Watchmen

I, like everyone in the known universe, saw the Dark Knight recently. Preceding it, there was a trailer for Watchmen, a movie based on the graphic novel of the same name. Thinking nothing of it, I enjoyed the latest Batman flick.

Later that night, I logged into reddit to find that a link to the trailer occupied the number one spot on the front page. Redditors were raving about the novel, calling it the best comic ever written, and speculating about the movie. The general consensus was that the preview looks awesome. With such a hubbub I had to see what the deal was.

Everything I read raved about the novel. I had to read it. Not wanting to spend money, I checked if there was a .torrent for the book and sure enough there was. I read the first two chapters and then got a bit annoyed. The book was excellent, no doubt about it. But I was having trouble concentrating on the screen. It was a scan, so the colors weren't very rich. I wanted to hold something in my hand.

I went to Barnes and Noble, and they didn't have it in stock. Neither did Border's, so I reserved a copy from the shipment that was due in a week. A couple days later I got a call--the book was so high in demand that they wanted a credit card number over the phone, or else I would lose my copy. Two days later I got another call telling me that I could pick it up.

I read the 400 page book in 2 days. I couldn't put it down. All I did for two days was pack and read. It's amazing. Rorschach is a god. My favorite superhero. The way his mask is constantly morphing creates such an air of mystery. It's kind of creepy, too. He's always cool, always calm. He speaks in jagged sentences, except when he writes in his journal. In his diary, his sentences are flowing and descriptive. This makes sense-just like the black and white of his mask, everything about his is either something or its opposite. Everything is either right or wrong; there is no gray area in any situation.

The book is so well written. At any time, there are four stories going on at once: The past group of superheros, the present group of superheros, a fictional comic within the comic, and the boy reading the comic next to the newsstand guy's commentary on the current events of the world. The ending ties it all together in a twist that no one could have seen coming. This book is a must-read for anyone. It was my first graphic novel, and unfortunately I doubt anything else in the genre could be as satisfying.

I too wait impatiently for the movie (which Alan Moore has disowned, calling his book "unfilmable").

My favorite quote from the book, written by Rorschach in his journal:

Dog carcass in the alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach.
This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face.
The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown.
The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, "save us!"


...and I'll look down and whisper, "no."