Okay, I’m pretty sure someone else in the comicsweblogosphere has already covered this at some point, but I don’t remember anyone doing so off the top of my head, and I’m not gonna check and see because I still want to post about it. Plus, I mentioned this comic to pal Dorian and Employee Aaron, and they were all “nuh uh,” and I was all “yeah huh,” so I’m gonna post it here just in case any of you out there hadn’t heard about it or seen it either.

Anyhoo, Question #17 (June 1988, by Denny O’Neil, Denys Cowan, and Rick Magyar) features our hero in his civilian identity as Vic Sage, having boarded a plane flight after picking up some choice reading at the terminal newsstand.

And the reading material in question?

Second, of course Rorschach stands out to Vic Sage, since Vic’s alter ego as the Question was a real-world inspiration to the Watchmen character’s look.

Third, that certainly looks like Gibbons’ art from that one promo image in the fourth panel. Moore and Gibbons aren’t credited at the beginning of the comic with anything in this issue, but they are given a special “thank you.” I wonder if either of them were even aware Rorschach went walkies into this book, and out of their control.

Anyway, Vic and his ’80s hair start reading, and it’s apparently compelling reading since he immediately nods off. And how tough of a guy is Vic Sage/The Question?

He immediately jumps into dream-sleep, and he relives some previous tragedy in his dream, only with Vic in Rorschach’s costume instead of his Question duds:

Later, after imbibing a little too much at the local gin joint while trying to drink a potential information source into giving up the goods, he finds himself in a fight with said source that Vic only just barely wins. The excitement and the drink get to be a bit much for him, so once he’s back at the hotel:

There is one more Rorschach reference in the book, after the Question gets the tar beat out of him again, and he’s being driven off to some nefarious fate, he manages to moan out Rorschach’s signature phrase:

Next: those Captain Atom and Legion of Super-Heroes issues you need to complete your collection of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.

Okay, like you all haven’t heard enough about the Watchmen movie costumes over the last day or so…well, it is kind of a big deal, as one of our little picturebook industry’s most high profile, and most beloved, funnybooks finally lurches its way onto the silver screen, and we’re all interested in how it’s gonna turn out.

Granted, most of us are…skeptical, or cautiously optimistic, or, um, a tad excited. After all, it’s a very complex, very dense work, as much about the superhero genre as it is of the superhero genre, and most people are fairly convinced that if it can be botched, it will be botched.

Now, I didn’t think I was too hard on the stills we all saw yesterday. I was somewhat taken aback by the Night Owl costume, as it seemed a little too Hollywood-movie-ish for what was supposed to be a goofy Batman-esque analog, as well as possibly indicating a serious missing-the-point problem at the script level (as eloquently explained by Mr. Kevin Church). Otherwise, the rest of the outfits seem fine, my qualms mostly being 1) still not overly impressed by Rorschach, but willing to be convinced otherwise, and 2) Silk Spectre’s pose seemed a little too…superhero-y for what I know of the character from the source material, which is really about as nit-picky a complaint as you’re likely to find. Otherwise, her costume, considering the inspiration for the character (her particular character archetype being, paraphrasing Alan Moore, “the lady who looks good in tights”) is just dandy.

So, basically, if the film turns out to be not any good, it’s not going to be because of the costumes.

But it got me to thinking. As I’ve probably said on my site in the past, and I’m too lazy to go looking for it right this moment, one of the main points of Watchmen is the deconstruction/reexamination of the tropes of superhero storytelling. (I wonder if the full impact of that particular ingredient is lost on readers coming to the book late, after having read countless regurgitations/waterings-down of those same ideas in two decades’ worth of comics that followed.) Given that the average movie-goer likely to see a Watchmen film hasn’t read any comics, a movie version of Watchmen, assuming it still includes that aspect of the work, would be wise to stick to attacking clichés familiar from other superhero films. Okay, yes, I know there’s probably a lot of overlap, but one cliché that’s more an issue in the films is the ridiculous, unnecessarily-detailed, overly impractical, sculpted-muscle superhero outfit.

You know, like the costumes of Ozymandias and Night Owl in those promo stills.

I was okay with Ozy’s costume looking like it did, since that level of…ostentatiousness, I guess, seems fitting to the character. But if we’re approaching the Night Owl character as someone who put a lot of money and time into building himself an over-the-top supersuit, which doesn’t necessarily make him a better superhero, but makes him feel like a superhero — and a costume that the audience would recognize as “yeah, that’s what every impractical costume looks like in every superhero movie I’ve seen” — well, in that case, I can live with it (which I’m sure comes as a great relief to the filmmakers). Especially if we see that he has a whole closetful of similar costumes for different occasions, as seen in the comic.

In that context, I find myself appreciating the Rorschach costume a little more…sure, it still looks kinda dorky, but that works in contrast to the overly-slick costumes of the other heroes. Obviously Rorschach didn’t have the money or skill to give himself…I don’t know, a trenchcoat with sculpted stomach muscles. He’s playing at being a superhero like the fancy uptown folk, and this is the best he can do, with an awkward, ugly outfit. With that particular perspective hurdle of mine overcome, I can begin to see how the creepiness of Rorschach’s character can work itself out in the film.

Of course, that’s a whole lot of justification on my part, assuming Watchmen the movie approaches the complexity of Watchmen the comic book. If the film is just an X-Men movie with different costumes (“To me, my Watch-men!”), which it could very well be, then all that typin’ is moot, I guess.

Ah, well. We’ll see in a year. I’m certainly still interested in checking it out when it’s finally released. And despite any griping and complaining and nitpicking that may occur between now and then, we’re all gonna see it. Don’t you lie to me. You know you will.

Anyway, that’s far more about Watchmen costumes than you’ve ever wanted to read. I promise, when Lost Girls: The Movie makes its approach, I’ll try not to be so obsessive.

From work, the other day:

“Hey, get this…what if Rorschach from the Watchmen was instead…HORSHACK from Welcome Back, Kotter?

“‘Up your nose with a rubber hose, Dr. Manhattan!’

“‘Hey there, Mr. Dryyyyyy-berg!’

“AMIRITE?”

Sigh. I’ve no pride at all.

“GRRRRRRRR! I’M ANGRY!”

Thanks to Dafna at the Bispectacult, I see that the Watchmen movie weblog has posted character stills, and…well, I’ll reserve judgement, since these are promo stills and not necessarily reflective of plot and/or characterizations, but, yeah, I have a hard time seeing the Silk Spectre from the comics posing like that. And there had better be a pudgy middle-aged man in that Night Owl armor.

Plus, I’ve noted this before, but regarding Rorschach…what looks menacing and creepy on the printed page looks kinda dopey in live action. In the few stills we’ve seen featuring Rorschach, the costume hasn’t done anything for me. Maybe once I see it in motion, I’ll change my opinion.

So I’ve done real well on that “reserving judgement” thing, haven’t I?

Comedian looks really good, as does Ozymandias. No stills of Dr. Manhattan yet, since his appearance is likely going to be all special effects, I’m guessing.

in other news:

• The official Elfquest site (EDIT: link fixed) is on the verge of revamping its digital comics section, where every Elfquest-related comic is about to go online. apparently for free. Not an Elfquest fan myself, really, but this does sound like an impressive project. From the retail end, it doesn’t bother me too much, if only because EQ back issue and book sales have been fairly moribund lately anyway, and a project like this might possibly help rebuild an audience for this material. Maybe. Couldn’t hurt, anyway.

  (via)

• So, anyone out there managing to sell copies of IDW’s Locke & Key comic, written by Stephen King’s son? We’ve moved one copy. Funny, we sell a lot of comic books, here….

  Also, one day may be too soon to judge, but I didn’t have any kind of rush or significant demand for the premiere ish of the new Dark Tower series that came out this week.

  We did sell out of the Justice League: New Frontier special…here’s Kevin’s review, which sums up my feeling on this comic quite well.

• Pal Cully sent me a link to a Rick Veitch Swamp Thing and Abby commission illustration. I have to warn you, it’s Not Safe for Work. No, really, don’t look at this anywhere where you might have to answer for your browsing habits. And if you’re looking at this site while on the job…get back to work, slacker. Anyway, here’s the link, if you dare.
• From the comments section for yesterday’s post, in response to my less-than-serious “demand” for a trade of this material: an archive of the comic book D&D ads. I love the look on the dragon’s face near the end of the fourth strip.