[REVIEWS] Book: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

[thewlisian_afer]

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore, and illustrated by Dave Gibbons and John Higgins. Originally published by DC Comics as a monthly limited series from 1986 to 1987, it was later republished as a trade paperback, which popularized the "graphic novel" format. To date, Watchmen remains the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award, and is also the only graphic novel to appear on one of Time's lists of "the 100 best English-language novels", an annual feature of the magazine since it was founded in 1923.

Watchmen is set in 1985, in an alternate history of the United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union; throughout the books, the Doomsday Clock is shown gradually ticking towards midnight. It tells the story of a group of past and present heroes and superheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. Watchmen depicts heroes as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who struggle with neuroses and failings, and who—with one notable exception—lack anything immediately recognizable as accepted super powers. Watchmen's deconstruction of the conventional superhero archetype, combined with its innovative adaptation of cinematic techniques and heavy use of symbolism, multi-layered dialogue, and metafiction, has influenced both comics and film.

(Taken from Wikipedia; 29 Sept 2008)

~*Caped crusaders*~ are not my thing. I'm not a superhero fan. It's a sad fact, but it is still a fact. So I wasn't expecting to love Watchmen. I certainly wasn't expecting to dislike it at all, but I figured I'd read it, be like, "Eh. Not bad," give a lukewarm review and either stick it on a shelf and mostly forget about it or pass it on to someone else without expecting my copy back.

That's not how it went down.

Wow, guys. Wow. Just... Wow. I might fall asleep hugging this book for a few days. I think if I really started writing all my thoughts, I'd end up writing a huge-ass essay. There's just so much to this book, so many layers, so much ambiguity, so many things paralleling each other, so very much to think about. And I really don't want to write something really long. So I'm just going to mention what I liked the very best: the characters.

There was not a single character that I actually liked. There were one or two that I didn't hate. But for the most part, I found them varying degrees of horrible, from annoying to unlikable to despicable. But I found every single one of them absolutely fascinating. I never wished for any of them to go away when they were on the page, and the character I found the most heinous and off-putting was actually my favorite.

Oh, man. I have to read some other new stuff first, but I'm definitely rereading this. Maybe it'll be my first reread for next year when my reading goals are reset. Awesome, awesome stuff.

Comments

[ninepointfivemm.livejournal.com]

Why did I suspect you would absolutely LOVE Watchmen? ;)

My favorite character is Nite Owl II.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

He was the only one that I almost actually liked. Something about him made me want to punch him in the head, though. He struck me as a little bit of a kicked puppy/emoboy in places where I found it annoying instead of endearing. Loved all his gadgetry, though. I'm a sucker for awesome gadgets.

Rorschach was my favorite. I thought he was pretty much reprehensible, but I liked that he stuck to his convictions so strictly, and I found him the most interesting in general.

[imperfect_tense]

I absolutely adored Watchmen. I may have to go reread it now. It honestly just blew my mind. And it's late and I should be in bed, so I don't have any coherence, but - yes.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my mind was definitely blown. Now I'm all nervous about the movie. hahahaha When I wasn't a fan, I wasn't worried about whether or not I would enjoy it. But now...? I really hope they don't fuck it up.

[fizzylizard.livejournal.com]

As a fan of graphic novels in general, should I look into this?

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely. I'd recommend this to pretty much anyone, even if they weren't a fan of the format -- I think it might convert them. But if you already like graphic novels, definitely. Run, do not walk, to find a copy.

[eryslash.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, YES.

There was not a single character that I actually liked. There were one or two that I didn't hate. But for the most part, I found them varying degrees of horrible, from annoying to unlikable to despicable. But I found every single one of them absolutely fascinating.

That's exactly what I think about Watchmen's character, too. I KNEW you'd love it. Rorschach is my favourite as well, I have such a love/hate relationship with him. *looooves Watchmen*

[knowledgequeen.livejournal.com]

I'm so, so glad you liked this. I think I told you that after the 1000 threads of the beginning come together it picks up. I think this is one of the most brilliant books I've read in a long time.

Rorschach and the Comedian are my favourites, if only because they're fascinating. Both utter scum, but if you turned your focus the right way, you could at least attempt to understand them. Brilliant.

[warmdarkwoman.livejournal.com]

I think that WATCHMEN is not only a great graphic novel, but some of the greatest literature of the late 20th century.

They teach this book in the Honors Program at Humongous State U. where I live, which is how I found out about it. The moral abiguities blew me away when I first read it twenty years ago, and I found even more to like about it when I read it again recently.

The only other graphic novel series that affected me as much was the PREACHER series.

[bluerosefairy.livejournal.com]

Having just reread Watchmen for the first time (and bought it), I have to agree with you. I wasn't sure what to make of anyone when I first read the book - though I did like Dan Dreiberg best, simply because he's a raging emoboy dork who ends up with his dream girl - and there was just so much to process with it. So many different layers that have inspired creators of other graphic novels/television shows/novels/movies to do the same (Heroes*, BSG, Neil Gaiman in general).

This time, though, was different. I can't say I like anyone - they're way too fucked-up in many and varied ways to be very likeable - but I think I was fascinated with the Comedian and Ozymandias most of all. With Eddie Blake, I have to find him despicable, but as Adrian says about him, he's the perfect military man who's just uncovered a plot to bring about everlasting peace. What other choice regarding that aspect of his life did he have? With Adrian Veidt, he's just SO uberhuman that you're in awe of him, much like with Doctor Manhattan. I find Manhattan more than a little scary, where I find Ozymandias fascinating.

I'm more excited than ever to see what they do with the movie. I'm one of the few people that actually LIKED V for Vendetta, so I'm in the minority when it comes to the Watchmen movie. From the posters and the trailer, it looks spot-on.

*Plus, as a Heroes fan, I love the nod Kring and Co gave to Jon Osterman by making Gabriel/Sylar a watchmaker's son.