Watchmen: The Comedian's Button

[AshGL1914]

Ok, so I know that Force Commander did one of these in resin a while back but I was thinking to my self...what would Edward Blake's actual button have looked like? My guess is that it would have been a normal, off the shelf button, 1 1/2" dia, with a manufacture's name on the back side of the rim, something like "Copywrite: Veidt Enterprises 1982" or somesuch thing. Then for the blood, actually stencil it on the sufface with some thing that would really look like dried blood.
Thoughs?

Ash

 

[CSMacLaren]

The dried blood would have taken place after he was murdered, right? Or was it there in the graphic novel while he was killing the enemy in Vietnam?

Why do you think Veidt Enterprises made the button?

Blake's being the Comedian predated Veidt Enterprises. Recall the meeting of the Crimebusters and how Blake (wearing his black costume with a smiley badge) mocked Nelson's chart and put a lighter to it. After Nelson said, "But someone has to save the world" - I think that Veidt went on to create Veidt Enterprises to save the world after that.

 

[Talisen]

Mac's basically correct. Veidt started the corp in the 70's. And the Smiley button graphic is property of Smileyworld (http://www.smileylicensing.com/)

The blood is only on it after Blake's murder.

As for the size, I've never seriously thought about it. I have my original from the 89 release of the 1st comic in the series and it's about an 1" but I'm sure the one seen in the book is larger.

Man, gotta find that Resin one and work on it...

 

[AshGL1914]

The dried blood would have taken place after he was murdered, right? Or was it there in the graphic novel while he was killing the enemy in Vietnam?

Why do you think Veidt Enterprises made the button?

Blake's being the Comedian predated Veidt Enterprises. Recall the meeting of the Crimebusters and how Blake (wearing his black costume with a smiley badge) mocked Nelson's chart and put a lighter to it. After Nelson said, "But someone has to save the world" - I think that Veidt went on to create Veidt Enterprises to save the world after that.

The blood would be post murder, indeed. As for Veidt Enterprises, 1. I was trying to find a "real world" manufacturer for the button. 2. It would make sense that in the over twenty years Blake wore that costume during riots, 'Nam, and whatnot that he would have needed a replacement button a time or two. Placing the copywrite in 1982 shows that this was indeed the case as it would have been made after he started wearing that logo and that it was made no more than three years before his death. just a thought.

Also, the Smileyworld logo has a diffrent shape to the mouth than the book.

Ash

 

[Force Commander]

I was watching the trailer and was surprised to see they didn't match the iconic splatter of the comic. Still, it looked cool.

Ideally, I would like to have made the splatter a clear red, albeit dark red, and the rest of the button yellow, so only the black would have had to have been painted.

Maybe someone else will pick up this ball and run with it.

P.S. Thanks for the mention Ash.

 

[AshGL1914]

I was watching the trailer and was surprised to see they didn't match the iconic splatter of the comic. Still, it looked cool.

Ideally, I would like to have made the splatter a clear red, albeit dark red, and the rest of the button yellow, so only the black would have had to have been painted.

Maybe someone else will pick up this ball and run with it.

P.S. Thanks for the mention Ash.

Actually, as I understand it, the splatter in the footage shown a SDCC was much closer to the book's splater, but the movie will be it's own thing. I was thinking more along the lines of a book version that seemed truly realistic. Like Eddie just picked the thing up at a five and dime around the corner from a Gunga Diner somewhere and added it to his costume.

Ash

p.s. Not at all FC! I still love your version of the button, I was just thinking that of all people, Blake would most likely have gone "off the shelf" for the button.

p.p.s. You know, another fun project could be the green t-shirt stained with ketchup in the last shot of the book...hurm.

 

[whitefall]

On a related note...

When Watchmen saw its orginal run in the 80's they briefly gave away promotional smiley-face pins that directly reflected comic art, crisp blood splatter and all. I got one, becuase I'm old and was reading it back then.

I know I still have it, so I'll see if I can dig it out and post a pic...

 

[Jedi2016]

I also got the impression that it was an off-the-shelf item. Remember that Rorchach didn't know for sure it was the Comedian based on just the button, he just thought it was an unusual sort of thing to find at the crime scene, so he dug a bit deeper and found Blake's costume. If he hadn't found the costume, he probably would have shrugged it off as a coincidence. His reaction made me think that the button itself was something relatively normal.

So the trick for one of our fabricators here would be to make it look like an off-the-shelf item, or to somehow modify an off-the-shelf item.

Seeing as how buttons can be made for next to nothing these days, I don't imagine it would be difficult. Someone could make custom smiley artwork for it, have a hundred buttons made, send them off to someone who can do a good blood-spatter, and sell them here for a few bucks apiece.

As a casual collector, this isn't the sort of thing I'd want to spend a lot of money on.. I mean, it's a smiley-face button, for cryin' out loud. But if it's cheap, I'd pick one up in a heartbeat.

 

[Force Commander]

On a related note...

When Watchmen saw its orginal run in the 80's they briefly gave away promotional smiley-face pins that directly reflected comic art, crisp blood splatter and all. I got one, becuase I'm old and was reading it back then.

I know I still have it, so I'll see if I can dig it out and post a pic...

I had one! In fact, all of my friends had one. We had more people come up to us and ask about those buttons. They were quite the conversation starter.

 

[Kylash]

of note, this is an old style button with just a metal pin on the back, going out a little further than the edge of the pin itself, its pretty clear in the comic. so a normal pin with the bend metal to push it under wont fly for accurate.

ive seen a few pics of the movie one, there one of Rorschach holding it, and it looks way oversized.

 

[Randy of AFTimes]

On a related note...

When Watchmen saw its orginal run in the 80's they briefly gave away promotional smiley-face pins that directly reflected comic art, crisp blood splatter and all. I got one, becuase I'm old and was reading it back then.

I know I still have it, so I'll see if I can dig it out and post a pic...

Actually I just found mine the other day.

I'm a little busy this week but I will see if I can grab a shot or two.