Watchmen

[AtrainV]

http://www.firstshowing.net/img/watchmen-cover.jpg

I started a thread on this the other day, but it was purged with a number of others, so here it is again...

I never really got into graphic novels when I was younger (not that I had anything against them, I just never really started reading them). However, I've always been told that Watchmen is one of the best, and that "it should be considered real literature" or "it defies all the boundaries of the genre" or "it's basically metafiction."

Even though I'd heard all of these reviews from sources I trusted, I just never took the time... until last week.

I must say, this book is really terrific and deserves all the praise it gets. Now, I'm only about 3/4 of the way through, so I suppose I should hold back on the superlatives until I actually finish it, but it really is a great character-based story that has me reaching to pick it back up every time I decide to take a break.

Give it a chance if you haven't. The movie will be out soon, so you may want to try and read it beforehand.

[AtrainV]

Hey, uh, this is definitely not my original work. Any chance it could be moved back?

[Monkmaster]

Holy shit, can I have your autograph?!?!

[Caesar]

Jeeze, sorry about that. Moved back to its proper place.

[AtrainV]

Danke ;)

[The_Achilles_Heel]

I, too, just finished it the other night. It was my first graphic novel. It was hooking unlike most books I have ever read, I can't wait for the movie.

Any other suggestions for graphic novels?

[Thought Riot]

I, too, just finished it the other night. It was my first graphic novel. It was hooking unlike most books I have ever read, I can't wait for the movie.

Any other suggestions for graphic novels?

Anything else by Moore. That's all I've read so far, and I love all of it. V for Vendetta is by him too. Better than the movie.

I'm going to talk to the comic book store nerds to see what to read next.

EDIT: Spoiler below
What do I remember about Watchmen....the Veldt/Pirate stories are parallels and Rorschach dies because of his black and white, absolute view on the world and morality. He can't compromise. I should reread that.

[*ivy]

The end of Watchmen is pretty bleak. That's what I love about it.

V for Vendetta drags in places and is a bit too political for me, but fantastic.

Lost Girls if you like seeing Alice in Wonderland doing the dirty.

David Boring by the guy who wrote Ghost World, Daniel Clowes is pretty good, I just finished that.

[Ford Prefect]

Awesome, awesome book.

Everything by Alan Moore is great through. From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen are incredible. Even his stuff like Promethea, Top 10 and Tom Strong isn't too bad.

Other than that I'd suggest everything by Frank Miller, Ben Templesmith and Mike Mignola.

[Reyin]

Awesome, awesome book.

Agreed. The graphic novel was fantastic. It's truly unlike anything else I've ever read. You can compare some of its themes to other novels, but the story it tells is completely unique. The characters are great, the plot line is great. I definitely recommend it to someone who hasn't read it before.

I'm anxiously awaiting the movie as well.

[AtrainV]

I finished this about a week ago, and now my girlfriend is reading it. She's gotten hooked as well, haha.

Anyways, I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. I like it, in principle, but I'm not sure how convincing it was.

I think my favorite aspect of the book is how self-deprecating it is. Not in the sense that it's making fun of itself, but in the satire that is involved in the various characters that exist. They're all poking fun at the conventional "super heroes" while being part of a "super hero" story themselves. Not only that, but there is a graphic novel within the graphic novel. It's really pretty great.

However, I'm not sure how they're going to pull off the book on film. I just don't see it crossing mediums easily at all.

[Resign the king]

I, too, just finished it the other night. It was my first graphic novel. It was hooking unlike most books I have ever read, I can't wait for the movie.

Any other suggestions for graphic novels?

As far as Alan Moore goes I really liked his run on Saga of the Swamp Thing.

Also Grant Morrison is really good. And one comic I read recently called Pride of Baghdad was also great. The same guy who wrote Y the Last Man I can't remember his name right now though. It's about these lions that escape during the invasion of Iraq in 03, anthropomorphic account of true events.

[z he lives]

I can`t wait to see the comedian and doc manhattan in vietnam on the big screen.

[Joshlikespenis]

Yeah it's great, personally when a friend of mine described the story and summarized it to me I thought it sounded pretty damn crazy...between Rorschach dying in the way he does, a giant alien and superheroes allowing mass destruction to take place. The whole thing sounded ridiculous. Until I read it and realized just how great of a writer Mr. Alan Moore was.

[*ivy]

However, I'm not sure how they're going to pull off the book on film. I just don't see it crossing mediums easily at all.

The trailers so far have been promising, some of the shots look like they've been lifted straight from the comic. Apparently the team tried their best to use the original art work almost as a story board to the film, instead of re-writing it.

Also Grant Morrison is really good. And one comic I read recently called Pride of Baghdad was also great. The same guy who wrote Y the Last Man I can't remember his name right now though.

Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra wrote Y. I'm waiting patiently for them to release the whole series in one like Watchmen. Is Pride of Baghdad similar in themes to Y?

[Ka-Paul]

Is Pride of Baghdad similar in themes to Y?

Not really. Y was a story about becoming a man, while Pride of Baghdad is about the costs of gaining freedom. Or at least that's what I got out of them.

Anyhow, thanks to Watchmen, I can't take any superhero comics seriously anymore. Dr. Manhattan showed me how ridiculous the idea of grown men running around in tights fighting crime really is.

[*ivy]

Dr. Manhattan showed me how ridiculous the idea of grown men running around in tights fighting crime really is.

QFT.

But it's kind of about enjoying them just for what they are.

On a different note, a friend and I were having a discussion last night about the prevalence of Watchmen PR. Has anyone seen the cover of Empire recently? Ridiculous.

Also, I am becoming increasingly annoyed with discussing Watchmen with people, only to be shouted at for "spoiling" the end for them. Oh I'm sorry, i thought we were talking about how the comic relates to the film. Oh wait no, you haven't read it have you. Fuck off.

[Silverfuck]

I bought it for my boyfriend for Christmas but haven't read it yet. I loved V for Vendetta, and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a permanent fixture in my library.

I must read it before the movie comes out :mad:

[fux0rz]

Read it, liked it. squid was stupid.

[z he lives]

Fuxor, that squid is one of the best plot twists i`ve ever read, if not the best.
''The bigger the Lie, the easier it`s Acceptance''

[nevermind]

Fuxor, that squid is one of the best plot twists i`ve ever read, if not the best.
''The bigger the Lie, the easier it`s Acceptance''

The Squid was completely random, and the blue dude was amazingly powerful yet could not bring about world peace? I did like the idea of reading the stock markets by seeing what culture changes happened on TV and the like.

Sorry, cant remember any of the names apart from the Rorshasch guy.

[Euda]

Thanks YIAL.

[xenosss]

I'm waiting patiently for them to release the whole series in one like Watchmen.

Has there been some report of Y being released as a single volume? It is so rare for a publisher to release so many issues in one trade. Bone has a one volume edition, and there are those Marvel Masterpiece collections, but that's it as far as I know. Still, I would love to be able to buy a huge collection of Y and read it all the way through. Maybe something oversized with a lot of extras, and a big price to go with it, so that it doesn't eat into the smaller trade sales.

For things to read, Comics Should Be Good surveyed its readers and came up with the top 100 comic book runs (http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/04/18/the-top-100-comic-book-runs-master-list/). This is only runs, and not miniseries, so Watchmen is ironically (?) off the list. If you want something in the same format, and want to get into the more conventional superheroes, Batman: Year One is the absolute best place to start. It is a fantastic take on Batman's origin, and the inspiration for the recent Batman films.

[Yeah, I'm a leopard]

If you've read through Watchmen once you might want to take a look at this site on your second read through, The Annotated Watchmen:
http://www.capnwacky.com/rj/watchmen.html
It goes through each chapter and points out themes, symbolism etc. I guarantee you will have missed a lot of what's in this book. As for the movie...I hope the "visionary director" hasn't made it the same way he made 300. Over the top visuals and use of slow-motion/speed changes worked for a movie that tried less to take a historic battle and turn it into myth, but that won't work for Watchmen, and 300 without those stylistic effects really isn't that good of a movie. So, I'm concerned that one of two things are going to happen; either Watchmen is going to be made with those ill-suited stylistic choices that make it look like a copy-cat of 300, or the director is going to make it without them and show that the over the top stuff is really all he's got and the movie's just plain not going to be any good. Still, live in hope.

[z he lives]

The Squid was completely random, and the blue dude was amazingly powerful yet could not bring about world peace? I did like the idea of reading the stock markets by seeing what culture changes happened on TV and the like.

Sorry, cant remember any of the names apart from the Rorshasch guy.

lol did you read the book? How was the squid ''totally random''? What about the gigantic buildup to its first appearance? All the scientists/writers/illustrators on the island. If the comedian had not found it in the first place, there`d be no plot :facepalm:

[illuminatikiller]

Any other suggestions for graphic novels?

You should start reading Sandman. It's fucking AWESOMENESS!

[DrUnKdaSkunk]

If you have the money, check out the Absolute Watchmen. First of all it's big (bigger then an X-box 360) so you can really look at the art and get a full hit of the squid pages.

Also alot of great extras including the some script pages and early designs, awesome stuff.