First Post of 2012: Watchmen 2 Artwork?

[aeka]

As some of you may have heard, there have been rumours circulating of DC doing a prequel (sequel?) to Alan Moore's Watchmen series. Whether or not that actually comes to fruition, only time will tell, though to be honest I'm not sure how I feel about DC releasing a prequel/sequel myself since I felt the original series was perfect the way it was.

Nevertheless, BleedingCool released an image of Silk Spectre II by Amanda Conner, with a different variation to the original costume. Whether or not this piece is in relation to the much speculated Watchmen prequel/sequel is still a rumour, but still looks good!

IMAGE DELETED DUE TO LEGAL NOTICE

For legality, how about some Rorschach and Nite Owl II? It's one of my favourite scenes. :3

Comments

[darkknightjrk]

So...Comedian by JG Jones, Nite-Owl by Adam and Joe Kubert? That's cool, might be fun depending on the writer.

Silk Spectre by Amanda Conner? Hell yes. Finally, one of the most screwed over characters from that comic gets her own story!

[shadowpsykie]

we had much to say about that character in my graphic novel class.

[darkknightjrk]

I'm rather surprised.

...Not really, but, you know, there wasn't a lot of interesting stuff around that doesn't concern her ex or current boyfriends.

[shadowpsykie]

heh, that was rather the point ;D

[pyrotwilight]

That is a neater version of her outfit. Though that skirt is amazingly small.

[espanolbot]

Justified as both Silk Spectres were referencing the sexualised depiction of women in comics, just as how Dr Manhatten references how superpowers make characters more removed from humanity and how Rorschach shows how mental illness and superheroism doesn't really have the best real-world results?

[pyrotwilight]

Was her outfit made to poke fun at it? I always thought the creators just wanted a sexy sexy character design somewhere in the book and thus why they chose Black Canary and Phantom Lady for inspiration rather than Nightshade.

[mrstatham]

I don't think Moore would have chosen to deliberately comment on the fetishy-qualities of the first Silk Spectre's single glove or other bits and pieces if he didn't want to A - deliberately invoke those kinds of characters, and B - derail the tropes commonly associated with said characters. I think it's also meant to speak about Laurie's relationship with her mother, which is also somewhat deep and complex and kind-of control freaky on her mother's behalf, to the point where she's embarrassed about the costume. This is, of course, in contrast to the characters like Phantom Lady, who were just sexy.

Of course, that the movie misses the point and gave Laurie just a sexy outfit that didn't really resemble her mother's too much is neither here nor there.

[darkknightjrk]

The problem is that it really doesn't say a lot about the actual character of Laurie. I honestly don't think Moore put much thought into her at all.

[mrstatham]

I disagree. She certainly isn't as prominent in the story as the male characters, I think, but I do think it's unfair to say she didn't have a lot of thought put into her. The chapter with her and Manhattan on Mars is as much about her as it is progressing the story, much like various other chapters serve as a focus on Rorschach and Manhattan, yet progress the story, and as some kind of look at the concept of a legacy hero, I think Moore put a lot of thought into her history, her relationship with her mother, and so on, which I find quite an interesting take; That we actually get a rather large dollop of focus on her mother and Hollis Mason after Laurie and Dan suit up again is, to me, incredibly important.

As is the fact that Laurie's costume 'doesn't say a lot about her'; It wouldn't. That's part of the point, to me. We're meant to get the feeling, I think, that her mother is living through her after she was unceremoniously ejected from the Minutemen after what happened with the Comedian, which is one of the reasons Laurie's costume looks a lot like her mother's. And again, the original Silk Spectre's designed in the image of say, a Phantom Lady or something along those lines, but both Silk Spectres are actually a fair bit deeper than the original incarnations of characters like Phantom Lady.

[icon_uk]

It has a nice late 60's/early 70's vibe to it.

[lieut_kettch]

Swingin' sixties baby! Short skirts for everyone! Yeah!

[espanolbot]

Wow, just discovered her earring... unfortunate design choice on her part if it's a prequel, or her coming to terms with who her father was if it's a sequel?

[mrstatham]

If it's a prequel, then it's definitely unfortunate, since Under The Hood was released by the time she was pretty much a teenager according to Moore's timeline, I figure, so even using the Comedian's symbol in a rebellious sense would be kinda silly, and we already know that Laurie wasn't really rebellious against her mother's wishes anyway.

So.. I think it basically has to be a sequel. I mean, she is all 'Imma get a GUN' in the prologue with Dan, which has some unfortunate implications. It's either that, or it's just a nod and a wink from Conner to the source material.

[shadowpsykie]

i get the whole gun=penis thing... but i think it was more of a practical thing. it's her turn to a more "hardened Hero" type of charater, and an homage to her father... i like he idea of her becoming Comedian II it made more sense. she get's the Joke now too. either that or an amalgamation of the two. if this is a sequel... then regardless of how awesome Connor Draws her (and she draws her Amazingly!) this costume is not at all practical (in terms of where she was at the end of the novel)

[mrstatham]

I wasn't really making any gun/penis comparisons, I just think the implications of her dialogue in the epilogue (which I stupidly labelled as a prologue beforehand) about wanting a gun suggests a distinct shift in her character are pretty bad, somehow.

I also don't see her becoming the second Comedian, because she still doesn't seem incredibly accepting of him when she understands what went on between him and her mother, just merely that she's more unusual - or special, as Manhattan puts it, because of the nature of their union.

[shadowpsykie]

really? i didn't get that at all, while she was not necissarily accepting, she did seem she was on the road to that... at the same time, i also think that she was if not accepting, she understood, at least part way. to me, her becoming the next comedian (or staying Silk Spectre but with a new costume more reminicent of Comedian) made sense.

[darkknightjrk]

I'm thinking this is preliminary designs and all that, and Conner put it there as a gag. It's fairly likely that things will change if/when we actually see this come out.

[filthysize]

This is the only costume change so far, I think. Kubert's Nite Owl and JG Jones' Comedian that were leaked followed Gibbons' design.

[halloweenjack]

I'm a big fan of Conner's work, and she doesn't disappoint here. I'd rather see her do something with Alan Moore more than work on this, but I'll take what I can get.

[pyynk]

Interesting. The rumour I'd heard ages ago was the Darwyn Cooke was going to be doing the Watchmen prequel, though it was several months ago that I heard it.

[icon_uk]

A series of high profile creator pin-up shots scattered throughout the prequels would be a nice filler though.

[mrstatham]

Yeah, the rumour now is that we're getting a set of high-profile miniseries starring each of the characters before they possibly go into something larger. Cooke would, it seems, likely be overseeing the larger project and influencing the smaller minis.

[eyz]

Why, oh, why must every original story in the US (comics, games, movies,..) always have spinoffs and se(pre)quels!!

This better turn out fake. Or simply a one shot/short parody...

[aeka]

One word: profitable. :/

Nevertheless, I wouldn't mind reading minis or graphic novels that focussed on each of the main characters individually prior to the events of Watchmen, but I'm not sure if I want a direct sequel since I feel that would diminish the impact of the ending of the original Watchmen series. :(

[shadowpsykie]

i don't mind prequels, i would like to know more about them before hand... i am also curious about their life After... but that would have to be DAMN GOOD story for it to work for me.

[aeka]

I agree. Considering how the ending went, a sequel would have a tough act to follow and make it believable at that.

[mrstatham]

There's still more to plunder from a sequel piece than a set of prequels, to me. To me, Moore told us everything we needed to know about these characters to the point where I think any kind of prequel work by another author is going to have to navigate the minefield of Moore's timeline. On the other hand, the sequel could show just how badly Ozymandias has fucked up in what he put together.

But either way.. I hope these aren't just standard superhero stories, if they are prequels or sequels. Because issues aside, Watchmen was so much more.

Mod note

[kingrockwell]

Sorry about this, but we've just received a legal notice about this image, requesting us to take it down. Apparently Bleeding Cool was never supposed to have it, either, and they've had to do the same.

So, if you could please remove the image from your post, we'd appreciate it. Otherwise, we may need to delete it.

Re: Mod note

[aeka]

Gladly. Sorry you guys got legal notice. :(

[kingrockwell]

It's cool, not your fault! Thanks for your cooperation. :D