Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Watchmen by Alan Moore

17 reviews

scoobygirl93's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Genocide, War, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Rape, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cursing, Child death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Blood, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse

steveatwaywords's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This ambitious and nearly flawless work has already made history and there is little I want to add here to that: it's complex and tightly-woven with nuanced and genuine characters acting as best they are able. As clumsy and human as they are, their physical and emotional frailties are foremost at focus as they try to do nothing less than every superhero comic: save the world.

Moore's alternate history is (especially today) too too plausible, and the dozens of different readings his characters make of it could as easily be applied to today's news. He details only one of the key differences between universes, however, and that is the step a few individuals make from reading 1930s hero comics to themselves donning vigilante costumes. After that, the political and sociological changes seem relatively inevitable.

And that, as many have argued, offers us a deeper and unsettling look at our affinity for superheroes, the nature of justice and authority and legitimacy, of our collective psychological desperations created by and answered by marketing lifestyles. And, in the truths spoken by Dr. Manhattan, how utterly trivial and uninteresting it all is.

So why not a full 5 stars?  The storytelling and artwork are fine enough, the complete work ambitious enough, its execution almost as much. And it's the almost. As immersive as Watchmen is, there are several moments when readers are thrown out of it, where the authorial crafting is too obviously authorial crafting. I'm thinking of a parallel pirate comic that is read at a newsstand, as a for instance, or chapters where each page is a different scenic moment which all (seemingly coincidentally but cosmically) align in word and concept. They are clever, and calculated . . . and so also first clever and calculated, second impactful as narrative. Moore is too excited to show us what he can do, and that excitement--especially for me--was loud enough to disturb the reading.

A quibble, perhaps, but Moore has gone on to do other works. A mesmerizing standard for graphic novels which follow, Watchmen's imitators in later years still pale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Blood, Emotional abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Rape, War, Death, and Gore

manjal's review

dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

THE GREATEST GRAPHIC NOVEL(COMIC BOOK) EVER, A 12 CHAPTER MASTERPIECE THAT REVOLUTIONIZED COMIC BOOKS AND LEFT AN INDELIBLE MARK ON LITERATURE AND MEDIA. ITS INTRICATE PLOT AND MORALLY COMPLEX CHARACTERS EXPLORE THEMES OF HEROISM, IDENTITY, AND MORALITY. ALAN MOORE'S CREATION ELEVATED THE GENRE, INSPIRING A NEW WAVE OF STORYTELLING THAT EMBRACES MATURITY AND MORAL AMBIGUITY. IT'S ABOUT AN ALTERNATE 1980S AMERICA, WHERE RETIRED SUPERHEROES CONFRONT A GLOBAL CONSPIRACY, FUSES GRITTY REALISM WITH FANTASY, PUSHING CREATIVE BOUNDARIES AND INFLUENCING GENERATIONS OF CREATORS. NOT RECOMMENDED TO NEW COMIC BOOK READERS

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, War, Bullying, Racism, Rape, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Police brutality, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death of parent, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Grief, Domestic abuse, and Hate crime

Minor: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Police brutality, Sexism, Stalking, Drug use, Misogyny, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

amelierawr's review

dark reflective

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

5.0

hard to explain, but it's a masterpiece. The dialogue is amazing and Doctor Manhattan's chapter is one of my all time favorites.
The heavy grief and trauma really gets to you.

For the love of god, before reading look at the damn content warnings!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Hate crime, Misogyny, Genocide, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Racism, Animal death, and Gun violence

Minor: War, Homophobia, and Vomit

a_alves00's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, Animal death, Violence, Body horror, Infidelity, Genocide, Blood, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death, Murder, and Rape

mariopartygod's review

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

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

edesia_guest's review

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

It questions what a hero is and gives an alternate view from the facade of a super hero like superman. It has political allusions and is rich in content as a literature student. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Abandonment, Body horror, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Genocide, Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

raynestorm's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Death, Violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault