HBO Watchmen Teaser, My Thoughts

In 1986, writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons unleashed Watchmen on the world. This 12-issue miniseries would be hailed critically and a financial success. Originally intending to use characters from the defunct Charlton Comics, DC Comics nixed this idea as they wanted to use the characters in their own projects in the future. Watchmen would deconstruct and satirize the superhero concept, and arguably help lead the way towards the darker tone of comics in the 1990s. In fact, the BBC's Nicholas Barber described it as "the moment comic books grew up".

Watchmen would leave quite a legacy behind it, as quite a few comic writers and artists saw it as an influence on their work. In 2009, Zack Snyder directed a feature film adaptation of the miniseries. The visuals were praised, but it was felt that Snyder stripped away the wit and subtlety of the comic to make it a straight-up action piece. In 2012, DC Comics published Before Watchmen, a set of nine miniseries that focused on various characters of Watchmen before its events. I remember this being seen as very controversial among comic fans, as some felt this was DC basically giving the finger to Alan Moore. Moore had left DC in 1989 due to disputed over the ownership of the miniseries and its characters. Gibbons did give his blessing for Before Watchmen.

In 2017, DC released a sequel: Doomsday Clock, written by Geoff Johns and with art by Gary Frank. This also served to crossover the Watchmen and DC Universes. Yeah. The series, another 12-issue miniseries, has also been delayed quite a bit.

Now, HBO has jumped on the Watchmen bandwagon. They're doing a television sequel of their own, and a teaser is out! Let's take a look!

Oh look, Rorschach inspired a cult. Nothing but good can come of this cult being inspired by a bigoted homophobic right-wing psychopath. 

That ticking chanting is annoying. An actual stopwatch would be less annoying.

...why are those cops wearing the yellow masks? Is it part of that smiley face motif?

What's that ring around the Washington Monument? Is that like the Space Needle or something?

Regina King as a vigilante? Neat.

What happened at this carnival? Did Pennywise show up?

Jeremy Irons? Neat. I heard he's playing Ozymandias. Okay.

Does that actually work, using a shoe to light a match?

Ah, I see the Grim Reaper has retired to be a pirate. Good to luck to...him? Her? Them? I'm going with 'them'. Good luck to them on the new career.

Ooh, nice castle. I want to see it in person.

And what's going on?

Silver Face.

...Well. I guess Krusty the Klown can say it best. Krusty?

Pretty much. I'm guessing HBO needed something to keep them going, since Game of Thrones is ending soon. This trailer is weird. And a bit creepy. I admit, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of the franchise, I never even read the original miniseries. Yeah, the guy who loves 80s comics never read Watchmen. I know. It shocks me, too. Maybe I'll give it a read one day. I don't know if I'll look at it for the blog, though. I don't think I have the ability to truly give it the analysis it deserves. As for the TV show...I'm honestly kind of meh on it. I don't have HBO, but even if I did...I don't think I'd jump at the first chance to watch it. Hope it is good and does well, though.

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