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Monday, Jun 2
Description
Watchmen, the groundbreaking series from award-winning author Alan Moore, presents a world where the mere presence of American superheroes changed history--the U.S. won the Vietnam War, Nixon is still president, and the Cold War is in full effect. Considered the greatest graphic novel in the history of the medium, the Hugo Award-winning story chronicles the fall from grace of a group of superheroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the superhero is dissected as an unknown assassin stalks the erstwhile heroes. This edition of Watchmen, the groundbreaking series from Alan Moore, the award-winning author of V For Vendetta and Batman: The Killing Joke, features art from industry legend Dave Gibbons, with high-quality, recolored pages found in Watchmen: Absolute Edition. Read more
Publisher : Dc Comics; Illustrated edition (May 20, 2019)
Language : English
Paperback : 414 pages
ISBN-10 : 1779501129
ISBN-13 : 27
Item Weight : 1.55 pounds
Dimensions : 7.99 x 10 x 1.85 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #6,838 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #3 in Historical & Biographical Fiction Graphic Novels #6 in Mystery, Thriller & Crime Manga #45 in Superhero Comics & Graphic Novels
#3 in Historical & Biographical Fiction Graphic Novels:
#6 in Mystery, Thriller & Crime Manga:
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Top Amazon Reviews
Even casual observers such as myself know Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's Watchmen is generally reputed to be THE graphic novel, or at the very least on the short list of the best and most influential in the whole medium, as well as one of the works that brought respectability to the form. I'm too young to personally remember the effect Watchmen had on the comic genre, but my brother was in middle school at the time of its release, and when he saw me reading the book recently he said the reaction to it back then was, "Like, holy cow." And it's not hard to see why. Moore's V for Vendetta was certainly a great book, but this one is so far ahead of its predecessor in terms of complexity, detail, and psychological depth it makes V look like, well, a comic book. Like V, Watchmen has heavy doses of sociopolitical ponderings mixed in with its more traditional action and interpersonal drama, but in Watchmen Moore creates a whole universe of frequently morally ambiguous characters, telling his story on an infinitely grander and more nuanced scale than before. This is a true novel, incorporating multiple plot strands and backstories, with as much emphasis on ideas as on the fast-paced narrative and lavishly colored and detailed artwork. Ironically, Moore creates a world where comic-book-styled crimefighters are (or were) very real, and very human, and uses it to explore issues that go well beyond the purview of anything that could've been dreamed up in the early days of superhero myths. The world of Watchmen is an ugly one, filled with violence, social decay, and general depravity, where decent people strive to make a difference only to question whether anyone can, and where characters who face the darkness and insanity that surround them are defined by their reactions to it. The book's overarching plot expertly exploits the fear and paranoia of the Cold War era, along with any society's ever-present tensions between order and liberty, as an apparent scheme to knock off former costumed crimefighters (The Watchmen of the book's title) intersects with escalating hostilities between the U.S. and the Soviet Union as the threat of nuclear holocaust hangs eternally overhead. And at the risk of overdoing the V for Vendetta comparisons, much like that book this one doesn't ask the reader to take sides: there are plenty of competing philosophies and worldviews on display in Watchmen, and while none of them are exactly idealized, all are at least explained. Really, though, it's the embellishments that make Watchmen near-mandatory reading. I've read some novels that were pretty out-there in my time(Infinite Jest and House of Leaves, to name a couple of the more prominent), and while this one isn't quite as dense and narratively complicated as those two, it's up there. Interspersed between each chapter is an addendum of some sort, usually an excerpt of text, that sheds light on the characters and the world they inhabit. Even beyond that, the book is filled with little asides and interruptions that give it an almost stream-of-consciousness feel. Watchmen doesn't just show a guy sitting at a newsstand reading a chilling comic called The Black Freighter; it overlays passges from the book into the main narrative and throws in a biography of its creator for good measure. We don't just see a militantly right-wing newspaper editor thundering his philosophy at a hapless underling; we get to read one of his editorials for ourselves. Watchmen isn't just action or intrigue for its own sake; everything has its context. Much as I hate to say it, the above review has been woefully inadequte, but there's just so much in here that's worth thinking and writing about that it's pretty much impossible to encapsulate it in a few paragraphs. Similarly, it's hard to digest everything in this book without some careful reading, but in the end it's more than worth it. Actually, if I had to come up with a complaint about Watchmen, it's that the ending is a bit of a letdown, but after the sustained brilliance that preceded it, that was practically inevitable. A great book all around.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2006 by Wheelchair Assassin
I have to say, this is just the best comic I have ever read. The art was just to die for, the characters were well thought out, and a brilliant plot was implemented into the comic. I have read many comics where the story seems jump around to useless side stories for no typical reason other than to show that the writers want to make a long ass story, but this was different. Sure the story jumped around a lot in this but there was some point to it; it helped me understand when, why, and how the heroes became who they are. For example, Jon a.k.a. Dr. Manhattan, was not always an immortal bipedal h-Bomb, he was once human. He had a life once before where he was human. He grew up a the son of a watch maker so he was always around time. Things changed and he became a scientist in Nuclear- Atomic- Atoms- whatchamacallit. He met his first love and he offered one day to fix her watch because someone stepped on it. He left it in his lab coat one day, and his lab coat was left inside a room where objects were de-atomized. He went to fetch the lab coat and an accident occurred, causing him to be trapped inside the room and he was De-Atomized. Thought to be dead, everyone tried to think as if it never happened. Then Jon appeared, living and well but had changed. He was glowing bright blue, his skin was like a blueberry threw up on him, and he now had abilities unlike anyone. He had become God, which he denied to every extent. But he was also fixated on how time flowed. He always knew what would happen before it would happen, and it made him quite a pain in the ass to be around since he seemed to never be impressed or seemed to care. However he at times does wish to be normal, but he blames three people for his transformation, but never could he choose the main person to blame. He blamed the man who stepped on the watch, he blamed his girlfriend who he offered to fix her watch, and he blamed himself for ever leaving his coat in the De-atomization chamber in the first place. Another example of a well thought out character (which is one of my favorite heroes of all time) is Walter Kovacs a.k.a. Rorschach (pronounced: Roar•Shack). Rorschach is more or less the character that actually knows when stuff is going on, and he knows how to get the information he wants. He doesn't need fancy gadgets (although he does have a Grapple Hook launcher), he doesn't need superpowers, he doesn't need the force, and he sure as hell doesn't need money. He used something called breaking limbs. It works to the very least, and that's how he found out about WW3 (which was about to happen but events at the end of the book caused the world to stop all war). He did find out about a plot to stop the war by interrogating a retired villain who was dragged into the whole mess. But how did Rorschach become like this? How did Walter Kovacs become the cold, paranoid vigilante that he is? Walter grew up in a broken home, raised by his whore of a mother that treated him like garbage and he was bullied by the other kids because his mother was a whore. At some point he grew tired of all of the worlds evils. He, when he became an adult, started working at some package-fashion store place, and a package with a dress that was specially made came in. The dress was an ink blot dress which meant that the dress design 'moves' via body heat reacting with ink in between special fabric. They were holding it for a celebrity who died before she could ever pick it up. The way she died caused Walter to break. The Celebrity had been raped and murdered, and bystanders watched as it happened. The cold injustice that happened to the lady created Walter Kovacs's alias. But, through a confusing explanation on how Rorschach truly began, he tells a doctor the birth of Rorschach and the death of Walter. According to Walter, Rorschach began the night he promised to find a kidnapped girl. He found the kidnapper, but no girl. The girl was dead, chopped to pieces and fed to dogs like kibble. He changed drastically, and instead of arresting the kidnapper, he killed him. As Walter said: "whatever was left of Walter died that night with little girl." He now kills those who dare to cause injustice. He even hates the politicians (for going on with war as the only answer) and prostitutes (because of his childhood). But to truly understand the story, YOU. MUST. READ. IT. You'll be sorry if you don't. I will cherish my copy and pass it down for future generations to experience an era of comics from before my time. Thanks for reading! Famous Quote from Rorschach: "Dead dog found in alley way, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me, I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters, and the gutters are filled with blood until the drains finally scab over and all of the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of their sex and murder will rise up around their waists, and they will look up and scream: Save us! And I will look down and reply: No."
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Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2015 by Steven Levi Little