Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Watchmen by Alan Moore

30 reviews

machinations's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“Juxtaposition of wish fulfillment violence and infantile imagery, desire to regress be free of responsibility… this all says ‘war.’ We should buy accordingly.”

the superhero satire. the text. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Gore, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Xenophobia, Vomit, War, Suicide, Racism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, and Murder

Minor: Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Cancer, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Ableism

booksandteatime's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Racism, Animal death, Gore, Torture, Vomit, Child death, Death, Abortion, Blood, Cancer, and War

vithelovers's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Sexism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Death, Hate crime, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Homophobia, Murder, and War

mjscooke's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

There are many aspects worth noting that would have led to this being lauded as one of the beat graphic novels of all time. I did enjoy the social and psychological commentary on human nature and hero complexes. But what I realised from my enjoyment of the additional text pieces between chapters is simply that I don’t live the medium of graphic novels. I didn’t like the art style and as such found it difficult to get into. If I hadn’t borrowed it from a friend I probably would have DNF’d this. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Misogyny, Violence, Murder, Rape, War, Blood, Death, Physical abuse, Gore, Sexism, and Sexual assault

mariopartygod's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

one thing I liked about this book is the way the chapters are broken up.

often each book is followed by some sort of multimedia - newspaper articles, letters, reviews, dossiers... it really builds out the world and gives the author a chance to comment on the dark themes of the book. also, there were multiple threads of storyline - one was what was happening in the current timeline, the focus jumping between characters. the other was following a comic book with dark content as well, which gives the readers a chance to compare and contrast the themes and occurrences. everything was tied in very well - for example, the author of the comic book was featured in the main timeline, and we are following that story because someone is reading it at a newsstand, at some  nexus of the city.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Body horror

Moderate: Rape and Cancer

wetdirtreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Animal cruelty, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Antisemitism, Body horror, Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Outing, Pregnancy, Cancer, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Hate crime, and Ableism

danny_foster's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Rape, and Death

brnineworms's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What can I say about Watchmen that hasn’t been said already? You don’t need me to tell you it’s good. Its reputation as a well-crafted masterpiece and an exemplary demonstration of the comic book medium/superhero genre precedes it. The characters are complex and compelling, the story has depth and pathos, the artwork has a good amount of detail and strikes a healthy balance between realism and stylisation. Each chapter is followed by an extract from an in-universe autobiography, magazine article, or other such document. Not only does that introduce some lore, it’s also a welcome break in format which prevents the regular panels becoming monotonous.

I don’t want to say too much about the story, partly for the sake of avoiding spoilers but also because I want to avoid underselling it. It’s hard-hitting and intricate. I knew it’d be good but even with my expectations set high it blew me away.

A must-read. If you’ve already read it, read it again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Racial slurs, Violence, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, and War

Moderate: Antisemitism, Body horror, Police brutality, Gore, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Child death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Stalking, Rape, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Lesbophobia, and Xenophobia

Minor: Abortion, Cultural appropriation, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Confinement, Death of parent, Suicide, Vomit, Addiction, Alcoholism, Outing, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Excrement, Fatphobia, and Car accident

rlgreen91's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ok - so I finally got around to finishing this purely because the library book was due back and I needed to return it.  My rating here of 3 stars is less about the merits of the book itself and more about my personal opinion of the book.

When reading Watchmen, it's very clear how groundbreaking it must have been.  If you dabble just a bit in "nerd culture", even just in the form of superhero movies, you can see the widespread influence Watchmen has had on graphic novels, comic books, and superhero stories. I can and do appreciate all of that.

But man, in terms of actually trying to read this?  It was a slog for me.  Sure, once I got started, I would get into it, but overall reading the book felt more like a chore than a pleasurable activity.  It's strange, because this type of work is normally right up my alley, but I found myself picking other books over this one, including other graphic novels and comic books.  I'm not really sure what happened here.

So yes, this was a pioneering book, you should read it to understand its place in literature and how it affected pop culture, yada yada.  But I won't promise that you'll enjoy the ride. 3 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Alcoholism and Rape

Minor: Murder, Sexual assault, Cancer, Infidelity, and Homophobia

magneto's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Bullying, and Racism

Minor: Child death, Cancer, Child abuse, Vomit, Antisemitism, Racial slurs, and War