Watchmen/Charlton Analogues??

[mrorangesoda]

The other Watchmen thread got me thinking. Most people know that Watchmen was going to originally use Charlton characters, but that idea got axed from upstairs so Moore used analogues of the Charlton characters.

I get the Dr Manhattan/Captain Atom, Nite Owl/Blue Beetle, and Rorschach/Question parallels, but I really don't know any other Charlton characters.

Are the other main characters in Watchmen versions of other Charlton characters? Or are they original creations of Moore?

[Defunct]

The rest don't really have strong analogues from Charlton, but Silk Spectres is sort like Nightshade, Ozymandias is sort of like Thunderbolt, and The Comedian is similar to Peacemaker.

[alexeiluthor]

As you said:

Jon is Capt. Atom
Dan is Blue Beetle
Rorschach is The Question

Sally Jupiter is a Nightshade/Black Canary pastiche
The Comedian is based on The Peacemaker
Adrian Veidt is modeled after Thunderbolt

[genetic freak]

I was going to answer you but people here are fast and got me beat. So I'm just going to post whore. :p The hooded guy I think has no analogue. There I contributed something.

[mrorangesoda]

Thanks.

Hmm, Suicide Squad Nightshade= Silk Spectre, I wouldn't have guessed that.

Have Peacemaker and Thunderbolt made any important DCU appearances?

[Kolimar]

Have Peacemaker and Thunderbolt made any important DCU appearances?

Peacemaker I appearances (http://www.dcuguide.com/chronology.php?name=peacemaker). He's dead but there are a couple more and a Peacemaker organization somewhere :D)

Thunderbolt's appearances (http://www.dcuguide.com/chronology.php?name=thunderbolt4). I think he's no longer a DCU character. The rights reverted back to his creator.

[BillReed]

Thanks.

Hmm, Suicide Squad Nightshade= Silk Spectre, I wouldn't have guessed that.

Have Peacemaker and Thunderbolt made any important DCU appearances?

Thunderbolt had his own series that lasted a year or so, and the rights have now reverted back to the creator. (I think Ozymandias also had some Judomaster mixed in, and he was just ripped in half or something in Crisis).

There've been one or two or three Peacemakers, who've popped up here or there in Showcase or JLA, and I think one of them got killed off recently, or something.

[Kolimar]

He's dead but there are a couple more and a Peacemaker organization somewhere :D)

http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=peacemaker2

http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=peacemaker3

http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=peacemakerproject

:D

[CleverShmever]

There's a really great appendix in the Watchmen Hardcover/Absolute Watchmen that show's Moore's notes on the Charlton characters and how they fit into the story, and then his notes on the characters that actually appear in Watchmen, after DC threw down the gauntlet. It pretty much spells out who's supposed to be who.

EDIT:

Everyone above pretty much sums up the notes, but it's a must-read just to see how the characters and story evolved.

[Kolimar]

There've been one or two or three Peacemakers, who've popped up here or there in Showcase or JLA, and I think one of them got killed off recently, or something.

I think that's #3 in IC and there's a #4 in the new Blue Beetle series.

[khuxford]

I think that's #3 in IC and there's a #4 in the new Blue Beetle series.

Is he the motorcycle guy in the book???

[Defunct]

Is he the motorcycle guy in the book???
Yup, that's him.

[Juisarian]

Hooded Justice is based on The Hangman from the Archie Comics "action/adventure" imprint, I can't remember what it was called.

[Caramuru]

IIRC, Moore wanted to use the Archie characters before he thought of using the Charlton characters.

Nite Owl is supposed to be a Dave Gibbons creation from years before who was incorporated into Watchmen once they decided not to use the Charlton characters.

[KingPagla]

IIRC, Moore wanted to use the Archie characters before he thought of using the Charlton characters.

Nite Owl is supposed to be a Dave Gibbons creation from years before who was incorporated into Watchmen once they decided not to use the Charlton characters.:confused: But Night Owl is so much like the Blue Beetle - even the ships are similar.

[Caramuru]

:confused: But Night Owl is so much like the Blue Beetle - even the ships are similar.

I know, but supposedly Gibbons created him years before Watchmen.

I didn't say Nite Owl was a very original creation. :p

[StevenClubb]

Like Blue Beetle wasn't channeling large quantites of Batman :P

According to Moore, Nightshade was replaced by a Phantom Lady pastiche, because he never liked the character of Nightshade... and since he wasn't locked into the Charleton Universe anymore, he was free to make whatever changes he thought were necessary.

Back when I first read the story, I was completely unaware of the Charleton Universe and thought Doctor Manhattan was Superman, while Rorshack, Ozymandias, and Blue Beetle were the different aspects of Batman. Did recognize Silk Spectre as Phantom Lady, since I had a decent bit of knowledge of Golden Age heroes.

In the end, I think they really are just common characters in super-hero comics... both real and psychoanalysized. You have the guy pursuing justice/revenge, you have the adventurer, you have the sadist, you have the publicity hound, you have the legacy, etc. Pretty much every reason to become a super-hero (either from comics or from comic criticism) is on display in Watchmen, which makes me laugh when people zero in on the more extreme personalities and try to say that's what Moore thinks of heroes.