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A review by madtwister
Watchmen by Alan Moore
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was kind of a random buy for me - I've never read a comic in full before - but my friend had mentioned it before and that, combined with the compact comic being affordable and the synopsis sounding incredibly interesting, urged me to give it a go. I'm incredibly glad I did, my only real disappointment being that I doubt I'll find anything in the medium that can compare to this.
I've seen a lot of praise for how this comic subverts or deconstructs the medium, or people saying you can't appreciate it to its full extent without knowing its history and significance, but I think that undermines just how brilliant it is, even outside of its context. The artwork is immediately striking, its use of bold colours cutting through the grimy, ugly setting of the city. Beyond just visual aesthetic, the art's layers unfold as it itself is used as a method of storytelling. The amount of callbacks and parallels - some chapters literally being symmetrical with panels reflecting each other, or immersing you in the defining moments and symbols of a person's backstory that is being told to you non-chronologically - is mind-blowing and elevates the story to a new level.
Watchmen's story took a minute to fully immerse me, somewhat split into segments, where the first few issues (or chapters for me as I read the compact edition) throw you right into the action, something a little hard to familiarise with considering the quite expansive cast. This does ultimately work, because it is absolutely the neatest way to follow the unraveling mystery that the book follows, and it was surprisingly natural how quickly I did get immersed. The middle segment has a lot of character-focused chapters, which were nothing short of genius. I don't want to point out specific ones so as to avoid spoilers, but there are a couple there that were shockingly masterful. These then lead into the real plot focused area of the story, which was again a weird feeling considering the bulk of the book has gone by at this point, but somehow this worked very cohesively overall.
And the culmination of everything was all I hoped for. I did have doubts when certain plot reveals did come about, but it all fit perfectly and told a story with real weight. Things that feel as unsuspecting as interjections of an in-universe comic about a pirate are not only gripping in their own way, but hold relevance to the story, and all of the cast get a gradual story and end up with amazing conclusions that you realise have snuck up on you. Everything in the comic, down to references to poems or songs, or pieces of lore that are placed between chapters, serves a purpose to the story it's telling, and the message it leaves you with, after such a deep and realistic look into humanity and its politics, turns out so impactful.
I've seen a lot of praise for how this comic subverts or deconstructs the medium, or people saying you can't appreciate it to its full extent without knowing its history and significance, but I think that undermines just how brilliant it is, even outside of its context. The artwork is immediately striking, its use of bold colours cutting through the grimy, ugly setting of the city. Beyond just visual aesthetic, the art's layers unfold as it itself is used as a method of storytelling. The amount of callbacks and parallels - some chapters literally being symmetrical with panels reflecting each other, or immersing you in the defining moments and symbols of a person's backstory that is being told to you non-chronologically - is mind-blowing and elevates the story to a new level.
Watchmen's story took a minute to fully immerse me, somewhat split into segments, where the first few issues (or chapters for me as I read the compact edition) throw you right into the action, something a little hard to familiarise with considering the quite expansive cast. This does ultimately work, because it is absolutely the neatest way to follow the unraveling mystery that the book follows, and it was surprisingly natural how quickly I did get immersed. The middle segment has a lot of character-focused chapters, which were nothing short of genius. I don't want to point out specific ones so as to avoid spoilers, but there are a couple there that were shockingly masterful. These then lead into the real plot focused area of the story, which was again a weird feeling considering the bulk of the book has gone by at this point, but somehow this worked very cohesively overall.
And the culmination of everything was all I hoped for. I did have doubts when certain plot reveals did come about, but it all fit perfectly and told a story with real weight. Things that feel as unsuspecting as interjections of an in-universe comic about a pirate are not only gripping in their own way, but hold relevance to the story, and all of the cast get a gradual story and end up with amazing conclusions that you realise have snuck up on you. Everything in the comic, down to references to poems or songs, or pieces of lore that are placed between chapters, serves a purpose to the story it's telling, and the message it leaves you with, after such a deep and realistic look into humanity and its politics, turns out so impactful.