The Watchmen by Alan Moore

Alan’s Moore’s tale of costumed heroes grown old revolutionised the comics industry when it was published in the 80s. Writers like Moore and Frank Miller made comics something people had a reason to read.

Revisiting the series, it does not disappoint. It strikes me this time round that the story is principally about what happens when life moves on and leaves you behind. Where do you go?

This is a question asked by the original heroes, now ageing and dying, and also their generational replacements. The story starts and ends with the murder of one costumed hero by another.

For me the best moment of the tale is on Mars when Laurie finally learns the truth of her parentage, a truth she has known her whole life but never consciously admitted to herself. As Jon helps her bring the truth to the surface, it’s very moving.

If you’ve never read The Watchmen before, now is the time to do so. If you’ve never read a graphic novel before, The Watchmen is an excellent place to start.

Moments

Many books have their moments, scenes that stay in your mind even years later, as vivid as when you first read them. This is one of the things that drives me to keep reading, the knowledge that there are more such memories waiting to be burned into my mind.

I’ve selected some of my own favourites below – I’m sure you have yours. I’ve put the book they come from after the scene.

William reading his letter from Marygay, written centuries earlier. (The Forever War by Joe Haldeman)

The cacophony of talking stones at York cathedral. (Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell by Susannah Clarke)

The French dragon falling screaming to its death after suffering a face
full of acid from an English longwing. As it plummets, its sorrowful rider puts a
pistol to the head of his faithful companion to end its agony. (Temeraire by Naomi Novik)

Ilya Volyova walking the vast and silent corridors of her ship. (Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds)

Fat Charlie Nancy’s karaoke experience – I’m smiling as I type this (Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman)

Trying to use the phones in Unlondon (Un Lun Dun by China Mieville)

The wizard Harry Potter digging the faithfuls Dobby’s grave using only a
shovel and the strength of his arms. (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Joanne Rowling)

Reid Malenfant, at the point of death, clutches an image of his wife,
dead 6000 years ago. Her name is the last sound on his lips. (Space by Stephen Baxter)

Sansa realising it is her wolf that is to be executed. (A Game of Thrones by George RR Matin)

Computer Games and Stories

At first glance, computer games might not seem the best place to look for stories. Surely a music video or even a nearby wall would have more chance of containing a decent story?

Well, Yes and No.

Many computer games don’t have any story, because they don’t need one. Some just need a premise (the princess has been kidnapped! rescue her by jumping over a series of moving platforms!), some don’t even need that. Tetris is its own device.

Other computer games do have stories, poor ones. Stories that would ill grace the backs of cereal boxes pass muster too often in the industry.

However, others do tell good stories. The best use the medium to tell stories that wouldn’t be possible to tell elsewhere.

I’m going to list a few here, but I must warn anyone below the age of 20 that you might not recognise any of the titles here. There’s nothing wrong with today’s games, but the stories that gripped me are all from last century.

Half-Life was an important game, not just for the strength of its story by for the game genre (that word again) in which it took place. For whatever reason, prevailing wisdom in the 1990s was that you can’t tell a story through the medium of a first-person shooter. Valve proved that to be wrong, and did it in style.

The Last Express was a good mystery, done in vivid style.

Starship Titanic and I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream are both examples of science fiction authors trying their hand at the medium, with mixed results. The first was Douglas Adams, the second Harlan Ellison.

Wasteland (and this is going back a ways – to the 1980s) told a grim tale of life hanging on in a post nuclear Nevada.

Of more recent games, there is little to tell. First-person shooters rarely rise to the storytelling heights of Half-Life, Bio Shock and Mass Effect are two recent efforts that may entertain.

Role-playing games, what you might think of as the natural home for stories in computer games tend to be a little stunted. Either the story is truncated and used as something to give your mouse of joypad hand a rest between combats, or else you spend your whole time squinting to read reams and reams of text – that is for books people.

Don’t dismiss computer games as a storytelling medium. A closer look can reveal some real gems.

The Case of the Mummy’s Gold by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik

The grand titles are back for the 5th Penny Arcade collected edition, and long may they remain.

Highlights of this year include Twisp and Catsby (my favourites), the excellent Wandering Age excerpt (“before this moment, did I ever see the world?”) and the expereince of queueing to buy Halo 2 (“quick! find a teacher!”).

When excellence is the general standard, it leaves a reviewer with very little to say. Yes, this collection contains some excellent webcomics. I’ve listed my favourites above. There’s little more to say. See? Excellent.

Aliens, Evolution, and Stories

Another week, another must-see link to Ted.

In this talk, Susan Blackmore, talk about memes, the spreading of ideas. Like genes, memes spread through us, through our contact with others. Ideas are spread through language (which itself evolves in response to memes) and of course, through stories.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/269

Susan also touches on the newer concept of ‘temes’ which is self-replicating technolgies, made possible through computers and the internet. Technology that replciates and spreads itself throuyh us. We have no more choice in this than we do through the transmission of genes, language and ideas.

Susan briefly touches on the subject of extra-terrestrials. Any such species, having come through an evolutionary process, will see us as somewhere to spread their genes, memes and temes. And vice versa.

I think that should aliens arrive in their silver-shipped glory, they will not come to conquer or steal our water. They will come to tell us their stories, and to hear ours in return. It’s a shame space is so big, really.

Birds Are Wierd by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik

The grandiose titles of the first three Penny Arcade collected editions give way here to a more straightforward statement. Are they? I’d never really thought about it.

This is my favourite of the collections so far, and because of the art rather than the writing. Gabe experiments with several different styles. There is the first page of The Wandering Age. The sketchbook moments are a treat too, especially the dancing robot. He really doesn’t know what time of year it is.

Highlights other than the dancing robot? The Prince of Persia cartoon, plus the Knights of the Old Republic. Just excellent.

Again, you don’t need to be an aficionado of the website to pick the up – the narrative assumes a knowledge of computer games, that is the main entry requirement, the shared understanding that is the basis for the strip.

The Warsun Prophecies by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik

The grand-sounding title belies a more workaday content – one year’s supply of Penny Arcade comics, with commentary from Tycho, the writer.

The year in question is 2002, and its interesting to see how great gaming dilemmas of the day fade into nothing much with the addition of a few short years. Microsoft’ X-Box and its controller come in for repeated criticism – does anyone even use that console now? Certainly the company itself has long-since consigned it to the great shelf in the sky.

The real joy of reading these through is with Tycho’s commentary. It’s interesting though, The comics collected were originally published in 2002. The commentary dates from 2006, and is already, as it were, dated. So we have a book with ephemeral cartoons from the last, accompanied by ephemeral commentary from the slightly more recent past. I like it.

Penny Arcade is a website dedicated to computer games. Everything that comes from the site has grown from the simple premise of two guys talking about computer games. The Warsun Prophecies is the third of four so-far published collections. The fifth is due this very month.

This is not a book solely for the converted. If you’ve never read the website before, you could still pick this up and enjoy it. I think. I’m pretty sure. try it, and tell me how it goes.

Stories All Around You

Click the link, then come back is my advice.

Urban Animation

No, it’s not a story. This is the first I’ve seen of it’s type and it is freaking excellent. I have seen the future – stories all around us. Every wall, every surface. No, BLU didn’t make a story with this technique, but someone will. Art has the capacity to amaze and excite. Count me amazed and excited.

Personal note: Okay, so yet another video that won’t embed. This is really pissing me off. What, only YouTube links are allowed to work? That is my experience. As if YouTube were the sum fucking total of human video interation. Thankfully it isn’t. WordPress, are you listening? Lift your fucking game pronto!