Contributions by Apryl Alexander, Alisia Grace Chase, Brian Faucette,
Laura E. Felschow, Lindsay Hallam, Rusty Hatchell, Dru Jeffries, Henry
Jenkins, Jeffrey SJ Kirchoff, Curtis Marez, James Denis McGlynn, Brandy
Monk-Payton, Chamara Moore, Drew Morton, Mark C. E. Peterson, Jayson
Quearry, Zachary J. A. Rondinelli, Suzanne Scott, David Stanley, Sarah
Pawlak Stanley, Tracy Vozar, and Chris Yogerst
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's Watchmen fundamentally altered the
perception of American comic books and remains one of the medium's
greatest hits. Launched in 1986--"the year that changed comics" for most
scholars in comics studies--Watchmen quickly assisted in cementing the
legacy that comics were a serious form of literature no longer defined
by the Comics Code era of funny animal and innocuous superhero books
that appealed mainly to children.
After Midnight: "Watchmen" after "Watchmen" looks specifically at the
three adaptations of Moore and Gibbons's Watchmen--Zack Snyder's
Watchmen film (2009), Geoff Johns's comic book sequel Doomsday Clock
(2017), and Damon Lindelof's Watchmen series on HBO (2019). Divided
into three parts, the anthology considers how the sequels, especially
the limited series, have prompted a reevaluation of the original text
and successfully harnessed the politics of the contemporary moment into
a potent relevancy. The first part considers the various texts through
conceptions of adaptation, remediation, and transmedia storytelling.
Part two considers the HBO series through its thematic focus on the
relationship between American history and African American trauma by
analyzing how the show critiques the alt-right, represents
intergenerational trauma, illustrates alternative possibilities for
Black representation, and complicates our understanding of how the
mechanics of the show's production can impact its politics. Finally, the
book's last section considers the themes of nostalgia and trauma, both
firmly rooted in the original Moore and Gibbons series, and how the
sequel texts reflect and refract upon those often-intertwined phenomena.
