Mike Gold: Before Watchmen, Because…

Mike Gold

ComicMix's award-winning and spectacularly shy editor-in-chief Mike Gold also performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking rock, blues and blather radio show on The Point, www.getthepointradio.com and on iNetRadio, www.iNetRadio.com (search: Hit Oldies) every Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern, rebroadcast three times during the week – check www.getthepointradio.com above for times and on-demand streaming information.

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19 Responses

  1. Kyle G. says:

    I’ve been a little surprised when I’ve been sucked into conversations with people about the ‘moral’ side of the issue. Seeing people throwing their hands in the air for both sides, it just seems a little crazy to me. The only people I think should have the right to be that upset are Alan Moore and DC, everyone else should be closer on your position. If it looks like a story you might enjoy- buy it. If not, then don’t. All the other crazyness is beyond me.

    • Mike Gold says:

      That’s the problem with morality. “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.”

      I already noted one position that is strictly business: alienating Alan Moore is a stupid business decision. I don’t make my comics purchases based upon the intelligence of the publisher — although I’d save a lot of time and money if I did — but I gotta wonder why Warner Bros. decided to blow up what was left of that bridge AFTER it was already burnt down. People reconcile. Up to a point.

      But I’ve got to be fair, truthful and honest: That Watchman toaster sounds pretty cool. http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/05/15/who-watches-the-watchmen-toaster/

  2. Jonathan (the other one) says:

    Now I want Alan Moore to write a new Watchmen treatment, using the Fawcett heroes…

    • Mike Gold says:

      He did, Jonathan. It was called “Miracleman.” Then he sucked some guy named Neil Gaiman into it. Allegedly all this stuff, including that which has been unpublished, will be released by Disney one of these days. Odin knows, they paid enough for the privilege.

      • The published Gaiman stuff is awful to my tastes. I did not enjoy it at all.

        The Moore stuff was just awesome, though. It was a comic I should not have been reading as a kid, but I did and I’m glad. I spent a small fortune tracking down the issues I was missing a number of years ago but it was worth it.

        I remember reading that Moore supposedly got a call from Marvel after the sale was complete and he gave his blessing to reprint it as long as the profits from the first run go to Mick Anglo (or his estate now, I guess). So, I guess those stories at least will see the reprinted light of day eventually.

        • Mike Gold says:

          That’s mostly the case. Alan was involved in the negotiations all the way along through the attorney who handled the affair (who happens to be an old friend of mine). Alan gave his appropriate blessing every step of the way, as necessary, and his foremost concern was that Mick Anglo got his full due. I’d bet dollars to donuts that the subsequent talent (Alan Davis, Garry Leach) were appropriately covered as well.

          There were other complications — Warrior’s publisher Dez Skinn was a minority owner in the company Alan and Garry put together to produce the material, and a previous U.K. publisher back in the 1960s had purchased the original printing plates to the material. It was quite a mess, and I’m amazed it was ever straightened out. Talk about tenacity.

          But I don’t know what happened at Marvel since 2009. I’m almost afraid to ask.

          But I will.

  3. Rene says:

    I’m not interested in Before Watchmen. I’m also not interested in a sequel to Crime and Punishment, or Moby Dick. I’m not even interested in Sherlock Holmes novels not written by Conan Doyle (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, being more than just another Sherlock Holmes story, I’m very interested in).

    • Mike Gold says:

      Well, I gotta put in a shout for the BBC’s Sherlock series. They do everything I hate about revisionist character development, and they make it work. Best teevee drama since The Prisoner.

      But that’s teevee, not novels. Teevee adapts from novels; that’s the deal. This one worked. Big time.

      • Glenn Hauman says:

        Not to be confused with the revisionist version of The Prisoner

      • Mindy Newell says:

        What about BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, Mike? That was INCREDIBLY revisionist, and it rocked! (Okay, okay, it wasn’t originally a novel, but still….)

        I also heard that the producers (?)–I think it’s the producers–want to remake BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. Sorry, I’ll pass on that one.

        • Mike Gold says:

          The Battlestar revival amazed me. Glenn kept on telling me it was great, but I hated the original so much I passed. Finally, while stuck in Detroit one week, I got ahold of the miniseries and turned around 100%. Brilliant.

          I’m one of the few people who thought BTVS never came close to the movie. I think the teevee show was to the movie what the MASH teevee show was to the MASH movie: a different thing entirely.

  4. I guess I’m in your boat Mike. It’s not that I’m not curious… It’s that I’m not curious enough to waste money. I love plenty of the creators involved… But I can’t imagine any scenario where what they’ll produce –no matter HOW lovingly produced– will the stories be relevant. Prequels by and large don’t work for me.

  5. Don says:

    Just from the artistic standpoint: I learned the hard difference between original work and franchise that month when I picked up Spider-Man and it wasn’t by Ditko! I was young and naive, and I might have recovered from that, but not the loss of Ditko on Dr Strange, too! And then Kirby left Marvel and my childhood ended.

    I’m not usually a hoarder-collector, but I bought the whole Watchmen series and stored sets for my kids (who now grown are of course great fans of the work). Re-read it recently. It’s still great.

    Despite all trepidations and warnings, I actually watched about one minute of the Watchmen movie (borrowed — didn’t spend any money on it). Just freaked me out to see something so visually well-realized, immediately futzing with the delicately-constructed work. Like the live-action Avatar (the Airbender one), which looked good right up until someone spoke. Damslamshamalyan! http://youtu.be/hksKLHt9Kzg

    That said, I enjoyed the Watchmen extra bits like well-made fan flicks. Maybe like Mike Gold said, those worked because they were adaptations in another medium as well as outside the original story?

    Yes, truly, Watchmen is perfectly self-contained and replete. But it can work in an alternate medium. See: http://youtu.be/YDDHHrt6l4w

    • Mike Gold says:

      We must be about the same age. I had a similar reaction to the loss of Ditko from Spidey and Dr. Strange, although Strange has morphed into a different character and I like various interpretations of that guy. And I really liked The Creeper (Hawk and Dove, not so much), so I survived. Same thing with New Gods and Kirby.

  6. Rene says:

    Adaptations to other media are a different thing, I’m not as purist as some fans. I actually like the Watchmen movie (except for the depiction of Ozymandias as unlikable). To me, it’s like food you like being prepared in a different way, instead of sequels and prequels, the are the very same dish prepared by an inferior chef.

    As for Sherlock Holmes and Spider-Man, at least they’re more open-ended characters from the beginning.

  7. Mindy Newell says:

    AMEN, Mike!!!!!

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