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Warhammer AoS – Who Watches the Gods of Chaos?

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I have a modest painting update this week but I will probably talk about Watchmen more than painting this week. Truthfully, I was thankful to have hobby time this week because I had trouble sleeping for a couple of days and there is more conflicts with one of my neighbors in my condo building. Being treated disrespectfully by a neighbor who has already turned the whole building against them is really something else. I can only hope that interest rates drop and moving becomes a possibility next year.

To the matter at hand, I’ve done as much as I could on the base this week and truthfully, the progress feels pretty modest. It is more time consuming that I expected to bring this idea to life but you can get a pretty good idea of where I’m going from the pictures. I’ve had this idea for a long time and I’ve wondered why I’ve never seen anyone try something like flaming skulls. I think the time spent on it is surely a big reason why. You can’t deny that this hellish landscape is perfect for Khorne who covets skulls more than anyone else in Warhammer. Regardless, here is the base in a very WIP state.

The good news is that I have a big “rock” that I will be able to add to help cut down on the number of skulls I have to paint. I need to stay methodical and patient with the skulls because its really easy to block access and suddenly not be able to paint something well because you glued a skull down the wrong way. I suspect this is going to take around 2-3 weeks to finish so I’m predicting more modest progress next week.

I finished reading Watchmen and have some (okay maybe a lot of) thoughts to share.  More than anything, I’m curious if others out there had similar thoughts when they were first exposed to it.  First off, Watchmen is pretty good and I can appreciate how groundbreaking it was.  BUT, it is not a fun read.  It isn’t because the story is grim and depressing either, even though it definitely is.  The graphic novel is pretty overwrought.  Characters deliver long soliloquies to each other and it’s pretty obvious that Alan Moore is more interested in ideas than developing strong, realistic characters.  And that’s okay.  My preference is more towards well-written and fleshed out characters but interesting ideas can be enough.  Watchmen takes a LONG time to read though for a comic book even for one over 300 pages.  There are just a lot of words to get through and I say that as someone who has read a lot of books in their life.  I’m not put off by words at all generally.  I’ve read books close to 1,000 pages before.  Watchmen just isn’t very efficient in its use of words which is my biggest criticism of it.

One thing that is interesting is that its alternative history setting where superheroes change the course of modern history.  They not only win Vietnam for the United States but “Tricky Dick” Nixon is still the President in a rule-breaking third term. The US and Russia are still in the Cold War and nuclear annihilation is a major fear, if not, expectation of the majority of characters.  The alternate history isn’t explored in great detail but what is in Watchmen is engaging.  I get the impression that Alan Moore doesn’t care for urban living because the city where the Watchmen reside is crime ridden and generally unpleasant.  I got New York City in the 1980’s and 1990’s before it got cleaned up vibes but turned up to 11.  As a Chicago resident (who lives in the city proper) I could both relate to this and also at times, find the depiction of the city to be a bit over the top.

More importantly, the real focus of Watchmen is an exploration of how superheroes get old and fall apart like us regular people do.  I might be wrong but I think Watchmen was one of the first stories to explore this idea and it surely is the first to take the idea all the way to its logical conclusion.  Once you get far enough along in the story, you kind of can guess how it will end but I was still surprised and satisfied with the ending. 

All in all, I think Watchmen holds up pretty well and while it certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I appreciated it from the story to the art.  My appreciation for Powers by Brian Michael Bendis also grew after reading it.  Powers treads similar ground in discussing superheroes past their prime but it does so through the perspective of non-superpowered detectives.  Powers is a favorite comic series of mine and I’d recommend it to anybody who likes Watchmen (especially to friend of the site, Nic at Lair of the Lagomorph because I feel like I know his sensibilities just enough to heartily recommend Powers).

With all that said, I didn’t really know anything about Alan Moore and so I did a little investigation after reading this and all I can say is, wow, if he doesn’t challenge every stereotype that we Americans have of British people, I don’t know who does!  He makes Joe Wilkinson look put together!

Joe Wilkinson – An excellent comedian from England.

I say this as someone who is an unabashed anglophile.  I like Drum and Bass music which I associate heavily with the UK. I like 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown a comedy show with a funny name. I watched the Premier League (British soccer for American readers) for years and learned all kinds of tidbits about England through that.  How many Americans know anything about Stoke or Millwall? Or the Black Country for that matter?  Of course, I will always show respect to Geordies and Newcastle because I know they’re one of the bigger cities in Britain but I bet many people outside the UK don’t know that.  At this point, I have to be getting close to being knighted, right!?

All kidding aside, Alan Moore looks like a different kind of cat and was a total blind spot for me.  I get the impression he is incredibly smart and equally eccentric.  Its easy to see why he is revered in the comic book world but at the same time, I would bet that he is controversial and ruffled some feathers over the years. Personally, I’m more of a straight-laced kind of person and couldn’t be as out there as he seems to be but I suppose that’s why I find him interesting.  If anybody has any insight or thoughts on Alan Moore, I’d be curious to hear more. I feel like one or two of you regular commenters can share some insight.

That is more than enough from me though. Thank you as always for reading! Many weeks being able to write here is a welcome escape from reality for me and the interactions I get to have with everyone is a real privilege too.

62 thoughts on “Warhammer AoS – Who Watches the Gods of Chaos?”

  1. Hey mate! I’ve been reading of not commenting through your Khorne progress, and from early on I thought there was going to be some sort of “walking over lava” reddish OSL from below. I didn’t think of flaming skulls though, so it’ll be very interesting to see how you pull it off!

    I first read Watchmen… a long time ago. I actually have the original 12 issues bagged (somewhere) which I never opened. I read it via the collected graphic novel. Haven’t read it in a long time, though so it would be interesting to see if I have similar thoughts to yours on the dialogue.

    Watchmen really set the path in a lot of ways for comics that deconstruct the superhero in various ways – from Umbrella Academy to The Boys.

    The NYC in Watchmen also fits with the gritty urban depictions of US cities in the 70’s through 80’s. From Dirty Harry through Death Wish through Taxi Driver – I feel it shares that same kind of DNA, and it makes sense as Moore is from the UK and so would (probably) have been influenced by such depictions before he became more and more of a diconnected/off the grid hermit. It’s not like he could have lived the Mean Streets of New York – so he had to have gotten those ideas from somewhere, right?

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    1. I appreciate it, mate and I know you’ve been busy so worries at all. The lava idea with Khorne is a great one. It fits the disposition of Khorne and the color scheme really well. Since its been done before and done well, I figured I’d try to do something different to make this project stand out. We’ll see how it comes out in the end and whether it was worth it or not!

      The original Watchmen issues!? Those would surely be more valuable than Spawn (though I literally know nothing about comic book collecting and values). I think the Watchmen really has a high status among comic book fans and I can certainly see why.

      The Boys is a great example of something that might not exist without Watchmen. I think maybe Alan Moore even opened the doors for comic creators to be superhero “haters”. I don’t think many creators said bad things about superhero comics as a whole before that though I could certainly be wrong.

      I think I got the decades wrong a little bit and yours are right. Your list of movies is a good one for that setting too. I guess you could probably add The Warriors to that too. Being that I was born in 1985, a lot of that stuff passed me by. I’ve only watched Dirty Harry of all the movies we’ve discussed and I’ve never seen Judge Dredd or Robo Cop (which would also fit, I think?). Dave Stone is really going to give me the business for that but the reality is that my Dad wasn’t into those things (and that is mostly likely how I would have been turned onto them) and so I never watched any of them. The dirty and gritty city setting is a good one though and its vivid in my mind even with minimal exposure to it.

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  2. That’s a hell of a lot of work already on the base Jeff, will you be adding flames on there ? When bone is surrounded in flame you see it turn black as it chars, you my want to add some black in protrusions and large flat areas, probably best put on in glazes so as not to be too heavy.
    Never actually got round to reading Watchmen, but was on my list to at some point, did see the movie, that Alan Moore was working on, until he had a falling out, and then removed his name from the project completely.
    You’ve never seen Judge Dredd ! Both films have their merits and pitfalls, the original ( Stallone) visually looked great, but they tried to shoe horn too many characters into it, where they would have been better concentrating on a few.
    The Urban version had excellent portrayals of Dredd and Anderson, but the main villain was nothing special, and the visuals were lacking ( looked like modern day LA)
    There is a fan film called Judge Minty, that was great in all aspects, you can find it on YouTube, that Rebellion ( the producers of the Dredd comics) loved. They also did a second fan film Strontium Dog, also on YouTube, that won multiple awards, and premiered at Rebellions comic fest. I was in that one as a rock alien ! LOL

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    1. I hadn’t thought about adding flames in though it would probably look really cool. I don’t know if there is enough room to do it and it might limit brush access if I’m not really careful with it. If I had the idea from the beginning, I’d probably be able to do something nice with it. I should have consulted with you more on this project clearly! My thought was that Khorne might not just collect skulls for his throne but make some kind of lava/hell/fiery landscape where the skulls of people who wronged him burn for eternity. That seems to be in the spirit of GW’s lore but also something fairly manageable to paint.

      I think Alan Moore has fallen out with someone on every film project thus far including Watchmen and V for Vendetta so he definitely seems a bit prickly or maybe just a perfectionist like myself. I’ve heard the movie is VERY faithful to the comic so you may not find it worth reading in that sense.

      And this is really spiraling out of control! Next thing I know, I’ll mention that I haven’t seen Aliens either and Wudugast is going to turn up in a bad mood too haha!

      I just watched the Sy Stallone Dredd trailer and I can’t believe that Rob Schneider is in it. He is a terrible actor and comedian though he’s probably fine as the buddy in a buddy cop duo. I really like Karl Urban so I might be more inclined to give that a go. I didn’t realize Judge Dredd came out in 1995. I assumed it was from the 80’s for some reason. Regardless, I would consider watching Dredd at some point. Not sure if I will like it but I will give it a go!

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    2. It’s been awhile, but I thought Moore already had a huge falling out with DC before Watchmen and wanted his name completely removed from anything they did. Having nothing to do with the movie. Miller was similar on Daredevil.

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      1. That’s what I’ve heard as well. He was on board with Watchmen but fell out of love with it before the movie released. There was a headline last week that he wants profits from his books to go to Black Lives Matter which I’m sure is causing controversy with someone somewhere too so he hasn’t changed much 🙂

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      2. I don’t know if you know, but he was also a rock musician. So as far English eccentricity, I think of him something like ‘What if Led Zeppelin wrote comics instead?!’.

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      3. I didn’t know that! That is interesting. Alan Moore has interesting views on religion and I think he is in plural relationships with multiple girlfriends or wives at once. He definitely lives a very different life to you or I! 🙂

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    2. Thanks, John! Millwall is infamous for having really bad hooligan fans. That is about all I know about them to be fair 🙂 And good on your wife! I think the Geordie accent is a good one (not assuming your wife has one of course)!

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  4. By Crom, Flaming Skulls! (Just had to mix genres.) Flaming Skulls is a great name for a band as well. I like the idea that you are going with, I don’t think I’ve seen it before.

    Think I’ll pass on Watchmen, sounds like he got paid by the paragraph, something I don’t have the patience for.

    I’m enjoying Nocterra, it’s a different concept that makes it interesting and the ratio of art to text appeals to me.

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    1. Conan is fantasy and this miniature is fantasy so I think it fits! And Flaming Skulls should be a band for sure. It sounds cooler than the Flaming Lips which already exists!

      I think you could give the movie a go instead and experience what its all about. Having said that, Watchmen isn’t going to be for everyone and just because it is groundbreaking and genius, doesn’t mean its always fun to experience if that makes any sense. I don’t think I would read it again so I can relate to what you’re saying.

      Really glad to hear that on Nocterra! As I said before, I can’t wait to read more of it myself. It definitely stands out in a crowded post-apocalypse field. I’m reading something else post-apocalyptic now so its surely only a matter of time before I discuss it…

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  5. Can’t get more Khorne than flaming skulls! Really keen to see where this goes, I think you didn’t pick the easiest path with these and the model will be all the better for it.

    Thanks for the mention! Funnily enough I read the first half of the paragraph about Powers and was thinking that sounded really interesting, so right on the money! I need to start a to read pile for comics, you’re suggesting a lot of good stuff.

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    1. That’s kind of what I was thinking, Nic! I completely agree that when it comes to display painting, taking the harder and more ambitious road is often best.

      You’re very welcome! Powers is a long series and truthfully, the first trade paperback is good but the second and I think especially the third, are a little bit of a stepdown but then once you get to the fourth volume and beyond, its really high quality and the series hits its stride. I recently bought the first omnibus (which has trade paperback volumes one and two in it) when it was on sale and reread that. I can’t wait to re-buy the rest of the series and experience it again after I got rid of all the paper copies five or so years ago.

      For better and worse, I will probably keep the comic book discussion going in future weeks as I’ve already gotten sucked into another series and I have 4-5 other random trade paperbacks waiting to be read as well…

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      2. I’ve heard great things about it! I miss games like Neverwinter Nights, if you know that one, so if its similar at all to that style of RPG, I’d like to play it one day. I was thinking about going back and getting Divinity 2 but when I saw that people said the game is pretty hard, that gave me pause. Really hard RPGs can be maddening to me anyway!

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  6. Increasingly ambitious and excellent work mate! Those skulls… wow!

    I have not read Watchmen but I watched the movie a couple of times. Interesting, thought provoking and, for me anyway, really depressing. Good movie to discuss after watching over pizza at 2 am.

    The Urban version of Dredd was considerably better in my opinion but I never read the comics. It is a constant go to film I use to illustrate the idea that main protagonists do not need to remove their helmet/mask in order to skillfully act and play their role well.

    The original Robocop with Peter Weller indefinitely worth your time to watch. Probably in my top 20 foundational films that set a certain bar for others to strive for. Along the lines of the first Terminator movie, Alien, Jaws etc.

    When I fear assigned to an exchange program with the British Army as an outspoken American soldier in love with the UK, I found a lot of things that challenged the stereotypes I brought with me. Even more so when I later moved to the UK. Over a decade of living there and I never really understood the UK and my feelings are much more bittersweet. Similar to my feelings about the USA really.

    The Boys seems to me to be a very contemporary take on the same themes of Watchmen.

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    1. Thank you for the kind words!

      The ideas on how the heroes go bad in Watchmen are fairly realistic. Smart people like Ozymandias are often crazy or get crazier as they age, I’m sorry to say. Dr. Manhattan’s growing detachment makes a lot of sense too. Rorschach probably skewers the vigilante superhero better than any other character, I reckon.

      It sounds like I better make time to see Dredd and Robocop. I have seen Terminator and T2 if that gives me any credibility here. Probably not much.

      I’ve never tried reading or watching The Boys. The over the top violence is a bit of a turn off for me though I’d be most likely to read the comics and can handle it a bit better there.

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      1. In the Movie version of Watchmen, one thing that made me uncomfortable was the actor playing the Comedian… we bear a passing resemblance, at least in my mind anyway. So it was unsettling to see what he does and what happens to him. Same problem when I see Negan in The Walking Dead tv series.

        I tried to watch the Boys a few times, the violence and gore seemed so over the top gratuitous that it keeps putting me off. So many people rave about how good it is but it is hard for me to get past that. Perhaps too much real gore in my own past… but it is not just the gore, there is a mean spiritedness associated it and I do not mean the actors. More like from the director. As director is trying to shock or disgust the audience, I find it distracts from the narrative because it is so over the top. But I can appreciate it illustrates how so often movie violence hides the gore and glosses over the horror of violence.

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      2. The Comedian is probably the most realistic and disturbing character of them all. I think some variation of him would exist if superheroes were real unfortunately. Many people would say that looking like a famous actor is a good problem to have 🙂

        I know what you mean. Garth Ennis, is the writer of The Boys, and he has a reputation as someone who does not like working on superhero comics. He did work on the Punisher (go figure) but has almost completely avoided superhero comics for the Big Two (Marvel and DC) his entire career. I think The Boys probably goes beyond trying to deconstruct superheroes and from what I’ve heard about it, it seems like there is something cynical or jaded going on. If I read The Boys, it is more to figure out if the series could resonate with me at all but more likely, I think I would discover what I don’t like instead, if that makes sense.

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    2. Looking for something to watch and saw Dredd was on Netflix. I agree that not taking off the helmet didn’t impact his performance. I liked the movie, had a comic book feel to it in places.

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      1. I wouldn’t have thought to look on Netflix so I’m glad you mentioned it. I may have to give this one a watch in the near future, especially considering its a short movie by today’s standards.

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      2. You really do need to see Aliens mate. It is literally one of the best military sci-fi movies of all time. The Colonial Marines do an excellent job of actually coming across as real Marines rather than actors. Lots of excellent subtext to the various plot lines as well. Big stuff like, AI and what it means to be human. Corporate greed. The sometimes insane nature of military life. All with excellent costuming, set dressing and special effects as well as memorable dialogue. Some humor, some horror, lots of action. I find it hard to believe that you would not like it mate.

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      3. I make no promises but I certainly take your opinions and recommendation seriously, mate! I still have a strong suspicion that I won’t like it but there’s only one way to know for sure…

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      4. I have to ask, what makes you so sure you will not like it? What element of it puts you off? Horror? Ridley Scott? Militarism?

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      5. Horror. I don’t like almost anything horror that I’ve been exposed to, particularly TV shows and movies. If not for that, I probably would enjoy it. I didn’t know that people didn’t like Ridley Scott. I think he is a great director (or whatever his title is). I can’t think of a movie of his that I haven’t enjoyed, not that I’ve seen them all or anything.

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      6. Ah, horror. Aliens plays like a war film mostly… mostly (inside joke there). But there are certain scenes that play up the horror aspect. Not gore so much as existential dread. It is odd, as horrific as war is I do not think of war movies as horror movies but my wife does.

        Ridley Scott as made some great movies but also some not great movies. He is truly hit and miss. Alien is amazing. Prometheus is not. Gladiator is a classic. Kingdom of Heaven is not. Speaking of Kingdom of Heaven, what I really wanted from that film was an ensemble piece with the protagonist‘s father and his retainers.

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      7. I think your wife is on to something with war movies as horror. They can be that way because anybody can die at any time and you as the viewer feel like you have no control over what happens of course. There is definitely a lack of comfort there.

        I’m a big fan of Kingdom of Heaven but I watched the extended or director’s cut which is long but pretty darn good. I’ve heard the theatrical release is much poorer unfortunately. Come to think of it, I’ve probably told you this before too and am repeating myself yet again. Feel free to haul me off to the old folks’ home, mate haha. Personally, I think Baldwin, the Leper King, is fascinating and tragic in that movie. That was the first time I ever understood what leprosy is though so I’m sure that had an impact on me as well.

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      8. Ah think you may be right and I forgot. apologies. I really need to see the extended cut.

        Part of me likes that I am not affected by war movies the same way I am by psychological horror movies. But part of me is concerned about what has been done to me to make it so.

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      9. No worries! Its not really reasonable to expect someone to have to hunt down the Extended Version to find a good version of a film but that is the situation with Kingdom of Heaven. The studio must have done a number to create the Theatrical Cut…

        I know what you mean on war movies. I can watch them without feelings of horror myself and I’ve never served. So it might say as much about our gender as anything else.

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  7. Everything in Warhammer needs more skulls. The more skulls the better! Instead of a big rock it should be a giant skull! 😀😀

    I don’t like knowing too much about writers, actors, artists etc…. Because if they’re jerks it kinda ruins the art for me. I like the ignorance.

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    1. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! 🙂

      It is very true that many people we want to be a hero often fall short. Speaking of, I’ve thought about flying out to Sacramento to see if you’re as funny and witty as you appear or not. Okay, not really but I might have made you sweat for a second there 😉

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      1. Nice of you to think. Even nicer to write. Just give me a little advance warning so we can clean the house for company.

        But you’re probably right. Even I’m not hilarious 24/7. I do sleep sometimes…😀

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  8. You’ve not seen Aliens?! Sort your life out boyo!!

    Azazal said most of the things I would, I too have been enjoying your work on the Khorne model but not getting around to commenting, I too thought it would be lava but fiery skulls are even cooler, I too read the Watchmen many, many years ago. I agree with most of your thoughts on it, I certainly remember it packing a lot of big ideas into my young brain at the expense of pacing but that was fine by me at the time. Without spoiling things for anyone who hasn’t read it, do you think the “baddie” was right to do what he did? It struck me then and now that, faced with existential peril, people will take dire action and do things that would otherwise be unthinkable but which become acceptable, and even lauded as heroic, when they are the lesser of two evils. As the threats we face grow larger and begin to threaten the whole species so too do the “acceptable losses” and it’s ordinary people like you and I who pay the price. What actions would be acceptable to save the human race? Why should I suffer the consequences for the short-sightedness of others?

    Regarding the depictions of the cities keep in mind that urban decay was also sweeping the UK at the time Moore was writing, lots of cities felt dirty, poor and dangerous even when I was a lad.

    I really enjoyed The Boys but I really like satire, I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea though. I watched the show and read some of the comics and enjoyed both. I think Dave Stone is bang on the money with his comments on the Dredd films.

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    1. Never seen Aliens and probably never will! Sometimes you know if something will appeal to you or not and I’m 99% sure it isn’t for me. I guess I’m going to have to find another Necromunda expert to bother now… 😉

      As far as Watchmen goes, its good to hear you had similar experiences with it. I might be the wrong person to ask because I’m such a rigid moralist. To me no losses are justified and you try your best to avoid them. I’m probably actually closer in temperament to one of the Emperor’s zealots than I am Chaos in reality! I really liked how Dr. Manhattan became more disconnected from people as the story went on. I think certain superheroes (Superman, mostly) would surely find themselves going that route. At a certain point, who cares about one or two people when you’ve saved the earth from huge threats time and time again? It all becomes relative and pretty thankless in the end. Hopefully that answers your questions!

      I think urban decay was bad in the States at that time too. In more recent years, the decay is in the “Rust Belt” as we call it here. Basically anywhere that was focused on manufacturing suffered as those jobs went overseas. There is a town just outside Chicago called Gary that fits the setting of Watchmen well (even though it is too small to be considered a city). Drugs and crime are really bad. There’s almost no prospects for people stuck there. Its a sad situation. Hopefully this phenomenon isn’t affecting the UK (though I suspect it is…).

      I may try and read The Boys comic whenever I see it on sale to see what I think of it. I bet I won’t like it but I’ll try it with an open mind (just like with Watchmen)! I will try and watch Dredd too because I can’t afford to lose Dave’s sage advice 😀

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  9. Flaming Skulls on the ground?! Are you mad?! That’s going to be tough to pull off…but this reminds me that I did see a pic of the skull base in my feed, so I should’ve known earlier that was the source of lighting. *sigh* I’m a bit sad you didn’t go with the disco ball!
    I forgot to look how long between posts, but surprised you read Watchmen so quick. Glad to hear that you didn’t totally hate it though and you seemed to get it more than most people. Yes, it’s famous for Moore’s deconstruction of the superhero myth. Also the premise was essentially “What if superheroes REALLY existed and how would that impact the world?”. Something that really wasn’t touched on very much back then, but there were a few. Yes, it’s wordy, even for back then. Comics featured much more dialogue in the past. As a fan of Bendis, I can definitely see where that would be challenging! 😂 That being said, I originally read it as it was released. So 1 comic every month. A bit agonizing to wait, but because is the density it took awhile to read and gave us lot to think on and debate about along the way. I’ve also read it as a graphic novel, and I think that probably works better albeit at a leisurely pace.

    I did like the movie, but I wish Snyder wouldn’t have emphasized the superhero abilities. Rorschach and Nite Owl were essentially normal
    people, so the end fight (and other parts) fell very flat in the movie. Also he cut out a huge chunk of Rorschach’s prison stay. I thought that would get expanded in the ultimate deluxe director super duper editions, but never did. 👎

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    1. Disco balls are just too hard to paint, Brian! We need your friends in the paint industry to create some new paint to help with that 😉

      It wasn’t easy to get Watchmen read in a week. I’m reading something Watchmen inspired now and its also taking a long time to read even though it isn’t by Alan Moore.

      My complaint about Watchmen’s wordiness is that it needed a better (or more modern) editor. At times, it feels like Moore wants to be writing a novel instead of a graphic novel. I like a good novel but I don’t necessarily think the two can be mashed up effectively. With that said, I basically read everything in trades. I like having the whole story in one go and its so much cheaper than buying the issues individually. Storing issues individually isn’t easy either!

      Its interesting to hear your thoughts on the movie. I may have to give it a proper watch one of these days. I do think there was some good casting in it. Whoever played Rorschach nailed it, in my opinion!

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      1. All the casting for Watchmen was pretty much brilliant. The soundtrack is good. The length is probably just about right. It’s just the hyped up fights that bothered me the most. The ending change didn’t bother me at all, made more sense to most people I imagine.

        I found the wordiness of Watchmen to be fine, but then again I spent time reading (suffering?) Chris Claremont, who sometimes would literally describe the very action the artist was drawing!

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      2. I think the ending of the Watchmen comic is a little confusing so I think a clearer ending in the movie would be welcome for me anyway. Forget what I just said about reading Chris Claremont’s X-Men run haha! 😀

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      3. I found the comic ending fine, but I think for movie audiences who aren’t familiar with comics it would have been too weird.
        Yes, Claremont is wordy (too much in my book), but he tells some good stories that keep being rehashed over and over. He got to work with some of the best artists in the biz too, which I think further elevated his writing. Especially when Byrne was artist/co-plotter.

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  10. Throwing this at end of the thread since I can’t comment where it should be.

    For what’s it worth, I felt Alien is a horror movie in a scifi setting while Aliens is a war movie with some horror elements. I saw both in the theater when they came out and Alien definitely got the heart racing more.

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    1. I just ran into that myself. WordPress comments function in a strange way…

      Thank you for the recommendations! I know you’re a fan of the series. I will say that its a dangerous path to walk. First, you watch the Aliens movies and then you get the miniatures, and then none of the projects you started previously get done and you’re broke and have no storage space! 🙂

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      3. Kuribo, you need Apone, Vasquez, Hudson and Hicks in your life. You really do. Seriously, that Colonial Marine squad represented so many real soldiers I served with over the years.

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