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 Watchmen :: 0930289234
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| Has any comic been as acclaimed as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen? Possibly only Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, but Watchmen remains the critics' favorite. Why? Because Moore is a better writer, and Watchmen a more complex and dark and literate creation than Miller's fantastic, subversive take on the Batman myth. Moore, renowned for many other of the genre's finest creations (Saga of the Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta, and From Hell, with Eddie Campbell) first put out Watchmen in 12 issues for DC in 1986-87. It won a comic award at the time (the 1987 Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards for Best Writer/Artist combination) and has continued to gather praise since. The story concerns a group called the Crimebusters and a plot to kill and discredit them. Moore's characterization is as sophisticated as any novel's. Importantly the costumes do not get in the way of the storytelling; rather they allow Moore to investigate issues of power and control--indeed it was Watchmen, and to a lesser extent Dark Knight, that propelled the comic genre forward, making "adult" comics a reality. The artwork of Gibbons (best known for 2000AD's Rogue Trooper and DC's Green Lantern) is very fine too, echoing Moore's paranoid mood perfectly throughout. Packed with symbolism, some of the overlying themes (arms control, nuclear threat, vigilantes) have dated but the intelligent social and political commentary, the structure of the story itself, its intertextuality (chapters appended with excerpts from other "works" and "studies" on Moore's characters, or with excerpts from another comic book being read by a child within the story), the finepace of the writing and its humanity mean that Watchmen more than stands up--it keeps its crown as the best the genre has yet produced. --Mark Thwaite Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
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Author: Guest
Watchman is not your average graphic novel. Just a quick flick would reveal that you are not looking through the pages of any DC or Marvel adventure. When you get into it the stories are more like reading a television soap that has just had a shot of high-octane masked heroism. Alan Moore's tale of burnt out superheroes, finds itself pitted against the backdrop of the 80s cold war crises, is deservingly recommended to all graphic novel lovers, yet it is genre defining, doing away with conventional good guys versus bad guys, for a `life is rough and everybody pays' kind of theme. Here the characters are fully fleshed out with some disturbing tales of sexual deviance, murder, revenge and capitalism. By developing and digging ever deeper into the characters psyche against a backdrop of a looming atomic war threat Moore's men are brimming with imagination. The size of the book means you will be chugging through for some time to come. I had it for weeks. The chapter breaks include many lengthy essays so this is probably the reason for it. Recommended with a cherry on top for graphic novel lovers, although unconventional here means that Watchmen is not really the best graphic novel to start with and is more for experienced tastes.
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Author: Guest
Classic series that drastically changed the direction and attitude of all future series. A required addition to any true collector.
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Author: Guest
This is defintely not a normal comic book. There is so much going on in this story that you will want to read it at least twice. If this book were not written, I truly believe that there would not be many graphic novels being produced right now. This is the granddaddy of them all so buy it now and enjoy.
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Author: Guest
Man I just finished reading this book and I have to say it was one of the best things I've read in long time. I usualy will read anything that is given to me I am not picky but I surely was not disappointed with this book. The characters are well developed and the plot keeps you going all the way through.
I don't want to give to much away about the story but it's basicaly about ex-super heros who get tangled up in their own problems and emotions why trying to figure out if theres a secrete plot to kill ex-heros.
The style of the art is that of an older style before the over use of photo shop and other graphic programs. And the way the story is told is a unique mix of flashbacks, book chapters, police reports, journals, comic within a comic and classic comic book panals.
simply great.
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Author: Guest
let me first say i really love alan moore. but the watchmen i think is the most overrated comic work out there. i'll explain:
1. the watchmen is said to have revolutionized comics and brought them into the modern age, to more realistic comics. while this may be true, looking at it for face value now seeing where comics have gone in the last twenty years it's kind of hard to appreciate; meaning that if it was one step in the chain (even if a big one), the resulting rest of the chain has gone way past this. so the watchmen would kind of like be citizen kane, which brought movies to a different level and so is held to be the best movie ever which it isn't. citizen kane, like the watchmen, was a bridge.
2. the watchmen is a piece of history, in that it probably had a greater effect on the reader if read during the cold war. i first read the watchmen in the 90s and i just didn't feel the effect it probably would have given me if i'd read it during the nuclear war scare years of the 80s and before.
don't get me wrong, the watchmen is better than 95% of the stuff out there, it's just not the greatest thing ever.
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