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Title: Watchmen by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons ISBN: 0-930289-23-4 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.54 (243 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A deserved classic
Comment: If you've ever read anything with the title "Comics aren't just for kids anymore", you've probably heard about Watchmen. So, is it really that good?
Oh god, yes.
It's hard to review the collection without resorting to cliches -- and I'll employ one now. It gets better everytime I read it. I see new layers and depth.
"God exists. And he's an American." Most superhero comics take place in a world almost the same as our own. But surely, people running around in tights, people with god-like powers would make an impact. In Watchmen, they do. America won Vietnam -- thanks to a god-like hero. Electric cars exist. Classic comic books got cancelled when the real superheroes came along. Oh, and Richard Nixon is still president into the 1980s. (Too bad about those dead reporters, isn't it?)
This is series a big ideas, human characters and personal moments. It looks at retired heroes (thanks to 1970s anti-superhero legislation) who investigate the death of one of their own. The book also features flashbacks, autobiography excerpts, comic book interludes and more.
Truly engrossing writing by Alan Moore and art by Dave Gibbons.
Oh, and comics aren't just for kids anymore. (g)
Rating: 5
Summary: Pretty durn good
Comment: Reading the other reviews of "Watchmen" by Alan Moore, I wonder if there's any stone left unturned, whether any praises have yet to be extolled for this awesome collection. Still, I obsessively post this review because I feel almost required as a comic book fan to say how great Watchmen is.
"Watchmen" focuses on a world which is one step away from nuclear warfare between America and a vague Soviet threat. Takes place almost entirely in New York City which is functionally drawn by Dave Gibbons. The art is different from a comparable story like "The Dark Knight Returns" which has a similar setting and plot. While Dark Knight uses painted art, Watchmen has the four colors scheme which many people are familiar with, I think that the art never holds the story back, but it also never really elevates Moore's story to another level. Functional.
There are a lot of colorful characters; I like Rorschach most, whenever he wasn't on the page, I would wonder what he was doing. Rorschach is actually one of the last masked adventurers left, because the government has prohibited vigilante activity. At first, Rorschach is the sole protagonist of the story, but others are pretty rapidly revealed to the reader, from the blue bodied Dr. Manhattan to the Smartest Man in the World, Adrian Veidt.
I really liked to find out more and more about these people, and whenever Moore chooses to elaborate on a character's personality or origins, it's usually pertinent to the greater plot.
Plotwise, "Watchmen" is remarkable. Although it looks pretty long this is an extremely tight collection, it moves well towards the ending, which is mind blowing.
I would reccomend "Watchmen" to mature people in general, it's appeal reaches beyond the cognoscenti of the comic book world, I had only read "Preacher" and "Dark Knight Returns" before reading Watchmen at first, and I loved Watchmen. However, it's pretty bloody, although not even nearly as bloody as a comic like Preacher, and it's somewhat profane although also not on the level of Preacher. It's probably like a 4 on the violence meter and 2 on the profanity meter, if Preacher was a 10.
A good reason to buy this, as opposed to read this in the store, is that it's pretty long. I guess that someone could feasibly complete Watchmen in one sitting, but it took me a few hours to do, and I think it would have really detracted from my overall experience to rush it. Also this is a pretty serious graphic novel, it has lots of nice layers and it's the type of thing that I imagine most people will read a few times.
Rating: 3
Summary: OTBE
Comment: Science fiction is a chancy field to write in. You speculate on how things are going to develop in the near future, and you gamble on factors beyond comprehension. And sometimes your story is OTBE--OverTaken By Events. That's exactly what happened to this deserved classic. And now it's become old hat.
When it was new, it provided a new view of costumed superheroes. With their reliance on law and order, but their willingness to disregard the legitimate establishment in pursuit of their goals, they are deeply conflicted people. But Superman and Spider-Man had disregarded this reality up to that point. Alan Moore was the first person to investigate the flawed identities of comic-book heroes in light of how human beings relate in the real world.
Superheroes are seen as rapists, serial killers, men and women with vendettas. Or they're would-be actors looking to boost their profile. Old grudges and doubts fester under the surface for decades, unable to find release and healing. They suffer sexual dysfunction which affects their crime-fighting techniques. And their defense of the old order against reformers and non-conformists leads to the stifling of honest forward growth.
Now that Wolverine and Wonder Woman have to deal with existential dramas growing out of their vocations, this attitude isn't groundbreaking. A reader coming to this story from contemporary comic books will find the points, which had to be examined in detail when they were new and revolutionary, to be belabored now that they're commonplace.
There is supplementary prose material at the back of each chapter. Some of this is interesting, such as the attempted overview of the history of organized superhero behavior. Others, such as the lengthy history of comic books (supplementing a rather ho-hum pirate comic subplot), are easy to skip.
This comic series was groundbreaking when it came out, and it's worth reading for that. If you want to know how comics shifted from the flat-colored hero worship of the past to the dark, conflicted material of today, this is the turning point. No other work has been as influential in the art of comics. But if you're looking for timeless art or new insights into human nature, this book is no longer your starting point.
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Title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by DC Comics ISBN: 1563893428 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore ISBN: 1563898586 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Kingdom Come (Graphic Novel) by Mark Waid, Alex Ross ISBN: 1563893304 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, David Lloyd ISBN: 0930289528 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: FROM HELL by Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell ISBN: 0958578346 Publisher: Top Shelf Production Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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