2005 16:59 (twenty years ago)

It's the best English-language novels since 1923 (whatever made them choose that year?), not the best novels ever. While the list looks refreshingly non-highbrow, and it's great that they've included a comic, I would've maybe chosen something else than Watchmen, even among English-language graphic novels (a definition that, obviously, excludes a lot of the best comics ever - though Watchmen itself wasn't originally a novel). Stuck Rubber Baby, perhaps. While I admire the work put in Watchmen, it kinda falls flat in the end, and is perhaps more "ambitious" than "great". That ambition certainly gets it far, but not as far as my personal top ten.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

I'm guessing they chose 1923 because it is the year after the publication of Ulysses .

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:47 (twenty years ago)

1923 = the year Time started. Also, Watchmen isn't a novel at all, however good it is. It's a comic.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

IT's kinda wack how it says "ABSOLUTE WATCHMEN" on the spine.

― Old School (sexyDancer), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:04 (twenty years ago)

> though Watchmen itself wasn't originally a novel

Setting aside quibbles about what constitutes a novel, what exactly do you mean here?

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:24 (twenty years ago)

I imagine he's referring to it being a maxi-series of 12 comics. I don't think that's an argument against it being a graphic novel, since it was conceived as a single whole work. Lots of novels in the past were serialised at first.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:56 (twenty years ago)

I was going to say...The Count of Monte Cristo, for example (which is my favourite novel, which maybe says something about me, but not what I wished it said about me).

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 17 October 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

Dickens, yeah.

― Old School (sexyDancer), Monday, 17 October 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

Ulysses started off as a serial.

WILL BLOOM REMEMBER TO PICK UP HIS HOUSE KEY? WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE BAR OF SOAP? STAY TUNED...

― Leeeeeeeeee (Leee), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 01:49 (twenty years ago)

The interiors look gorgeous, but I'm not gonna pay seventy five or whatever bucks for it.

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 02:18 (twenty years ago)

I don't see what the problem with the original color job is, personally.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 02:25 (twenty years ago)

― William Paper Scissors (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 03:36 (twenty years ago)

― William Paper Scissors (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 03:37 (twenty years ago)

I paid $62 for it. It's sitting on my shelf. It's fucking huge. Alas, the slipcover was damaged a bit in transit - little dents here & there. My inner book-anal phreak is still crying. It's fucking huge - I have Klimt & Monet artbooks that are fucking huge, and they're an inch shorter. I flipped through it. It'll get read soon (probably after I finish the book I'm currently reading) (lest I choose to read another non-illustrated type of thing) (or actually do homework).

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 05:14 (twenty years ago)

Unfortunately, I kinda associate Watchmen w/ a high school whale watch (during a week-long Cape Cod trip) - I brought the TPB w/ me on the boat, and ended up getting seasick. I actually got a little nauseous flipping through the book. I'll need some Dramamine before I crack the spine again.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 05:16 (twenty years ago)

The original color was fine but would've looked weirdly distorted and grainy if you blew it up to Absolute size. The recoloring job is beautiful--basically it looks the same except that the color blending is a little smoother (except for the Black Freighter sequences, which have the dot-matrix effect of old comics and the 64-color palette: nice touch). I am usually very touchy about this kind of retouching-after-the-fact, and I have no complaints at all about this one.

― Douglas (Douglas), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 05:24 (twenty years ago)

eleven years pass...

http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/watchmen-noir-hardcover

now available in black and white

― koogs, Wednesday, 16 November 2016 10:17 (nine years ago)

gotta give dc their due, they're really working hard to squeeze cash out of a 30-year-old property

pissing off alan moore even more is presumably viewed as a side benefit

― not all those who chunder are sloshed (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 16 November 2016 11:38 (nine years ago)

TBF, they're milking a lot of their shit in a similar fashion. You'll need to be extra-vigilant about buying DC collections in the future lest you inadvertently pick up the Great Darkness Saga crayon-scribbled variant done by Didio's three-year-old niece.

― i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 16 November 2016 14:22 (nine years ago)

The deadshittedness of this is underscored by a) the fact that Watchmen isn't meant to be noir and b) it's been 29 years and they still haven't done V For Vendetta in a NON-colourised version

― sad, hombres (sic), Wednesday, 16 November 2016 15:18 (nine years ago)

it's almost like dc don't have a fucking clue innit

― not all those who chunder are sloshed (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 16 November 2016 15:21 (nine years ago)

DC doesn't currently have a clue but they're feverishly engaged in securing the rights to a clue, at which point they plan on radically altering said clue into something no one recognizes or would've ever wanted a clue to resemble and you will ultimately live to regret ever wishing that they would get a clue.

― i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 16 November 2016 15:47 (nine years ago)

i wonder if i can ever re-read watchmen again though
― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, March 20, 2005 10:27 PM (eleven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― mh 😏, Wednesday, 16 November 2016 16:12 (nine years ago)

The whole noir series is stupid IMO.

A new special edition of Watchmen came out last week that packaged each individual issue as a small hardcover inside of a big slipcase. It weighs about 20 pounds.

― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 21 November 2016 19:28 (nine years ago)

The state of reality these days is such that I have no idea whether that's a joke or yet another sign that the world is all the way in the terlet.

― i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Monday, 21 November 2016 19:30 (nine years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.