Watchmen

After reading Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons in my pop lit class, I understood why this comic series, though I had never heard of it, was a total classic. It has so much substance to it. And the visual medium was entirely necessary to make the points that this graphic novel makes. Without the illustrations, the story could never have this kind of depth to it.

The novel poses this most interesting question: what if superheroes really did exist in our world? But what if most of them were more like Batman: ordinary people who use their talents to go about in disguise and help the helpless? Yet, in some sense, they admit that this could never happen in our own world, and so there are subtle changes (which become more obvious as the story progresses) which prove that these events are happening in an alternate timeline. The addition of overly vibrant and somewhat unusual colours plays into the fictional atmosphere of the whole thing. At the same time, they use the paratext to create a sense of reality. Where most comic books would have a letters column, Watchmen includes paper materials from within its created world. There are excerpts from a character's book, patient files for another character, and so on. We do not see these filtered through the lens of a character perspective or the 9-square grid pattern of the other pages. Instead, we get to interact with the documents first-hand, as though we are part of their world, or they are part of ours.

The question within the text, stemming from the one which prompted the story concept, is "who is watching the watchmen?" If superheroes really did exist the way they did in the comics, then how would one control them? Interestingly, other superhero movies have started to address the same question in recent years (Captain America: Civil War and Incredibles II come to mind). The problem is that these people act outside of the law. They often have very little training. So what happens when something goes wrong is that people put the blame on the superheroes.

But the novel explores so many more themes than that. It touches on abuse, on human reactions to crisis, on the effects of global warfare, and even on morality and subjective views of right and wrong. As it turns out, while all of the heroes desire to do good, they all have different ideas of what that looks like. Some are much more black and white (literally...looking at you, Rorschach), while others believe in the glory of the greater good. The climax of the story also plays on the Cold War trope of alien invasion as a metaphor for Soviet attacks, yet the interesting thing is that this particular alien invasion is intended to lead to world peace, which a Soviet attack on America clearly never would.

There are parallels and ironies created between the events in the plot, the dialogue of the characters, and the visual details. I would suggest to anyone who wants to read this graphic novel that you take the time, as slow as it might make the reading process, to look carefully at what is happening in each image. You'll catch such small details, so many of which I have still not fully unpacked for their symbolism, but which add such a rich complexity to the whole work. 

As I write this, all I can say is that I feel like I need to read Watchmen again. I think that every reading could provide fresh perspectives and new understandings. Besides, the plot keeps you guessing the way any good mystery novel should, and the art is too fantastic to explain. Moore and Gibbons are innovative and creative in ways I could only dream of being myself.

And now, as I become exposed to true nerd culture, even in things like The Big Bang Theory, I see how important Watchmen is to comic book culture. It was integral in changing the tone for the whole genre, and I understand why. Even if you aren't a comic book reader, check this book out. I wasn't, but I appreciated it for the piece of art and literature that it is. Sure, it has a few weaknesses, but any human product will. But that doesn't reduce its impact.