When it comes to superhero comic books and graphic novels, I’m
more used to the save-the-city-from-the-Joker and the stop-Doctor-Doom’s-evil-schemes
set up, so Alan Moore’s Watchmen is a pretty unique read for me.
At first glance,
one may think that Watchmen is simply about costumed heroes in New York.
Looking deeper, however, one will see that it is much more than that. Alan
Moore’s tale presents to the readers the violent and dirty world of
vigilantism, the askew morality of society, the fine line between right and
wrong, and the light and darkness of human character.
The line-up
of characters is very diverse. Present in the story are idealists, cynics, reluctant
heroes, antiheroes, fighters, cowards, phonies, and super-humans. The
superheroes in the graphic novel aren’t all like the gung-ho, morally upright
costumed vigilantes seen in the pages of DC and Marvel Comics. To use the most
obvious examples, characters like the first Nite Owl and Captain Metropolis
reflect the classic boy-scout superheroes, while characters like Rorschach and
the Comedian represent the darker, grittier, and more violent side of the field
of vigilantism. Even the smaller civilian characters represent aspects of the
human psyche and of society.
Vigilantism
and crime isn’t the only theme of the story. Watchmen becomes very philosophical
and critical, discussing right versus wrong, the value of human existence, the
end justifying the means, what makes someone a “hero”, and even the definition
of sanity (one has to admit, the purportedly insane Rorschach saw the world
with unnerving clarity).
Considering
that it was published in the 1980s, Watchmen is a landmark graphic novel. Alan Moore intrepidly tackled things which weren't discussed
in the field of comic books and superheroes at that time, something which I greatly
appreciate and admire about him. I also like how Moore used minute and tiny details to either imply or foreshadow (this subtlety suited the story quite well) and how nothing (plot device and character) presented in the graphic novel was pointless.
Yes, it opened up the darker side of
superheroes and had a hand in the emergence of the heavier and more serious
tone that comic books carry nowadays, but it was not the perfect graphic novel.
While I enjoyed it immensely, both plot and art, I cannot say that it was the
greatest graphic novel ever, given that it had its rough spots here and there.
Overall, a
great read. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in comic
books and superheroes.
Here are some quotes in the graphic novel which I thought were worth sharing:"We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another's vantage point, as if new, it may still take the breath away."
"No. Not even in the face of Armageddon. Never compromise."
Until always,
Lemonjuicesodapop
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