bluemechaoxide

So I just finished reading Watchmen, and I have to say, it is one of the deepest graphic novels I’ve read.

Most of the novels that float around now, while having their own artistic and literary merits, tend to focus too much on fantastic and otherworldly concerns. There’s too little social relevance. Now that might not be too bad in itself, as the graphic novel medium (and on a wider perspective, the comic book) exists primarily for fantasy storylines, but you have to wonder, if it’s only fantasy we’re going to be reading, what’s the point? If we’re not going to be getting anything, why read in the first place?

Watchmen is the finest of its breed. Or maybe, I should say it’s of another breed entirely. No other graphic novel I’ve come upon has really managed to so successfully pull off social commentary beside artistic pursuit. There’s so much meat, so much to uncover beyond the great art by Dave Gibbons and the colors by John Higgins. Sometimes I think Alan Moore, writer of other notable works like V for Vendetta, is a genius or a magician or a psychologist or a political scientist or maybe all of them in one. He must keep all those powers hidden in his wildman-beard.

Watchmen starts off flying. There’s been an apparent murder and vigilante investigator Rorschach is on the case. What he finds leads him and the reader deeper and deeper into the world of the masked adventurer - two generations of them, and of which the former is a part of - all the way to the uncovering of a plot that endangers the entire world. This is juxtaposed against the uncertain politico-military situation near the end of the Second Cold War back in 1985. Interspersed in measured intervals come various side stories and metafiction that add to the dystopian world of the work, as well as provide glimpses into why things are the way they are in said world. It’s a very intricate plot that mixes both reality and fantasy to great effect.

What strikes me most about this work is the depth of characterization. There’s so much to each individual player in the story: their innocent (or not) backstories, their own individual as well as collective efforts in fighting crime, their dillusionment and their psychologies, all presented in a manner which never lets the reader forget that these are not superhumans like Superman or the X-Men, rather, just people dressed up in some elaborate costume, with their own personal problems and issues. In the subject of heroes which often degrades into a battle of the superpowers of each character, having one that looks from the perspective of problems you and me face everyday is quite refreshing. Perhaps that’s what makes Watchmen so strong and accessible as a story: despite the fact that there are inclinations to the superheroes we’ve become familiar with through the characters’ costumes, aliases, gadgets and such, there’s still that human element residing in each and every one of them. Even the one who isn’t entirely human anymore still has memories of his past.

Watchmen touches on many themes, but at its heart it’s about the fragility and possibly the banality of human existence, alongside the struggle of people to survive through the history that they themselves create.

Very highly recommended. It isn’t on Time Magazine’s All-Time 100 Best Novels for nothing, you know.

Consequently, there’s a movie adaptation which just finished filming. In the manner of Rorschach, “Movie out in 2009. Will wait patiently. Lots of expectations.”