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Showing reviews 1-5 of 929
Chilling September 2, 2010
cassdog (Gainesville, Fl USA)
The watchmen is a perfect example of the common saying that graphic novels are comic books for adults. The complex themes in this book would evoke the envy of many an author of more classic tomes. When Dr. Manhattan's discussion with Laurie descends in to a soulless scientific materialism which is rescued when he realizes that human creation is more amazing than any process in the universe it is on par with any monologue. Rorschach's nihilism and destruction of the ideas of fate and divine intervention is powerfully portrayed through his monologue which leaves his arrogant psychologist sobered and contemplating these words in the dark. These are philosophical themes for modern times expressed as well as any of the themes discussed by Dostoyevsky or Trotsky, who expressed deeper philosophical themes within popular storytelling. Great scenes such as those described above amidst a world which is pervaded by the feeling of armageddon, so prevalent during the cold war make this a chilling novel to read.
Classic Graphic Novel September 1, 2010
Buck C. Lam (Tennesse)
I'll keep this short and to the point. This graphic novel was el numero uno A++ material. I used to collect graphic novels and this one was in my top 5. If you are a fan of superheroes and enjoy graphic novels this one is tough to beat. It's a bit dark. Kind of like the braphic novel of The Dark Knight. But it is top notch. Worth every penny.
A rich and timeless classic piece of literature August 15, 2010
Adriano1977 (Egelsbach (Hessen), Deutschland)
Watchmen chronicles the appearance of costumed vigilantes in America in the 30s, asks itself and its readership about what would it really take to become one, and deals with the consequences of the appearance of the true superhuman. And it poses the ages-old question, starihht from Juvenale's satires: "Who watchs the watchmen?"
Well, the answer is in the physical existence of the book itself: We, the readers, do.
In awe, horror, fear, disgust, wonder, amazement, confusion, terror, excitement, lust, kinship and denial. Like any true classic, it creaes a whole art form and genre in and of itself, while covering the wole spectrum of human experience and feelings.
The sperhero is a very apt metaphor and allegory of what people subconsciously are or would like to be. That's why Watchmen resonates so deeply with so many people. There's Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II masquerading his insecurities behind the costumed vigilante's persona; Silk Spectre II basically livbing out her mother's fantasies until developing a taste for it on her own; Kovacs's/Rorschach's denial and self-delusion and refusal of a world that only hurts you carried to appalling uncompromising extremes; Hooded Justice's sadism; Nite Owl I's living out juvenile comic book fantasies; the Comedian's use of the mask to get away with anything, hide from the horror of the worlds and at the same time point at its fallacies by baring them for all to see, while still being the one to actually get the joke and eventually be the butt-end of it; Captain Metropolis's barely masked fascism and racism; Veidt's superiority complex and desire to be always the best at any cost.
And the one and only real superhuman of the book, Does this mean only wackos would be driven to superheroics? Not in my opinion. This reminds me of Philip K. Dick's Clans of the Alphane Moon in which seven groups of mental patients break out of custody on their forgotten asylum planet and build a crazy civilisation, staggeringly similar to our own! Dick's little book is a satire and a divertissement more than anything, and I remember an interview with Moore stating the same of Wtachmen, which would be confirmed by the book's closing quote.
After all, with its alternative history, black humour, and a masked vigilante Comedian as a linchpin character, what could it be?
And once again, as with every true classic, its allegories and insights are timeless, so that Moore stating in a recent interview that the modern superhero has much to do with America's obsession for tactical superiority is literally confirmed by Dr. Manhattan allowing just that here. This and contemporary works also confirm what Moore said about superhero comics still stuck int the loop Watchmen (and to a lesser exent Mller's Dark Knight) creaed some 25 years ago.
Commenting upon the insane technical prowess that the authors, Moore and artist Dave Gibbons show here, would turn this into a full lown essay and I am sure nobody's even read tis far... But to the few who soldier on 'd like to recommend to watch every oanel and picture closely and repeatedly, taking their time and frequently coming back to previous pages: They'll be rewarded by a plethora of details and transitions that do not disturb the reading but enrich it when not acknowledged, and that enhance your enjoyment of it once fully noticed! Especially noteworthy is the comic-inside-a-comic Tales Of The Black Freighter. The story in itself, and the way it is intertwined with the main story and commented upon in it, provide at least two more layers of signification, meaning and interpretation.
This timeless masterpiece belongs on the honour shelf of every sensible reader's bookshelf!
Truly Deserves its Legendary Status August 9, 2010
Theo (Australia)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
When reviewing a work of the caliber of Watchmen it is genuinely difficult to know what to say - except that its cyclopean reputation is entirely deserved.
I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I'm going to keep things abstract. Watchmen simultaneously deconstructs its own genre while giving voice to one of the great "absolutes" of literary fiction: the human quest for morality and meaning in an inherently meaningless and amoral universe. Perhaps this latter aspect explains why the aptly named "Rorschach" has become so iconic of this work as a whole.
Amazingly, Watchmen achieves all this while simultaneously spinning a superheroic epic that easily holds its own against anything you're going to find in the latest avengers/xmen/blackest night/justice league cosmic crossover.
Speaking of Justice League, it's interesting to think about just how much the Project Cadmus storyline in Justice League Unlimited, Seasons 1-2 (DC Comics Classic Collection) owes to Watchmen. Indeed, I find that I can't help but draw comparisons. Justice League Unlimited is most certainly its own show, and by no means a slavish remake of Watchmen. Yet both, in their own way, take a long hard look at the myth of the superhero and ask us if this is really something that we would want. Certainly, it can be no accident that in the Project Cadmus story, The Question takes the central role that he does. In Alan Moore's original proposal for Watchmen, the role ultimately filled by Rorschach was then taken by The Question.
But where the Project Cadmus story arc races headlong towards the edge of the abyss only to back away at the last second, explaining with an apologetic cough and a nervous giggle that really, it's only a children's show after all, Watchmen careens off the edge of that abyss at full speed without hesitating for so much as a heartbeat. It leaves us suspended anchorless mid-air, entirely on our own in our attempts to re-orient ourselves as we hurtle directionless through this new void.
One final point: I'm writing this review for the softcover edition of Watchmen. Personally, I own both soft and hardcover editions. The hardcover version contains a lot of interesting "extras", but at the same time, it's really too large, heavy, and unwieldy for comfort. It's a great coffee table book, but it's not something you want to just lie back and read. For that, I'd definitely recommend the softcover version.
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons July 29, 2010
Cai Yixin Jeremy
Alan Moore, probably the best comic book writer of his generation, has just completed a run on Swamp Thing, a run that probably happened to be one of the lesser-known titles at the time. Pushing the envelope with what was possible in sequential storytelling, he helped bring a smorgasbord of mature themes into the fold, in an effort to produce smarter and more sophisticated comics. But that was just only the beginning of a decade of innovation and pizzazz for the comics industry. Watchmen wasn't the only big thing out of that era.
But it was probably the biggest giant at that time, a monolith of twelve extra-sized comic book issues, complete with prose pieces at the end of every issue save the last. Every page holds an average of 6-7 panels, every one of which packed to the gills with immense detail and excellent facial expressions, and these are panels with an average of three dialogue elements and no less. The prose pieces read like something from a novel, something to be expected from a short story. These issues were, in every sense of the word, great value for money at a time where comics were lower priced than in recent years.
So if anyone has any doubt about Watchmen's appeal, let it be clear: Watchmen is a masterpiece of comic book storytelling. The characters have a sense of lovability, largely due to Alan's excellent knack for creating realistic dialogue. Rorschach's hard-boiled journal is one of the highlights of the entire book, as are the Black Freighter sequences. All of Alan's dialogue fabrication skills come to bear in every section of the book in fact, especially the prose pieces.
It is hard to include prose pieces in comics because no one ever reads comics for beautiful prose. Alan took a huge, bold step in that direction by providing much of the back-story in them. But, boy, did they ever work. The excerpts from Hollis Mason's (the first Nite Owl) book are an example of prose done in exactly the same voice and mentality one would expect from the character and not something that would come from the writer itself. These pieces hold much of the struggles and nuances of superhero life, legacy, death and super-villains included. While much of the material today covers these issues in one way or another, it seemed Watchmen did it first. And if it didn't, arguments could be presented that it did those themes like no other work since. Some claimed that these prose pieces, along with the prolonged extra sequences, were dragging the book down. Wrong. It reads exactly like a graphic novel should read.
The doomsday clock ticks ever closer to nuclear war and Richard Nixon is worried. No one really knows what will happen. But when the ending comes like a freight train, a reread seems inevitable. Simply put, this is the book to read if you are a comic book fan wanting a feast, or someone who just happened to hate comics.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 929
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