Watchmen (1986) Review

Writer: Alan Moore

Artist: Dave Gibbons

Rating: 8 of 8

Watchmen

''Nothing ever ends''. It's one of the best lines of the book and perhaps one of the most applicable to our lives. Conflict never ends, as there's always another war, another fight. Cruelty never ends, as there's always another tyrant, another bully. The whole cycle never seems to end, so you wonder - what's the point of trying?

It's this incredibly honest take on both superheroes and the world that makes Watchmen so great, even to this day. It's never afraid to show the uglier side of life, even in it's heroes. This can make them a lot less heroic than you'd expect, but all the more human because of it. Perhaps one of it's most relatable is Dan Dreiberg, the second Nite Owl. Unlike a lot of the others, he's not a genius, a sociopath, or a superhuman.

He's just an out of shape fella, trying to make his way through retirement without too much fuss, or boredom. Through the course of the story, he inevitably returns to the mask and the mission, though it's almost hard to believe it really took this long. Similar to Dreiberg, Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre II has a lot of identifabilty, though she's a lot more bitter. It's understandable, as she was pushed to don her name and costume by her mother, who held them before her.

Some years ago, her mother was almost raped by the Comedian, a friend and hero. For a number of reasons, she just wants to move on and remember him fondly, but her daughter just can't feel the same way. She's also struggling to feel close to her boyfriend, Dr. Manhattan, and feels, understandably, drawn to Dreiberg.

After all, it'd be hard for anyone to connect with a living atomic bomb. A man who can atomize things and people in seconds, who can teleport you to anywhere on Earth. But one of the most intriguing things about him is the way he perceives time. 

He can see something happening before it even does, but the question is, is he seeing a definite future, or can he do anything to change it? More to the point, will he? It's this journey to rediscover his humanity that could lead him to make the most inhuman decision of all.

Humanity, though, isn't something Rorschach or the Comedian have much time for. Edward Blake looks at humanity and knows the only thing to do is laugh, even if it means other people pay the price. It's in one offhand comment that might have inspired the novel's horrific finale.

Rorschach, meanwhile, looks at society and seems to see only horrors, evil and filth. With his worldview, it's almost surprising he doesn't just give up. Yet, for all his pain and blunt brutality, he battles on, ''even in the face of armageddon''. When I found out just what broke him and how he grew up, I could understand exactly why - and couldn't blame him at all. As for Ozymandias: look on his works, ye mighty, and despair. 

Watchmen has often been called one of the greatest graphic novels of all time and with good reason. Moore tells the tale with ease, yet grants it's world and characters incredible depth. He makes you care not only for it's central characters, but for the people on the street, so that when that finale finally comes, it really hits you.

Most of the story is told in 9 panel grids and is one of the best examples of sequential art there is. At one point, we see the bloodied smiley button and, like a movie, he goes from a zoomed in view to the opposite over the course of a few panels. Later on, we see the full horror of what's hit New York over many pages and it's here we see the thing's sheer size and the attack's absolute carnage.

I heartily recommend Watchmen to everyone and I hope if you haven't read it, that you give it a go and love it just as much as I do.