This is Alan Moore....the times, they are a-changing (Watchmen - Alan Moore)

Member Name: pmcds

Product:	Watchmen - Alan Moore
Date:	19/07/09 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Attention to detail, creation of a complete society

Disadvantages: Nothing, really

Watchmen is Alan Moore's 12 episode comic series captured into one graphic novel. It has been rated as one of the best of all time by Time Magazine, and is generally considered a masterpiece in the realm of graphic novels. I came across it only by dint of it being made into a film, which I watched and thoroughly. However, reading a number of reviews, I realised that the film couldn't quite capture what the comic book offered, and that certain elements were left out. I managed to get hold of a copy of Moore's Watchmen, and have just finished reading it.

The first thing you notice is the artwork. Moore collaborated with Dave Gibbons on the creation of Watchmen, he writing the scripts and storylines and Gibbons interpreting the descriptions and forming them as artwork on the pages. There is nothing particularly amazing about the level of artwork, with the very least expectation being one of high quality for any professional publication. Gibbons captures the images very well, but it is the subtleties that make it special. The progression from frame to frame, taking care over the attention to detail, and capturing the mood of the story - this is what I found instantly grabbed me. There is something special about a comic book, that you can't emulate in a film. You get the time to examine and reexamine each frame, taking your time over each one, looking at the foreground and background to understand the silent messages coming out of the page at you, and this is what Gibbons has done marvellously.

Similarly, Moore's subleties and the ability to work a storyline into a mesmerising piece of literature is up to the challenge posed by Gibbons' clever artwork. The story itself take the familiar comic book model of the superhero, and places it into a Cold War scenario, allowing it to manifest in a real world, one that is embittered with so-called saviours, where the government has banned them with something called the Keene Act. Thus the group of superheroes known as the Watchmen, created to defend America from its internal and external enemies, petty criminals and international ones, was disbanded by the government.

The novel, comprising of the 12 episodes, kicks off episode 1 with the murder of one such superhero, The Comedian (Eddie Blake), as he is thrown, plummeting a number of stories to his death on the ground below. Suspecting a conspiracy to attack former superheroes, fellow Watchman Rorschach sets about warning four of his previous partners in crime fighting: Nite Owl II, Silk Spectre II, Ozymandias and Dr Manhattan. As the story progresses, as does the characterisation, and we get closer to understanding each different character as we also get closer to finding out the truth about Blake's murder.

Each chapter helps us undertand the characters, and Moore intersperses current events with flashbacks to the Watchmen's predecessors, the Minutemen, the original superheroes. The relationships between the original Silk Spectre and her daughter, Silk Spectre II, are well documented, as is the mentor/pupil relationship between original Nite Owl, Hollis Mason, and Nite Owl II, Dan Dreiberg. In seeing these former superheroes, we are also reminded of how everyone grows older, no matter how they might have been in their heyday, and it is a theme that grounds us somewhat, exploring the reality of human nature, pointing out the frailty of it no matter how 'super' you once may have been.

Similarly, it examines the only one of the superheroes who has anything remotely resembling anything abnormal, Dr Manhattan. Most comic book superheroes have some form of super power attached to them. The Minutemen and the Watchmen had none of this - they were just ordinary people, perhaps physically impressive and athletic, and moreso than most, as they donned hidden disguises to exact justice without fear of reproach in their private lives. However, Dr Manhattan is the result of a human scientist who is exposed to a nuclear experiment, close up. The resultant effect is a glowing blue humanoid, capable of controlling matter and visioning the future. The negatives are the radiation associated with his character and his resultant lack of human emotion.

Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) is portrayed as a businessman, extremely successful, with money exposed to him at an early age. A very philosophical character, but again one with a knack for financial acumen and success, he is shown in complete contrast to Rorschach, our maintime narrator through his journal. An extremely violent and psychopathic character, Rorscach has a permanent grudge against the dregs of society, and is the only one of the Watchmen to rebel against the Keene Act and continue his vigilantic justice serving, under the protection of his mask.

Rorschach is, perhaps, the main focal point of the novel, and it is his bitter look at existence that sets the mood. This is added to by the relative ponderous nature of Dr Manhattan, and the inclusion of a number of supplements, originally featuring at the end of each episode, as they were published as individual comics. These supplements include extracts from Hollis Mason's (the original Nite Owl) autobiography, interviews with others, and displayed letters between the superheroes and either their agents or some business cointacts. This enables not only Moore to further establish the world he has created, but also enables us as readers to imagine this as a complete world, not just a story. It adds to the attention to detail from Gibbons and the clever construction from Moore.

There is also the inclusion of a separate tale, cleverly worked into the proceedings. A lot of the central storytelling revolves around a news vendor and his stall, where he bemoans the plight of the superhero, the state of the country and indeed the chance of nuclear war as a result of Cold War tensions and the ever increasing numbers of nuclear weaponry on either side. He is permanently accompanied by a young boy/man who sits, reading each publication of a series of comics, called Tales of the Black Freighter. This features a man on a ship who finds himself as the only survivor of a pirate ship attacking them. Frantically, he uses whatever means necessary to get back home as he realises the pirate ship is headed for his home island and town. What is interesting about this is that, although it seems to have little or no relevance to the main plot, its morals and subtle messages relate very much to the characters in the main novel, particularly the characters of Rorshach and Veidt. It shows what can happen when one is so determined that the blinkers are almost on, preventing one from seeing 'the bigger picture', as it were.

Watchmen is a very thoughtful piece of work. Over 400 pages in total, with each episode featuring around 29 pages, and the excerpts ranging between 3 or 6 sides, it took me a few weeks to read. It's full of important dialogue and intense visuals that require careful watching, as some of the story is told through the visual and not through the speech bubbles or the extracts from Rorschach's journal.

I found myself thoroughly engrossed in reading this. I have always been a comic book fan, and while I have read comic series of characters such as Wolverine and Spiderman, I have never really ventured beyond the comfort zone and monopoly that the mainstream Marvel and DC characters seem to have. This is definitely targeted more towards adults, and features the creation of a whole 'world', a whole 'society', as opposed to just telling one isolated story.

This is, perhaps, its marvel, excuse the pun. That it is so full in its creation, that it encompasses very much our fears and concerns over war and the violence that we experience from the back streets to the main stream, and how we cope with it.....or not. It is a fantastically well created piece of artwork and storytelling, and despite the film being highly enjoyable, there was no way it could possibly have completely encapsulated everything going on from Moore and Gibbons' pens. The graphic novel also includes some original artwork from Gibbons and a spiel from Moore, describing the process and thoughts behind the series, and caps off a very well written and drawn piece of work.

Watchmen is available at the RRP of £24.99, although it does feature at lesser prices if you search for it.

Summary: Fantastic graphic novel from Alan Moore and Ed Gibbons