Watchmen

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  There were plays before Shakespeare and there was rock and roll before the Beatles. Likewise there were comic books before Watchmen. But none of them have been the same since. Don't get me wrong. I still love my Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-up but in terms of really forcing the literary world to take the medium seriously, Alan Moore's work here does the job bar none. I have even used the story of Ozymandias and his creature in two separate graduate papers on religious ethics. This wor... (show more)

  There were plays before Shakespeare and there was rock and roll before the Beatles. Likewise there were comic books before Watchmen. But none of them have been the same since. Don't get me wrong. I still love my Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-up but in terms of really forcing the literary world to take the medium seriously, Alan Moore's work here does the job bar none. I have even used the story of Ozymandias and his creature in two separate graduate papers on religious ethics. This works on so many levels. Brilliant. (show less)

   

   

  by Jonah Bartlett on Jan 20, 2008 at 05:42PM

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  An immensely dark work which I'm still trying to absorb. Moore paints a bleak alternate reality in which so-called superheros seem to have done more harm than good, driving a world which was already teetering on the edge of chaos closer to apocalypse. These vigilantes range from being slightly naive and altruistic, like the two Night Owls, to psychologically disturbed and vengeful, like the Comedian and Rorschach. One individual -- Jon -- has become so removed from his humanity via the mac... (show more)

  An immensely dark work which I'm still trying to absorb. Moore paints a bleak alternate reality in which so-called superheros seem to have done more harm than good, driving a world which was already teetering on the edge of chaos closer to apocalypse. These vigilantes range from being slightly naive and altruistic, like the two Night Owls, to psychologically disturbed and vengeful, like the Comedian and Rorschach. One individual -- Jon -- has become so removed from his humanity via the machinations of science as to have little emotion left at all.

  These "superheroes" aren't really heroes, but that seems to be part of the point. While many start out with good intentions, they come to realize that their heroics aren't fixing the major problems which are bringing the world closer to apocalypse: while they catch purse-robbers, the arms race chugs on. But does this make their actions meaningless? And what is the moral price of solving these bigger problems, and is it worth paying?

  Moore addresses all these questions through his characters, some of whom have given up on the world, and others of whom still see its potential for good. The search for any kind of meaning in life is something which all the characters, even the background characters who fill the streets of New York, are trying to find. By the brutal and morally dubious climax of the story, I wasn't sure if Moore was trying to say that such a search is ultimately meaningless in-and-of-itself and that means are ultimately justified by their ends, or that, as the Earth is always heading toward apocalypse, committing despicable actions in service of preventing such an event iis never justified.

  Regardless, the last scene presents a blank slate: the Watchmen cannot be expected to be humanity's saviors, because they are as flawed as those they are protecting. The human race must make the collective decision to save itself -- its all in our hands. This is certainly an unsettling ending, but it fits the unsettling tone of the rest of the story. While I may disagree with some of Moore's conclusions, this is a well-written, thought provoking work that deserves to be read and discussed by many. (show less)

   

  by Thomas Johnson on Mar 03, 2009 at 03:05AM

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