Wednesday, June 2, 2010

What is The Whatmen?

The Whatmen is a 34 page graphic novel which acts as a complete parody to the Watchmen. The satyr that is the Whatmen pokes fun at things as simple as character development by changing their appearance and names. A fantastic example of this is seen in the character Rorschach. If you have read Watchmen already or at least seen the movie, it is pretty obvious that he is a pretty important character and that he is very serious. In the Whatmen novel, his name is revealed to be Nutsack on the first page of the chapter titled "Call My Agent". This is a very important change because it erases the back story that explains why Rorschach chooses to wear a mask that depicts a typical Rorschach test and takes away from his identity. His mask in Whatmen is of a much more comedic nature and instead of being intimidating it is silly, curious and childish. All of the characters had their appearance and name changed in some way much of this information is found on page 2 of the chapter titled "Absolute Friends". Ozymandias who named himself after Ramesses II is renamed as Ozzy Mandious. The Second Nite Owl is renamed as "Hooty the Owl" whose costume consists of some normal clothing, a cape and most noticeably, a brown paper bag as his mask. The Comedians costume is very similar to the original other than the fact that in Whatmen, he is wearing ass-less chaps. These are just a few of the changes of the character changes in the graphic novel "The Whatmen".

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