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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5*
How flawed can humanity be? A hell of a lot, by the looks of it. Watchmen is seen as a classic of the genre, and I can see that pretty easily. However, this is not an enjoyable read. From the setting to the characters, this is a dark and pessimistic portrayal!
‘Superheroes’ exist and have changed the world as we know it - unfortunately, not for the best... Even though they can achieve heroic deeds, they are also humans and thus flawed, some majorly so. And we get to the crux of it, who watches the Watchers? Who do you become when you put yourself above the rest, even for good reasons, at first. Reminded me of that saying - the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
And yet, this graphic novel has power and merit for what it proposes to show us. It is smart too, using so many references, from history and myths to comics and crime novels. It just leaves you not smiling, even for all the smiley faces used throughout the pages. Irony? I guess. I’ll just end with a quote from one of my favourite poems, Ozymandias by Shelley - I know, weird - but it fits:
How flawed can humanity be? A hell of a lot, by the looks of it. Watchmen is seen as a classic of the genre, and I can see that pretty easily. However, this is not an enjoyable read. From the setting to the characters, this is a dark and pessimistic portrayal!
‘Superheroes’ exist and have changed the world as we know it - unfortunately, not for the best... Even though they can achieve heroic deeds, they are also humans and thus flawed, some majorly so. And we get to the crux of it, who watches the Watchers? Who do you become when you put yourself above the rest, even for good reasons, at first. Reminded me of that saying - the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
And yet, this graphic novel has power and merit for what it proposes to show us. It is smart too, using so many references, from history and myths to comics and crime novels. It just leaves you not smiling, even for all the smiley faces used throughout the pages. Irony? I guess. I’ll just end with a quote from one of my favourite poems, Ozymandias by Shelley - I know, weird - but it fits:
“And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Probably my favorite piece of fiction ever. Just read it.
This book is hard to rate. The story was fantastic and I loved the themes. The sexism though, holy shit did it make me upset... Nonetheless I think the message is important and so before it's time that I can't take more than one star off for it.
Still pretty great, but the zillions of grim, gritty, and self-reflexive superhero stories since the eighties retroactively put a damper on this. It’s way sadder than I remembered it being, too.
I read this while working at Little Rock Air Force Base (LRAFB). I remember walking outside during my lunch break, finding a bench behind a building, and diving in.
Then some large Tech Sergeant came out the back door. I'll never forget him. He was round, clearly putting on weight, but he had a hunch that seemed to be specifically from back and neck muscles. It was as if he had a turtle shell. The green camo BDUs added to this. It's funny, because when everyone wears the same outfit and has the same haircut, you notice the small differences more.
Turtle Tech must've seen me on the security camera or something, because, even though he lit a cigarette, it was obvious that he hadn't come out for a cigarette break. The cigarette was his excuse to look me over, figure me out. He started asking me questions with a thin mask of nonchalance.
I was only a Senior Airman at the time. All upper ranks were a gamble to be around. They enjoyed pushing down, making lesser ranks feel uneasy. It was a perk of the power system. You get pushed around, and then you level up, and it becomes your turn to be the jerk. So he kept asking me pointed little questions, clearly trying to rile me up, or make me worry I was breaking some sort of rule. In retrospect, it made no sense why I was getting the third degree at all. I was in uniform, I worked nearby. We were all on base. Was I not allowed to go other places during lunch break? Maybe he was bored?
Turtle Tech honed in on Watchmen. He dug in for a few minutes about that "nerd shit" in a way that would sound like a lame high school bully if I wrote it verbatim. This guy was, like, 30-something, and I was 20. I realized that the reason he came out was specifically because he saw me reading a comic. If I had been eating a sandwich or smoking a cigarette, maybe I would have been left alone. Somehow, reading comic books in the break area of where he worked really offended him. When he was done taking his jabs, he put out his cigarette on the space beside me (very intentional) and went back inside. I remember thinking, "that was almost surreal... bro hates people who read comics!"
And, like, look. I don't even really read comics. It has never been my thing. I was only reading Watchmen because I had heard it was an interesting commentary and subversion of comic book heroes—which it is!
When I got back to my workplace, I told my coworkers, and they agreed it was "nerd shit" and just sort of laughed it off. I remember telling them all very plainly, if this were a movie, they'd all go see it.
Two years later (2009), it became a movie, and we all went to go see it. We even went to the IMAX. It's at this point I felt the shift of the zeitgeist—Iron Man had already been released the year before, to great success. "Nerd shit" was becoming "normal shit." And so there I was at the theater, this massive effing screen on all sides of me, surrounded by my coworkers and dozens of other military folk from LRAFB who were excited to see the new action-y comic book movie. I might've felt smug if I hadn't been so baffled.
Oddly, though, I felt like the movie missed the point of the book. Instead of having something to say about middle-aged men (and a woman) pretending to be do-gooders to overcome their own insecurities, or the nature of black-and-white thinking being harmful, or the nuance of large-scale political hate, it was just another action movie. People punched and kicked and looked cool. And, of course, all of these middle-aged military men (and a woman), who all paraded around like heroes of America to cover up their own insecurities and powerlessness, enjoyed the movie! A lot!
Well, that's all I really have to say about it. The comic is good, the movie is bad.
And, you know where this going. When the movie was over, and everyone was heading out, you better believe I saw ol' Turtle Tech in the lobby.
Then some large Tech Sergeant came out the back door. I'll never forget him. He was round, clearly putting on weight, but he had a hunch that seemed to be specifically from back and neck muscles. It was as if he had a turtle shell. The green camo BDUs added to this. It's funny, because when everyone wears the same outfit and has the same haircut, you notice the small differences more.
Turtle Tech must've seen me on the security camera or something, because, even though he lit a cigarette, it was obvious that he hadn't come out for a cigarette break. The cigarette was his excuse to look me over, figure me out. He started asking me questions with a thin mask of nonchalance.
I was only a Senior Airman at the time. All upper ranks were a gamble to be around. They enjoyed pushing down, making lesser ranks feel uneasy. It was a perk of the power system. You get pushed around, and then you level up, and it becomes your turn to be the jerk. So he kept asking me pointed little questions, clearly trying to rile me up, or make me worry I was breaking some sort of rule. In retrospect, it made no sense why I was getting the third degree at all. I was in uniform, I worked nearby. We were all on base. Was I not allowed to go other places during lunch break? Maybe he was bored?
Turtle Tech honed in on Watchmen. He dug in for a few minutes about that "nerd shit" in a way that would sound like a lame high school bully if I wrote it verbatim. This guy was, like, 30-something, and I was 20. I realized that the reason he came out was specifically because he saw me reading a comic. If I had been eating a sandwich or smoking a cigarette, maybe I would have been left alone. Somehow, reading comic books in the break area of where he worked really offended him. When he was done taking his jabs, he put out his cigarette on the space beside me (very intentional) and went back inside. I remember thinking, "that was almost surreal... bro hates people who read comics!"
And, like, look. I don't even really read comics. It has never been my thing. I was only reading Watchmen because I had heard it was an interesting commentary and subversion of comic book heroes—which it is!
When I got back to my workplace, I told my coworkers, and they agreed it was "nerd shit" and just sort of laughed it off. I remember telling them all very plainly, if this were a movie, they'd all go see it.
Two years later (2009), it became a movie, and we all went to go see it. We even went to the IMAX. It's at this point I felt the shift of the zeitgeist—Iron Man had already been released the year before, to great success. "Nerd shit" was becoming "normal shit." And so there I was at the theater, this massive effing screen on all sides of me, surrounded by my coworkers and dozens of other military folk from LRAFB who were excited to see the new action-y comic book movie. I might've felt smug if I hadn't been so baffled.
Oddly, though, I felt like the movie missed the point of the book. Instead of having something to say about middle-aged men (and a woman) pretending to be do-gooders to overcome their own insecurities, or the nature of black-and-white thinking being harmful, or the nuance of large-scale political hate, it was just another action movie. People punched and kicked and looked cool. And, of course, all of these middle-aged military men (and a woman), who all paraded around like heroes of America to cover up their own insecurities and powerlessness, enjoyed the movie! A lot!
Well, that's all I really have to say about it. The comic is good, the movie is bad.
And, you know where this going. When the movie was over, and everyone was heading out, you better believe I saw ol' Turtle Tech in the lobby.