Wednesday, August 13, 2008

When Words Collide: The Ballad of Captain Metropolis

The second weekly edition of "When Words Collide" is now live at CBR. It's supposed to be titled "The Ballad of Captain Metropolis," but it ran without a title. (Not that you'll have any doubt regarding the subject of the column, once you begin reading.)

And as Chad Nevett has already e-mailed me: I neglected to mention that Nelson Gardner was responsible for the formation of the Minutemen. It was, of course, his letter to Sally Jupiter (or her agent, rather), that led to the beginning of the team. I left that part out on purpose, because frankly I got tired of listing all the reasons why Captain Metropolis was so essential to Watchmen. I think there's more than enough evidence without that fact being included, and I wanted to move on to the more interesting topic: the Watchmen role-playing game. I may even have an interview with Daniel Greenberg and Ray Winninger coming up -- so keep you eye out for that. But, for now, enjoy my tribute to the sad and misguided Captain, and since I don't yet have a CBR forum, tell me how wrong I am in the comments here.

4 comments:

Richard said...

Wrong? Hardly, sir. Kudos on spotting something that passed most of us by, and correctly understanding the importance of the character.

Unknown said...

Not wrong at all. You are right on the money... about Captain Metropolis and about the time when Watchmen wasn't an untouchable holy scripture of geekdom.

Anonymous said...

Wait, they've written him out of the script and made noteowl the instigator of the failed crimebusters? That changes everything! Damn it, there goes my hopes for a faithful adaptation.

But kudos to you sir. Fine article, fine indeed.

Matthew E said...

No, I think you're right, although I'm not sure how much weight I'd put on it.

Those Mayfair supplements are sometihng, aren't they? I made a point of hunting down the one about the 5YL Legion, the one that has information on the Legion that was never in the comics... but that DC referenced as canon within the past year. I paid about forty bucks for it and was happy to get it so cheap.