Watchmen

Title: Watchmen

Author: Alan Moore

Genre: Superheroes

Pages: 448 pages

Synopsis:

A murder mystery-turned-nationwide conspiracy, WATCHMEN examines the lives of the eponymous superhero team as they seem to decay alongside the ever-darkening America around them. Rorschach, Nite Owl, the Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias reunite to investigate who’s behind a teammate’s murder, but find that the truth may be even more grim than the world they seek to protect.

One of the most influential graphic novels of all time and a perennial bestseller, WATCHMEN is considered a gateway title to the entire graphic storytelling medium. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal story is the benchmark against which all other graphic novels and comic books are judged with an incredible story that chronicles the fall from grace of a group of super-heroes plagued by all-too-human failings.

(from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:

The Watchmen is about a realistic take on superheroes and asks the question: What if Superheroes existed in real life all while the Cold War is taking place? And one by one each of the Superheroes are being killed off. And our characters have to figure out what is going on.

There’s quite a bit of things that I liked about this series. I like the Cold War connections throughout, as a history buff who’s into that stuff I thought it helped make the setting more interesting.

I think this story’s biggest strength is its characters. There’s a lot to talk about them. Dan Moore successfully creates morally grey characters… these characters are not like Superman or heroes that are the embodiment of virtues. These are characters that are deeply flawed. Another strength of the characters is their backstories. They have some very interesting backstories.

In terms of characters, I love Rorschach’s character design and he was a very interesting character to follow throughout this series. Dr. Manhatten was also interesting character to follow.

I also liked how this book explores various themes such as Moralist vs. Utilitarian Ethics, Identity, Meaning and Nihilism.

This whole series is a proper deconstruction of the superhero genre and comic books. I actually really liked this book and I’m finding it very hard to not get into spoilers as I think you should read this for yourself.

I guess the only real criticisms I have is sometimes it seems to be just a little too cynical tone for my liking. The other criticism is I didn’t understand the whole point of The Tales of the Black Freighter storyline that went on throughout this series. I found it a little distracting from the overarching story.

I honestly think this was one of the best graphic novels I have ever read. It has good pacing, a good story with deep themes and very interesting character studies. If you are a fan of the superhero genre, I think this book is a must read.

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