Loserkid's Awesome Graphic Novel Reviews, Take 2: "Watchmen"
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I embarassingly bought "Watchmen" after I saw Dark Knight due to the trailer, looked pretty sweet, 300 was an alright movie, got boring after the 2nd time of watching it. But anyways, I bought this book. It was written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The central story of Watchmen is not very difficult, right off the bat you find out, someone is killing or discrediting masked hero's. And Rorschach, my personal favorite character, has to investigate. Now the central story is not the most interesting part of the book.
The parts of the book that you will really want to take interest in this book are the intricate details of the struggles within the characters. This is all what makes "Watchmen" so special, the depth of all the characters and their respective subplots: Dr. Manhattan dealing with his responsibility to humanity given his god-like powers; Nite Owl having trouble leaving his secret identity behind; Rorschach being examined by a psychiatrist. Each chapter offers a specific focus on one of the characters, yet advances the overall narrative.
Beyond that the intricate narrative, Moore and Gibbons offer two additional levels to the story. First, each chapter is followed by a "non-comic" section that develops more of the backstories, such as numerous excerpts from Hollis Mason's autobiography "Under the Hood" or Professor Mitlon Glass' "Dr. Manhattan: Super-Powers and the Superpowers," an interview with Adrian Veidt, or reports from the police files of Walter Joseph Kovacs. Second, almost every issue has scenes from "Tales of the Black Freighter," a comic-book being read by a kid near a newsstand, which offers an allegorical perspective on the main plot line.
Watchmen really pushed the bar of comics towards sophistication and intelligence. For once while reading a graphic novel besides the "Dark Knight Returns" I didn't feel like a kid. The novel really takes you very far in depth.
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