(Thought of that promotional pic when I read this Project Censored story...)

A while back, as I was buying comics at the Oakland Phantom of the Attic, I found myself in an argument--totally out of the blue--with novelist Wayne Wise about computers and the future of comics. He seemed to think that the Internet was some kind of threat to brick and mortar comics stores. I didn't think much of his argument at the time but then I started to notice the mystery of the disappearing music store. Does anybody remember the National Record Mart? Just a handful of music stores left now in Pittsburgh. Replaced by Amazon and let's face it: torrent sites. I didn't think that could happen to comics but I'm beginning to think differently.

I say that because I really kind of enjoy the Watchmen Motion Comics. These are comics with some rudimentary flash enabled animation plus all the dialogue voiced out. I really enjoyed the first one. The second one came out which is a complete read through of Issue 2, arguably one of the best written comics ever made. You can't buy these motion comics at Phantom of the Attic. You can only download them at Itunes. And the price is right: $1.99. That's actually cheaper than most comics and you get movement and vocal work. If they did the same for the other completely superior Alan Moore books, say Promethea, Top Ten, Tom Strong and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, then I would buy them as well. And, yes, I suppose, if you offered comics this way what would we need with a brick and mortar comic book store, my 20 bucks a month notwithstanding. Perhaps Wayne was right about being annoyed.

One complaint about the voiceover work in the first two issues is that they have this one guy doing all the voiceover work. He's okay with male characters. His women don't sound convincing at all. One person seemed to think his female characters sounds like Dr. Girlfriend of the Venture Brothers. There was a long delay between the first and second issues and we were hoping that poor Warner Brothers could hire a girl. Or even more than just that one guy who does the voiceover work. But apparently Warner Brothers can't afford it. I guess this is why we no longer have music on your so called music channels. (See related Harlan Ellison rant.) Related: Robert Kirkman's Invincible is also going down the motion path via MTV. Their animation isn't as good but it looks like they hired a girl to voice the girl parts. How innovative. Invincible is a very very disturbing comic book by the way. Without giving the plot away: You remember how there are people who think Superman is some kind of alien threat, well...

Related: You can see issues 1 and 2, starring Uncle Scam as Rorshack and myself as pudgy bespectacled middle aged Nite Owl, right here. There are some benefits to nobody reading us I guess. Don't know how long these will be up. I mean, they only cost $1.99...

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Labels: alan moore, watchmen