 "Best Comic of the Year" | 2009-10-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3KB2FN80OVPQ7 |
| This comic has always been great, but putting it into a book form is excellent. If you love comics, this is the book for you. It has extras that the actual comic didn't but the story and illustrations are right on!! |
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| "There's a reason it's considered the best" | 2009-10-02 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2DCS45NN4SYAF |
There's a reason that Watchmen is considered to be on of the best, if not the best, graphic novel of all time. That reason is...that it really is just that good.
Follow a group of has-been "masked adventurers" and one superhero in an alternate version of the Nixon era as they seek to uncover a dark plot behind the murder of one of their own.
Moore's story is unmatchable, containing cultural criticism and ethical dilemmas that will challenge the beliefs of the most set minds. The art is fantastic, the characters are timeless, and you, as the reader, cannot be disappointed. |
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| "A different spin on Watchmen" | 2009-09-20 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1M03NNF2HK3Z |
What else can be said about one of TIME's greatest novels of all time, first printed as a comic series from 1986 to '87, now a proper book and a major motion picture with shiny new merchandise?
As a matter of fact, there are two things.
First, this genius work of art doesn't belong to writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons. DC Comics was supposed to revert the rights to the authors one year after retiring the property from publication, but that year hasn't happened--or as Alan and Dave might tell you, it hasn't happened YET.
The movie rights are another beast. It took two decades of wrangling to finally shoot the 2009 par for the course film. The authors again had no control over the production, though Gibbons signed on as an adviser to director Zack Snyder. Moore has stated Watchmen is unsuitable for film, because he and Gibbons used techniques which showcase the uniqueness of comics to tell a story. I agree with this assertion, which is no small feat for both writer and artist, rarely accomplished with such breathtaking precision and subtlety, and on such a grand scale. While the film version conveyed the basics of the plot and characters, the soul and depth of the story were lost on film. Most glaringly, the ending is significantly altered in the movie.
Moore has totally divorced himself from Watchmen, refusing any kind of credit or compensation for the work. As of this writing, Moore hasn't seen, nor intends to see, Snyder's film.
This entire article could easily be written almost verbatim about Alan Moore's fantastic "V for Vendetta," with the one major difference being Moore's total disgust with the screenplay (he thought Watchmen's screenplay was about as close as film could come). Moore is much more careful guarding his intellectual properties these days than he was in the '80s.
The second thing which can be said about this seminal piece of comic art, which follows easily from the first point, is that buying a new copy of this novel anywhere ensures Moore and Gibbons won't see the rights to their masterpiece returned to them. This book is a must read, but please, buy a used copy. |
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| "Must read for comic and fiction fans alike" | 2009-09-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A25KWVUTOBNNRN |
| It cannot be stated enough how much of a work of art this set is. I have read comics forever, but rarely deviated from my X-Men/Marvel reading list. After the "Watchmen" movie came out I decided to check the original out, and I am so glad I did. Though set in the 80's, there is no era that can contain the incredible writing of Moore nor the stylistic and detailed art of Gibbons. On nearly every page there is an illustration, a sentence, or a combination of both that makes your jaw drop. I just completed my second read through and I am ready for number three already. More than a comic, more than a "graphic novel", "Watchmen" is social commentary that breaks barriers and will leave you pondering humanity, for better or for worse. |
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| "Well writen and amazingly drawn" | 2009-08-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: AFM9LKET50RZ4 |
| One of the best drawn comic book I've ever come across. The ways in which the panels flow into each other is beautiful. The writing is also creative with a multi layered, deep, and thought provoking approach. Definitely unsuitable for children due to a couple of sex scenes, lot of nudity, and realistic portrayal of violent subject matter. The ending did not work for me though. I found the reasons for the way things ended and the aftermath a lot less plausible than all the buildup that led to it. That being said, this was still a masterwork of graphic storytelling. |
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| "A Work of Art ... and Philosophy" | 2009-08-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2SQMECLIWLQFI |
I first heard of this when Terry Gilliam (Monty Python's director of Holy Grail and their other films) said he found it stunning. Then I heard it was the only graphic novel on Time's 100 best novels of all time. And then when the movie was coming out I finally read it. I'm really impressed. For one thing, I found it hits on philosophy's three main kinds of questions:
1) What's reality or being? A central figure, Dr. Manhattan, has whole sections where he wonders explicitly things like "Who makes the world?" (Ch. IV, p. 27, in my hardcover 2008 ed.). And elsewhere, he philosophizes on the wonder that "in each human coupling, a thousand million sperm vie for a single egg," to "spring this precise son; that exact daughter" (Ch. IX, p. 26).
2) What can we know? (The very structure of the multiple narratives going on at the same time made me wonder at times "Is this really true right now?" and I was often unsure whether some particularly devastating events, like all the death and destruction, had happened in the story or now.) And then there was an explicit take on establishing knowlewdge, "This is not to say that we should cease to establish facts and to verify our information, but merely to suggest that unless those facts can be imbued with the flash of poetic insight, then they remain dull gems; semi-precious stones scarcely worth collecting. ... Until we transform our mere sightings into genuine visions... until then we may have a hobby, but we shall not have a passion. ... This gradual tarnishing had gone unnoticed, unchecked, finally calcifying into unthinking habit. ... my mind reduced to blankness by the various concerns of the day" (Ch. VII, p. 30).
3) How do we choose right from wrong, ethically? Wooh, this one's a doozy, as every character is flawed fundamentally, none is a hero really, save maybe one female "mask," as the watchmen are called. A central question after all is "Who watches the watchmen?" making you wonder, "And why do they need to be watched?" In a rare moment of emotive vulnerability too, one character laments, "Theyre dead. They can't disagree or eat Indian food, or love each other... Oh it's sweet. Being alive is so damn sweet" (Ch. XII, p. 22). Thus moving from ethics back to metaphysics and to a whole perspective on the very meaning of life.
But I was also surprised how saddened I was by some turns in the plot. I can't believe I cared as much as I did. Not just about the characters but about the fate of humanity, particularly with a little girl of my own now. To picture losing someone I love more than anything in the world. I can't imagine it actually.
Then there was the initial aesthetic appreciation of the sheer formal creativity. Such cool devices, like the visual zooming out from a closeup, with ever wider insight in the narration at the same time. Or the way lines people said would carry from scene to scene, repeat and in the juxtaposition create both a link and a jarring disjuncture.
And this is not to mention other specific sections I marked throughout the text. For example, "Real life is messy, inconsistent, and it's seldom when anything ever really gets resolved. It's taken me a long time to realize that" (Ch. III, p. 12). Likewise I can't sum up the book neatly either. Grade: A.
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