While he ’s sleep with for writing dark illusion novels , George R.R. Martinhas also hold that coming to superheroes , similar to works likeWatchmen . Martin ’s superhero series isWild Cards , which has recently been adapted into a comic book series fromMarvel Comics .

start life as a use - playing plot hold between Martin and his sci - fi / illusion generator friends , Wild Cardsis long - running series of poor story anthologies lease space in a partake superhero universe . With over forty authors contributing to thirty Word , the series has been in near continuous issue since 1987 . The setting ofGeorge R.R. Maritn’sWild Cardsdepicts a superhero worldwhere an airborne foreign virus hit the Earth in 1946 . Most people infected with the virus are pour down , although the survivor are gifted with superpowers . Those survivor who are leave with   debilitating   strong-arm conditions are address “ Jokers , ” while the ones who retain their human appearance but gain superhuman power are dubbed “ Aces . ” An alternate history of Earth that spans through the end of World War II to modern times , the earthly concern ofWild Cardsconsiders what would really happen if a random collection of people where sudden gifted with world power ; take a grittier , more adult look at what superheroes would look like in the real world .   If that sounds like a sure 1986comic book series by author Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons , it may not be entirely by accident .

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Palpatine, Vader, and Momin

In a 2013 interview with theNerdistpodcast , Martin discusses the series ’ blood line , and also how it come to parallelWatchmen . “ Wild Cardscame along at exactly the same time asWatchmen , ” Martin enjoin , “ ( Both ) were both kind of reinventing the superhero literary genre with a big cast of characters . ” Martin go on to exposit how each projection tackled the construct of superheroes in the real populace :

“ Alan Moore and our writers took very different coming to it … Moore basically threw out the superpowers ; Dr. Manhattan was the only one ( who had great power ) . We occupy quite the diametric approach . We kept the superpowers , but we threw out the costume … We decide that was the realistic ( approach ) . ”

WatchmenandWild Cardscertainly share alike conceit , even thoughWild Cardshas recently been accommodate for comics by Marvel . Both stories are working on the presumptuousness that if someone was suddenly gifted with superpowers , their first instinct would n’t inevitably necessitate going out and fighting crime . But the approach are distinct . Watchmenlooked at a world where an omnipotent being walked amongst somebody , making the otherwise human costumed heroes feel irrelevant . Wild Cardsdid away with costume altogether , although many role still took to adopt colorful figure like Jetboy , the Popinjay , and the Great and Powerful Turtle . The burden of having so many character gain superpowers allowed the series to explore how they would affect the various societal and political hullabaloo of the late twentieth century .

A composite image of the Peanuts gang hoisting Charlie Brown and Snoopy in the air in front of black and white panels from the Peanuts comic strips

It ’s also interesting to equate how both serial publication dealt with alien penetration . The superheroes ofWild Cardsall got their power from an exotic virus unleashed on the population as an observational bioweapon for a imposing phratry come from the planet Takis . Conversely , Watchmenfamously ends with a fake alien invasionstaged by Ozymandias to bring human race together in a new , utopian society . Both hinge on exotic contact in relation to the tropes of superhero fiction , it ’s just thatGeorge R.R. MartinandWatchmentook different manner of buzz off there . Wild Cards#1 is available now fromMarvel Comics .

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Source : TheID10T / Nerdistpodcast

Robin Curtis and Kirstie Alley as Lt. Saavik in Star Trek.

george rr martin and watchmen

Split image of Jetboy’s memorial and Jetboy from the cover of Marvel Comics.

the watchmen