Watchmen
Author: Allen Moore
Artist: Dave Gibbons
leaving the world of black and white behind
Watchmen is one of those few books, that have changed the whole medium. Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns are probably the forefathers of the grim'n gritty era of the ninties. Both left the bright four-color world of traditional super-heroes and reached out to include the dark, cruel realities of real life. Heroes became flawed, their motives and methods became questioned. This is where Wolverine, Venom and the Punisher came from. Watchmen is far more, however. Modern grim'n gritty comics often follow a simple, repeated formula: The hero (or rather anti-hero) is turned into the worst possibly SoB, dealing out grim revenge in the most possibly violent way.
Watchmen is something completely different. The characters in this book are many things: masked vigilantes, heroes, facists, nazis, killers, villains - but most of all, they are humans. An incredible effort has been put into developing their personalities, and it shows.
Good characters alone, however, don't make a good story. So, good luck that Watchmen doesn't rely exclusively on good characterization, but also sprouts one of the most ingenuine plots I've read in comic books so far. A common homocide sets loose a chain of events, that eventually threatens to destroy humanity.
Or probably not. Let's just say: The conclussion is breathtaking, even today, twenty years after the book first came out.
On the way towards the big finish, we are treated with a magnitude of purely delicious story-telling. We watch two generations of Super Heroes come into their own, all told through flash-backs, news-paper articles and in one case, even a few pages from the biography of one of them. Still, watchmen is far more then a book about super-heroes. It's a book about the world they live in, the world that has shaped them but that was also shaped by them, and that is just as complicated as the heroes themselves are.
Essentially, Watchmen is literature. It's not an easy read. Anyone expecting a slug-fest of action and high-sprung drama will be disappointed. There's some action, and quite a lot of drama, but it's subtle, intelligent, even intellectual at times. Watchmen is many things, but most of all, its a challenging but rewarding piece of fiction.
I've read a hell lot of good stuff about Watchman, but after I've read it, I can but say: It's really that good.
Art: _____ 4 (/5)
Story: ___ 5 (/5)
Winner of the Hugo-Award
Author: Allen Moore
Artist: Dave Gibbons
leaving the world of black and white behind
Watchmen is one of those few books, that have changed the whole medium. Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns are probably the forefathers of the grim'n gritty era of the ninties. Both left the bright four-color world of traditional super-heroes and reached out to include the dark, cruel realities of real life. Heroes became flawed, their motives and methods became questioned. This is where Wolverine, Venom and the Punisher came from. Watchmen is far more, however. Modern grim'n gritty comics often follow a simple, repeated formula: The hero (or rather anti-hero) is turned into the worst possibly SoB, dealing out grim revenge in the most possibly violent way.
Watchmen is something completely different. The characters in this book are many things: masked vigilantes, heroes, facists, nazis, killers, villains - but most of all, they are humans. An incredible effort has been put into developing their personalities, and it shows.
Good characters alone, however, don't make a good story. So, good luck that Watchmen doesn't rely exclusively on good characterization, but also sprouts one of the most ingenuine plots I've read in comic books so far. A common homocide sets loose a chain of events, that eventually threatens to destroy humanity.
Or probably not. Let's just say: The conclussion is breathtaking, even today, twenty years after the book first came out.
On the way towards the big finish, we are treated with a magnitude of purely delicious story-telling. We watch two generations of Super Heroes come into their own, all told through flash-backs, news-paper articles and in one case, even a few pages from the biography of one of them. Still, watchmen is far more then a book about super-heroes. It's a book about the world they live in, the world that has shaped them but that was also shaped by them, and that is just as complicated as the heroes themselves are.
Essentially, Watchmen is literature. It's not an easy read. Anyone expecting a slug-fest of action and high-sprung drama will be disappointed. There's some action, and quite a lot of drama, but it's subtle, intelligent, even intellectual at times. Watchmen is many things, but most of all, its a challenging but rewarding piece of fiction.
I've read a hell lot of good stuff about Watchman, but after I've read it, I can but say: It's really that good.
Art: _____ 4 (/5)
Story: ___ 5 (/5)
Winner of the Hugo-Award
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