Watchmen and EArth 4 mapping

[the Hornet]

Can someone help me identify the Earth 4 characters that inspired the Watchmen characters ?

These are those that I know -

Question - Roscharch

hehe...thats all.

[filthysize]

The Comedian - Peacemaker
Doctor Manhattan - Captain Atom
Nite Owl - Blue Beetle
Ozymandias - Thunderbolt

[filthysize]

Oh, yeah, Silk Spectre - Nightshade

[shaxper]

The Comedian - Peacemaker
Doctor Manhattan - Captain Atom
Nite Owl - Blue Beetle
Ozymandias - Thunderbolt

The Comedian was also influenced by Marvel's Sgt. Fury and Doctor Manhattn was also influenced by Gold Key's Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom.

[filthysize]

The Comedian was also influenced by Marvel's Sgt. Fury and Doctor Manhattn was also influenced by Gold Key's Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom.

Eh, I guess....

He asked for the Charlton characters, though. I personally don't think they are. It's just a coincidence. The Watchmen characters are darker exaggerations of the Charlton characters.

For instance, The Peacemaker was a hardcore pacifist who championed peace, yet he ran around fighting bad guys using excessive force. He's a walking contradiction because he doesn't act his "gimmick". Alan Moore exaggerated this and made The Comedian a nasty brute who loved violence but donned the moniker of a comedian. The old Peacemaker comics also showed him fighting dictators for peace. Hence the Vietnam thing in Watchmen. Sure, he looks like Fury, but it's not like it was purposely so.

[shaxper]

Eh, I guess....

He asked for the Charlton characters, though. I personally don't think they are. It's just a coincidence. The Watchmen characters are darker exaggerations of the Charlton characters.

For instance, The Peacemaker was a hardcore pacifist who championed peace, yet he ran around fighting bad guys using excessive force. He's a walking contradiction because he doesn't act his "gimmick". Alan Moore exaggerated this and made The Comedian a nasty brute who loved violence but donned the moniker of a comedian. The old Peacemaker comics also showed him fighting dictators for peace. Hence the Vietnam thing in Watchmen. Sure, he looks like Fury, but it's not like it was purposely so.

I wasn't stating my opinion. I actually read this somewhere (though I can't recall where). The Nick Fury thing seemed like a stretch to me too, but I believe that came directly from Alan Moore's mouth. The Doctor Solar thing makes tremendous sense though.

[filthysize]

I see. That's interesting. Yeah, you're right. I guess Doctor Solar's origin is closer to Doctor Manhattan's than Captain Atom's... he wasn't Charlton though, so I never really thought about it.

[Apathy Boy]

Moore had an even earlier concept of the comic that was based on the Archie superhero line. Private Strong would've played the Comedian role (i.e. "corpse"), the Black Hood would've been Rorschach and... err, I've forgotten who everyone else would've been.

Edit: Well, I s'pose the Fly as Nite Owl would be an obvious choice. But for the life of me, I can't figure out who'd be Doc Manhattan and who'd be Ozymandias.

[Agentum]

Night owl II = Blue Beetle II (in DC, Ted Kord) :)

Hooded Justice = Archies Hangman (no Charlton i know)
The older super team in Watchmen, Minutemen is probably still a lot more inspired by the Archie superheroes.
Moore probably chaged a lot when he couldn't ger the heroes he wanted most.

[Joker2503]

If I'm remembering right, Moore originally wanted to use the Charlton characters as themselves in Watchmen. DC vetoed the idea of these classic, beloved characters becoming what Moore wanted to turn them into, so he had to create his own spin-offs.

[dancj]

I was under the impression that it was DCs idea for Moore to use the Charlton characters. When he started plotting it, someone (not sure who) decided to keep the Charlton characters usable in the DCU and have Moore + Gibbons create new characters

[Agentum]

Yest Moore wanted to use the Archie superheroes, but DC had get hold of the Charlton heroes so he decided to use them.
But when the DC boss saw what Moore wanted to do with them he pulled the plug and Moore had to do his own versions instead.