8. Watchmen, Watchmen, Watchmen

Every Damn Thing

Phil and Jake press forward on the march to complete the List of Every Damn Thing by ranking Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' comic book Watchmen, the 2009 film adaptation of Watchmen directed by Zac Snyder, and the 2019 HBO Watchmen miniseries created by Damon Lindelof.

If you have something to add to the List of Every Damn Thing, submit it by email to [e-mail]

SHOW NOTES:

• Here's a local article with some pictures of the day that smoke from wildfires blocked out the sun in Northern California.
• We don't really like the term "graphic novel" because we think it comes from a deep well of insecurity. This brief article outlines the history of the term, and agrees with us.
• The Watchmen comic is extremely popular and has never gone out of print (which keeps the intellectual property rights in the hands of DC / Warner Bros). It’s in some ways "The Comic" in that it’s the first comic many people read, which is probably not how it should be.
• There are lots of comics similar to Watchmen. As kids, we preferred Marvel's Squadron Supreme, which came out around the same time but was much more straightforward. In recent years Grant Morrison’s Pax Americana and Kieron Gillen’s Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt both grappled with Watchmen in fun ways.
• Alan Moore is a writer and magician. He’s had some losses but mostly wins (including an appearance on The Simpsons).
• The 2020 Emmys air on Sunday, September 20th. The HBO Watchmen series was nominated for 26 awards. Red carpet! Best dressed! Worst drurssed! Snubs! Flubs!
• Even the trailer for Citizen Kane was totally unconventional for its time.
• Speaking of TIME, their List of 100 Best Novels and Top Ten Graphic Novels are lesser authorities than the List of Every Damn Thing.
• Phil & Jake don’t get into it in the podcast, but both The Incredibles and the Watchmen movie are much more sympathetic to the Ayn Rand bullshit that Alan Moore was commenting on in the Watchmen comic.
• Jackie Earle Haley, who plays Rorschach in the Watchmen movie, was also very good in Little Children. We wish they’d made Watchmen in the 80s so that Stacey Keach could have played Eddie Blake.
• Jake mentions the animated adaptation of the pirate comic-within-the-Watchmen comic, Tales of the Black Freighter, which was released in coordination with the Watchmen movie. The original Nite Owl's autobiography-- excerpts of which appear as back matter inthe comic-- was also adapted in the form of an old TV interview.
• The 1921 Tulsa Black Wall Street massacre was covered beautifully recently on On the Media. Its resurgence in our collective memory is perhaps best credited to The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nahesi Coates.

ALSO DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
2000 AD * Zap! Comix * Savage Sword of Conan * Ghost World by Daniel Clowes * Unforgiven * Charlie Brown * Bass Reeves, the first black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi * the Aquaman movie being about biracial identity * Jessica Rabbit

Below is the List of Every Damn Thing as of this episode (for the most up-to-date list, go here):

1. Prince (person)
2. Donald Duck (fictional character)
3. Hank Williams (person)
4. air (element)
5. Watchmen (comic book)
6. onions (food)
7. intro to Back That Azz Up (music)
8. nail clippers (tool)
9. rye bread (food)
10. land (element)
11. Watchmen (TV show)
12. Jessica Rabbit (fictional character)
13. crows (animal)
14. sea (element)
15. coffee (beverage)
16. national debt (idea)
17. band t-shirts (clothing)
18. lightning rounds (idea)
19. generation ships (idea)
20. sardines (food)
21. Tommy Bahama shirts (clothing)
22. Watchmen (movie)
23. blood (substance)
24. Oreos (food)
25. sports team jerseys (clothing)
26. Josta (beverage)
27. Gambit (fictional character)
28. Surge (beverage)
29. Double Stuf Oreos (food)
30. Jenny McCarthy (person)
31. Hank Williams Jr. (person)
32. QAnon (idea)

The theme song for this episode is by Jade Puget.

Podcast cover art by Jason Mann.

Our website is everydamnthing.net

Email us at [e-mail]