Chapter 173: Devious’s Crisis
Of course, the entirety of the influential Watchmen comics doesn't just revolve around flawed heroes for it to have been a success. Many deep allegorical and thematic reflections can be found on the many panels and pages that it held.
However, the premise of flawed heroes does stand out and made it a rising supercomic among the other superhero comic books during its run.
It was quite a good strategy for Creed Comics as they were the ones who published it. The other Creed titles' take on optimistic heroism wasn't too damaged as they had varying and complex templates on their own.
The same could not be said for the competing publishers though. For a comic book industry whose so-called mainstream Big Two are publishers of superhero comics, the premise of Watchmen poked a lot of their weakness.
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"What do you think, Mr. Lee?" Jim Shooter asked after he noticed that the Marvel legend had finally flipped all the pages of the Watchmen comic book. "Should we prepare for the worst and go on with superhero comic stories that go by the Watchmen hero archetypes?"
"You're worrying too much, Jim." Stan Lee appeased with his gruffing voice. "Take it easy and relax."
"How could I not worry? How could I take it easy? How could I relax?" Jim Shooter was quite shaky as he was now noticeably far from his usually stoic and strict Editor-in-Chief self. "Isn't Watchmen way too attacking towards us?"
"Why do you say so?" Stan Lee asked.
"Although it's only the first issue and isn't too obvious yet, anyone who knows comic books should be able to tell what the Watchmen heroes represent." Jim expounded. "Given that it is Creed's response to the Alan Moore challenge, this new Creed title could very well be a dark, anarchic story that destroys our famed hero archetype."
"If DC wasn't too adamant with their shameless taunting, then Creed Comics and Alexander probably wouldn't have published such a hero-damaging comic book." Jim gritted his teeth and could only blame their long-time industry rival.
"True, true." Stan hummed in recognition of those mentioned points. "But have you stopped to think about Marvel's own advantage? You've been blaming DC for Watchmen's creation and have also generalized its simple purpose."
"What do you mean?" Jim Shooter was confused.
"Marvel heroes aren't perfect and 'smiley' optimistic like DC. In fact, it is a big critic on DC's over-the-top heroics." Stan Lee was quite at ease with things. "Unlike DC who think superpowers are gifts, us from Marvel think of it as a burden. Do you get what I mean now? You already said it yourself, Watchmen is Creed's response to DC's barking. Why do you have to include the Marvel in that feud?"
"Watchmen's critique is solely on DC alone and nothing else." Jim was quite stabler when he muttered this and grimaced at his overreactions.
"Sheesh! How stressed are you at your Marvel position that you're overthinking things." Stan Lee felt sympathy for this man. Poor Jim Shooter was clearly assaulted with a lot of things lately.
Shooter wasn't too well-liked by his Marvel peers, he had to think of ways to claim back their top spot, and now he has to deal with a supposed Creed Comics sharpened attack towards the hero genre.
Stan Lee was genuinely quite thankful now that he ditched most of the heavier responsibilities. His 'excelsior' mentality probably wouldn't be able to keep up with all the trouble that poor Jim Shooter was experiencing.
Legendary Stan only wants excelsior, not Jim Shooter's stressed-out anxieties.
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Of course, the Marvel duo's weird banter aside, DC Comics had much more trouble to deal with.
A lot of old comic books have tackled the flawed and darkened heroics in the past but they had to be serious when it came to Watchmen.
Aside from being produced by the scarily influential and versatile Creed creator as a critique for heroes, it was also birthed from their annoying urgings.
They had dismissed these important facts before and now they were facing the consequences of it.
Alan Moore's style is clearly special, how can Alexander Creed even try to meddle around? Wouldn't he be too much of a bug if he could make that style as well?
JoJo was supposed to be the measly attempt to fight against Alan Moore, how come Watchmen had to come along to ruin that happy misconception of theirs?
They were already prepared to mock JoJo as a tragic romance comic book, how come they had to suffer the consequences of a different flawed hero-themed comic book?
They were just clearly rubbing off the Alexander Creed clout, why did Alexander Creed have to retaliate like so?
They were just demonizing and making him the biggest antagonist through media propaganda, why did Alexander Creed have to make their superhero characters seem way too disgustingly perfect?
Perfect heroes were good but the flawed heroes of Watchmen just made them seem imperfect. It was just the first issue but DC already thought the worst as the Watchmen story would go on. DC heroes would probably be hypocritically heroic as Watchmen heroes continue to become popular.
They were just damaging Alexander Creed's character to damage Creed Comics a bit, why did he have to damage their hero products in such a mean way?
These were things and questions that the DC masterminds pondered about but the more they dig deep on it, the more they felt regret.
Everything was already going smooth in their opinion, how come Watchmen had to be made and ruin everything?
A lot of resources and manpower had been spent already but it all became obsolete as a blood-stained Smiley cover was being read and praised by the comic book community.
Although it had only been a few days since Watchmen was issued out for the public, a lot of incoming trouble could already be seen DC from the horizon.
If Jim Shooter was already finicky despite not being the target at all, the DC masterminds had it much worse.
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'Sighing' editor could only sigh at this turn of events. "If these executives of mine just turned their focus on the Crisis on the Infinite Earths project, then none of this might have blown too much out of proportion."
"Crisis on Infinite Earths this, Crisis on Infinite Earths that." Devious editor happen to hear his sighs and complained. "We're on a company crisis, why do you have to focus on that all the time?"
"Sure, the company's characters are probably going to be damaged but it isn't going to amount to much." 'Sighing' editor clapped back. "The true company crisis is the amount of resources used on the Alan Moore plan though. It isn't even a company crisis in a way but your crisis. After all, you're the one who came up with the Alan Moore vs Alexander Creed fight plan.
Devious editor could only grit his teeth as it was the truth.
"Now that it's blowing up in the worst way, you're the one in the greatest crisis out of all of us. You've already messed up with the DC survey fiasco and this Alan Moore problem should be your second strike." Of course, sighing editor was far from finished. "The Alan Moore fiasco may have just been your last though as this business industry isn't the strike-based baseball. If you happen to keep your job from all this, you better just stick to your editorial job description next time and stop poking around the business of executives."
Devious editor had to get out of the ranting editor's way. For someone who sighs most of the time, sighing editor's words were hurtful and on point.
However, all hope was not lost for devious editor. Alan Moore was his "last" mistake but it is also his last chance.
Some of his problems could be saved once Alan Moore published his story. Creed vs. Moore would only be finished when they truly trade blows after all.
Watchmen may not be the last winner to everything but the problem is: Where was Alan Moore and what is he up to? How was his crisis going to be solved if his solution wasn't even present?