• POLITICS
  • SCIENCE
    • Astronomy
    • Physics
    • Biology
    • Geology
    • Environment
    • Medicine and Health
    • Sociology
    • Psychology
  • MOVIES & TV SHOWS
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Virtual Reality
    • Bionics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Engineering
    • Robotics
    • Space Exploration
    • Transport
    • Industry and Service
  • GADGETS
    • Mobile Devices
    • Wearables
    • Consoles
    • Hi-Tech
  • GEEK CULTURE
    • Gaming
    • Comics
    • Thingamajigs
  • MUSIC
  • SOFTWARE
    • APPS
      • Android
      • iOS
      • Windows
  • HARDWARE
  • CARS
  • REVIEWS
  • Advertise
  • Geek Reply Jobs
  • Contact Us
Geek Reply
  • HOME
  • Editorials
  • Geek Squad
  • GeekReply Jobs
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Google+

  • LinkedIn

  • RSS

Comics

An Appraisal of Watchmen

An Appraisal of Watchmen
Oddball Finn: Comic Maestro
May 27, 2015

Watchmen has been a frequent topic in my articles, but I thought it was time I actually gave a full on appraisal for why I think it’s so good. There’s a lot to cover and I’m going to do it in brief but in a greater level of detail than when I have previously recommended it.

Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 in which Nixon had been continuously re-elected after using Doctor Manhattan to win the war in Vietnam and make it the 51st State. Watchmen plays heavily on cold war tensions that were running high at the time, and the threat of Nuclear War between Russia and the United States of America. After a former superhero known as the Comedian is murdered, vigilante Rorschach goes on an investigation to discover what happened and how all of these retired superheroes are still linked.

What I particularly like about Watchmen is that it’s primarily a mystery novel as opposed to a stereotypical superhero comic. The dark subject matter was something that was very new at the time, but it also served to satirise the genre. Doctor Manhattan was a far more realistic take on a superman type character, someone that was so powerful that he was practically a God, and as such lost his touch with humanity. Rorschach was quite a realistic take on a street level superhero, someone who was clearly mentally unwell from the horrors he would have to see. Even characters such as the Comedian, who was killed off within the first chapter of the book, gets a huge amount of development and explores the idea that superheroes would not necessarily be nice people, that some ‘heroes’ were actually terrible, violent people who just used vigilantism as an outlet for their psychotic tendencies.

The story itself is a very strong one with a lot of twists and turns that keep the reader very much engaged throughout, however something Watchmen does that truly makes it shine is that it goes beyond being just a comic book. It used the last pages of each issue (which would have ordinarily been used for add space) to include newspaper clippings and excerpts from Hollis Mason’s biography “Under the Hood” which helps to bring you into the world and give the sense of a much bigger universe. There was also the comic within the comic, Tales of the Black Freighter, a pirate comic (as superheroes are not in comics due to them being a real world thing) that’s plot points and themes closely parallel the stories of the characters in Watchmen.

The line between good and evil in Watchmen is blurred immensely, and no character is wholly good or bad in the story. The ending of the book, while seemingly positive has a dark undertone as its final panel makes it clear that things could go very, very wrong once again. What I love about the book is that you’re left wondering if the antagonist was truly right or wrong in his chosen decision.

It’s a comic that I can’t recommend enough, and while I don’t believe there is such a thing as the greatest comic of all time, I do agree that Watchmen is the Citizen Kane of comics. Some may find it preachy, but I don’t think so at all. It is certainly pessimistic, but it brings everything from a great narrative, great artwork, incredibly well developed characters and a very engrossing world into one fantastic graphic novel that is, without a doubt, Alan Moore’s magnum opus. I still cannot recommend it enough.

Post Views: 336
W3Schools
Related ItemsAlan MooreDave GibbonsDoctor ManhattanNite OwlOzymandiasRorschachSilk SpectreThe ComedianWatchmen
Comics
May 27, 2015
Oddball Finn: Comic Maestro

I'm a writer based somewhere in the UK, I like fiction, dinosaurs, martial arts, holding hands and long walks on the beach.

Related ItemsAlan MooreDave GibbonsDoctor ManhattanNite OwlOzymandiasRorschachSilk SpectreThe ComedianWatchmen

More in Comics

Beautiful New Book Teaches About the Art of Horizon Forbidden West

Zach RileyNovember 22, 2022
Read More

Details and gameplay for The Witcher 3 PS5 Version will be released on December 14th

Zach RileyNovember 14, 2022
Read More

NYCC Panelists Have Sound Advice on Writing Characters with Disabilities

Aaron GreenbaumOctober 9, 2017
Read More

Marvel Ends NYCC with Panel Announcing Marvel HQ Youtube Channel

Aaron GreenbaumOctober 9, 2017
Read More

Bethesda’s Collaboration with Titan Comics Expands Game Worlds

Aaron GreenbaumOctober 6, 2017
Read More

Big Upcoming Stories Revealed in the Marvel Legacy Panel

Aaron GreenbaumOctober 5, 2017
Read More

The Batman Ninja Collaboration Project Promises to Transcend Anime

Aaron GreenbaumOctober 5, 2017
Read More
Piracy

Europe Government Hid a Study That Says Piracy isn’t Harmful

Ule LopezSeptember 21, 2017
Read More

Breitbart Is Upset Superman Saved Illegal Immigrants

Aaron GreenbaumSeptember 15, 2017
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • Comments

  • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are Brought To The Lands Between By The Elden Ring Mod
    GamingDecember 29, 2022
  • Level-5 Demonstrates Victory Road Of Heroes Gameplay & New Character in Inazuma Eleven
    GamingDecember 29, 2022
  • Orlando Bloom and David Harbour Share the Gran Turismo movie’s first trailer
    GamingJanuary 5, 2023
  • The highlight of the PSVR2 demo at CES was Horizon Call of the Mountain
    GamingJanuary 5, 2023
  • iPhone 14 – 10 LEAKED Features!
    GadgetsJanuary 20, 2022
  • Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac
    Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac- It can surely save the day
    ReviewsSeptember 26, 2019
  • Rahul Kohli, an actor, and Kenny Omega, a wrestler, will appear as cards in Like a Dragon: Ishin!
    GamingJanuary 27, 2023
  • Dead Space PS5 New Game+ at Launch, Secret Ending Confirmed by EA
    GamingJanuary 27, 2023
  • An 8-Bit Throwback to Hardcore Ninja Action Is Shinobi non Grata
    ConsolesJanuary 27, 2023
  • As it tops the weekly hardware chart in Japan, PS5 is gaining more traction there
    ConsolesJanuary 27, 2023
  • Ule || TSR says:

    That is far from the intention in this article. Especially…

  • Romuska Palo Ur Laputa says:

    Most of the characters became unlikable and regressed backwards, the…

  • reversalmushroom says:

    Lauren Faust has not been part of My Little Pony…

  • reversalmushroom says:

    Like what?

Geek Reply

Greetings techies! We are Geek Reply, a website whose main goal is to bring you all the latest news and updates from within the industry and beyond. What can you expect to find here?

Professional journalism coupled with expository writing for the most part, but we also give our honest opinion or throw in a pinch of humor for good measure when we deem it necessary. Our team is comprised of enthusiasts from across a wide variety of fields ranging from smartphone junkies to camera nerds, and everything in between. But perhaps you were looking for your daily dose of science news or hoping to read about the latest apps. If that’s the case, don’t worry, you came to the right place.

GeekReply Secured with GeekReply Scured
Nintendo Switch GeekReply

Copyright © 2022 GeekReply - Webdesign & Marketing - iPublicitate

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Is Among June’s Japanese PlayStation Plus Titles
An Appraisal of Dave McKean