Kevin's Watch

Imagine my surprise to learn that you are a comic book geek! I was just wondering if you were at all familiar with the 2 capstones of the genre, "The Watchmen" and "The Sandman". The Watchmen (soon to be a movie by Aronofsky!!!) seems to be a source of anti-heroes to daunt even your own prodigious supply of them.

Also, no fantasy will ever enlighten and delight me to the degree Gaiman's Sandman has. Perhaps if you haven't heard of The Sandman you have heard of some of Niel Gaiman's novels? Neverwhere, American Gods, or Good Omens are admittadly inferior within their genre to the Sandman, but are still good fantasy.

It seems to me you are more of a Marval man... DC really grabbed the torch and thwacked Marval across the head with it in the late 80s. Maybe looking into these titles would rejuvenate your interest in comic books.

Yes, I've read both "The Watchmen" and (much more extensively) "The Sandman." In particular, Gaiman's work on "The Sandman" seems extraordinary to me, and I re-read the whole set every few years just for the pleasure of it.

But in other ways I no longer feel drawn to comics. I can't say why: it just happened.

Nathan: Most of the questions you answer seem to be about the Covenant books, so I'll offer you a little variety.
When Nick Succorso died on the bridge of Gutbuster/Soar I was so disappointed that he never got his revenge on Sorus, his whole life had built up to that moment and he'd lost everything else. My question is: do you think Nick Succorso deserved to die without exacting revenge for the scarring (and the humiliation that went with it) that turned his life into a long, bitter struggle?
I'd probably agree that he deserved to die, but not the way he did.
By the way, thanks for some really great stories, especially The Gap, The Killing Stroke and By any other name.






I have a vivid memory of having already answered this exact question. But if I did, I find no record of it. Perhaps I dreamed it....

Your reactions are your own, of course; and inherently valid by definition. Speaking purely for myself, however, I can't share your disappointment. Here's how I look at it. Sorus Chatelaine is a rather scuzzy character who toward the end of "Chaos and Order" discovers in herself the capacity, even the necessity, to care about something larger than herself; and then to take action in support of that larger "something." Nick Succorso, on the other hand, reveals no such capacity, even though he has four books in which to do so (Sorus only gets two). Indeed, he seems oblivious to the concept that ANYthing might be larger than himself. So who would I root for? Sorus, no question.

Or you might look at it this way: Nick exacts his revenge on Sorus; therefore she never gets the chance to fight for Trumpet; therefore Trumpet can't escape the asteroids; therefore the whole story goes down in flames. There is, I like to think, a profound--and profoundly necessary--inevitability to Nick's demise.