Watchmen (the novel) - who here has read it? PROBABLE SPOILERS

[DarkHelmet]

So, despite being a life-long comic fan and reader, I never read Watchmen.

Until recently.

Twice.

Fantastic piece of literature. In the comic/graphic novel medium, the rare instance where the hype and praise actually doesn't come close to descibing how I felt reading it.

As far as the upcoming movie.. whereas before, I was indifferent, I am now eagerly anticipating it after rewatching the trailers.

Who else has read the novel, and what did you think?

 

[CommodoreKong]

I bought it a few months ago due to all the hype about the movie. The first time I read it I thought it was good, though not as crazy awesome as everyone seems to think it is.

Just a few weeks ago I read it again and it got much better, I noticed tons of things I hadn't noticed the first time and story just fit together better when I knew what was going to happen.

Is it the best graphic novel of all time? I don't know, I haven't really read that many. After my second read through I do consider it the best one I've read.

 

[Bad Bishop]

I've read "Watchmen" several times, but I've never bothered with "The Black Freighter" section. Is it that relevant to the main story?

 

[Maurice]

I've read "Watchmen" several times, but I've never bothered with "The Black Freighter" section. Is it that relevant to the main story?

Spoiler: the Black Freighter and the main plot

The story reflects/parallels Veidt's master plan in that the character in the Black Freighter tries to avoid what he sees as inevitable doom by literally riding the corpses of former comrades, just as Veidt rides a wave of death to get to his own idea of salvation. It can also be read as a counterpoint to other parts of the story, such as Rorschach's capture and Dr. Manhattan's self-exile on Mars.

 

[The Borg Queen]

I liked the ending.

The idea of having ordinary people dress up as heroes when they don't have any special powers or skills kinda bored me.

Only Doctor Manhattan actually has any special powers and he's surrounded by a bunch of ordinary people in fancy dress costumes.

 

[JNG]

As far as the upcoming movie.. whereas before, I was indifferent, I am now eagerly anticipating it after rewatching the trailers.

Who else has read the novel, and what did you think?

It's a masterpiece, but I'm afraid I am not expecting nearly as much of the movie. I'd love to be wrong!

 

[ITL]

I've read it countless times, and never cease to be amazed. All those little touches - the way "Fearful Symmetry" works, the use of the street junction from different perspectives, the excellent deconstruction of the genre, etc.

But perhaps my favourite thing is how the first and only meeting of the new Minutemen in the 60's tells us so much about the personalities involved and how it's shown from different perspectives to reveal more depth. Wonderful.

 

[cardinal biggles]

I just finished reading it for the first time on Sunday, and was very impressed. It wasn't until I was about halfway through that the story finally "clicked" for me, so a re-read before the movie comes out is definitely needed. I liked how Nite Owl II and Rorschach represented the two sides of Batman — Nite Owl as the bored rich guy with tons of costumes and gadgets; Rorschach as the morally rigid, psychotic, antisocial asshole Frank Miller gave us in Dark Knight Returns.

 

[ITL]

^ And they had their similarities, too - they both needed to be those characters. Dan (the everyman character) never felt as alive as when he was in the costume doing his thing. And Rorschach was so screwed up that he couldn't be anything else.

 

[Sci]

I've read "Watchmen" several times, but I've never bothered with "The Black Freighter" section. Is it that relevant to the main story?

Yes, and it's also a good story in its own right.

 

[Jim Steele]

Can't add anything to this thread other than - I didn't read it until last year. Its reputation is very deserved. I was thoroughly gripped, something that's never happened to me with a comic before.

 

[JoeZhang]

It's a great comic book.

 

[Piper]

I haven't read it for ages but must do so before the film comes out. I'm very intrigued to see what Synder has replaced you-know-what with...

 

[stj]

Have to recommend it as well.

Just finished trying out more Alan Moore---Supreme: The Return; Top Ten; America's Best Comics, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier. I had also seen the other League of Extraordinary Gentlemen instalments and three volumes of Promethea (sort of, that one was pretty unreadable at the end.) If you want comics deconstruction, in my opinion Supreme does it much better, not least by taking on the Big Guy in superheroland, Superman. I'm not sure about the intrinsic interest in deconstruction, however. In fact, I'm not sure I could recommend anything by Alan Moore except Watchmen. Even it is flawed by a sickly obsessive sentimentality about Rorschach.

Spoiler: black freighter story

Although the pirate story is plainly intended as commentary on the main plot, the personal motivation of the protagonist in the pirate comic and the altruistic motivation of Ozymandias keeps it from being neatly allegorical.

 

[V]

QUI CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES?

 

[RAMA]

So, despite being a life-long comic fan and reader, I never read Watchmen.

Until recently.

Twice.

Fantastic piece of literature. In the comic/graphic novel medium, the rare instance where the hype and praise actually doesn't come close to descibing how I felt reading it.

As far as the upcoming movie.. whereas before, I was indifferent, I am now eagerly anticipating it after rewatching the trailers.

Who else has read the novel, and what did you think?

When I was a kid and it first came out my mouth was literally agape every time an issue appeared. My mouth is closed now but my brain feels the same way.

RAMA

 

[Harvey]

I read the first three chapters before having to leave home, and greatly enjoyed them. The art really works when you focus on the work, and the use of prose sections in between the chapters is a clever narrative device. I am looking forward to finishing it when I get my hands on it again.

I am worried about the translation to film, however. I wonder if Snyder will be able to translate the spoken dialogue into something that isn't painful to listen to. The bits I've heard in the trailer struck me as cheesy. It may be blasphemous to say, but this may be the part of the adaptation that requires the least amount of faith to the source material.

But I have neither finished the book, nor seen the film, so it is all an incomplete judgment at this point.

 

[Ward Fowler]

I read it as it originally came out and then several more times through the years. Most recently I read it this past summer.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I liked a lot of the characters, particularly Roarschach & Nite Owl II, but I felt like things really started to drag after it finished establishing all of the characters. In particular, I found the ending supremely unsatisfying. I'm such a humanist that I can't stand anything ending with the message that the people need to be fed a pretty lie rather than deal with an obvious truth. The end of The Dark Knight bothered me for the same reason.

For me, one of the most emotionally powerful moments of the story is when those ignorant assholes kill the original Nite Owl. I nearly cried/howled with rage.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I read it for the first time two summers ago in anticipation for the movie...think it was in pre-production then and I really enjoyed it. Watchmen was something that I've always wanted to read and just never had the time nor the patience to start reading it but got it from the library and read it in one sitting. Loved it. Can't really add anything more to what's been said except that I'm really looking forward to the movie in March.