Watchmen

“Children starve while boots costing many thousands of dollars leave their mark upon the surface of the moon. We have labored long to build a heaven, only to find it populates with horrors.”
- Watchmen by Alan Moore

When I first read it, it hit me like a brick on the head. It’s one of those things that makes me sick to my stomach and turn away in disgust. Why? Because every word he wrote is true.

Then I asked myself, how could a man write a comic book that made me question the very nature of our kind. Only then I realized that this wasn’t a mere comic book. It is, in my estimation, one of the most brilliant piece of human literature I had the pleasure of ever reading.

The psychoanalysis of the characters in this graphic novel is unparallel. No other graphic novel that I ever read has reached so deep into the frailty of the human mind. And folks you would do well to remember that Watchmen is the only Graphic novel to have ever made it to Time Magazine’s 100 Best Novels.

Watchmen is more than just another alternate universe episode, it instead builds a bridge between the worlds of comics as we know them and the day-to-day life that we all know firsthand. The heroes are viewed as vigilantes, and the public has as much fear of them as respect. Sure, the uncanny powers have done some good for the average Joe, but what if they decide they want more? What then?

This is where The Watchmen excceds as a mere comic cook. In so many ways, Watchmen transcends the boundaries of its medium. It is, frankly, one of the very few comic stories absolutely deserving of the term "graphic novel;" the plot is rich with detail, the characters as realistic and alive as any have been, the dialogue and progression of story from event to event as tight as one could ever hope. Moore's work on this story demands rereading, even multiple passes; each visit to the world of the Watchmen reveals new details and secrets that promote the overall felling of the books.

Gibbons, too, contributes a part that cannot be extricated. The art in the books is perhaps the firs to attain the wide screen cinematic feel of an epic movie. As with the plot, there is always something new to discover.

Watchmen, though, is worlds removed from the average monthly offering. The story is filled with intricate detail, a complex but clear structure, and a wonderful examination of archetypes and ages-old moral problems. Yes, it exists in a medium that is traditionally thought of as "low art," but to miss this masterpiece because you think comics are for kids is a shortsighted failure. If ever there was a reason not to judge a story by its cover Watchmen is it.

For those who are reading Watchmen for the first time, I had better caution that it is slow reading at first for the plot is difficult to understand, the characters take some time getting used to, and there are certain passages in the book that don't make sense until you reread it. But, ultimately, Watchmen is a book to be read, reread, and savored. Few novels of any kind have had such a hold on my imagination, emotions, and memory.

So till my next post ya, its bye from Ganz.

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