So Watchmen, wanted to read it as I've watched the movie but never read the comic. It's not bad. The vast story beats with Moore using it as a deconstruction, the Minutemen of the 40s are seen as a golden age with it's post war optimism and then giving way to the 50s and 60s and the cold harsh reality of the cold war. Good stuff. The art is really good as well, several scenes that are still splash pages convey the weight of the scene, like Rorschach entering the comedian's apartment after his death.
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Another thing I liked was the use of perspective in some scenes. There's one where Rorschach walks in the background thinking aloud while Nite Owl guess Veidt's password on his computer, the entire scene is from behind the computer. The kind of visual directing that I'm more used to seeing in movies rather than comics.
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The not so good though, while the characters as character-types are good, the actions they go through are typically bad. For instance, Laurie is basically useless through out the entire story, she gets with Jon at 16, stays with him till 38, then hooks up with Dan, has 3 sex scenes with him and her only other major scenes are arguing with Manhattan on Mars. Dan as Nite Owl is just kind of in the story and Ozymandias, being the anti-hero is only revealed in the last two chapters where he gets most of the screen time. Dr Manhattan is hard to care for, not because of blue dick but because he's apathetic to everything happening around him.
The characters that actually drive the story are Rorschach and the Comedian. I really did like how Comedian was never alive in the present tense in the story, you only find out about him in flashbacks and what kind of a bastard he was. Rorschach meanwhile drives the story, his opening narration, getting locked up in prison, he's the only one who cares when Veidt reveals his plan. He's also the only one with a bit of an arc, as when he was little he praised Truman for dropping the Bombs but since now he sees the world in black and white, he'd go against Veidt who is essentially doing the same thing to unite the world.
Indeed the general apathy displayed by the cast, Manhattan does not care for humans, Laurie can't see the bigger picture (even using personal experiences in her conversation with Jon) and Dan talking with Hollis and being a recluse. Ozymandias wanted to save Humanity from itself at any cost. Comedian saw the world as one big joke and laughed along with it, Rorschach saw the world in black and white, a problem to be solved and a criminal to lock up. Is it any wonder why people like Rorschach when he's the only one out of this miserable lot to actually care about the world he lives in? Even if it means being the psychotic vigilante that Alan Moore despises.
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Overall opinion: Hrm. Art good. Story beats good. Characters unique. Conversations and actions contrived.
Can see why classic, if flawed.
