Who Reads the Watchmen?
OK, I know this is thinking outside of the box for most literary types, but one of the best books that you’ll ever read isn’t, strictly speaking, a book. It’s a graphic novel called The Watchmen.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term ‘graphic novel’, it means ‘big, expensive comic book’. But this is not a kiddies’ funny book. The Watchmen is an intense, psychological, layered story.
If you’re skeptical about reading a comic… ahem… graphic novel, consider that Time Magazine rates The Watchmen among the 100 best English language novels from 1923 to the present. Written by the delightfully insane Alan Moore, The Watchmen delves deep into waters that had previously been uncharted in the medium.
The story is far from what you may expect if your only exposure to comics is Superman or Spider-Man. The characters of The Watchmen are a darker, deeply flawed reflection of the prototypical hero. But the story itself transcends the genre. This is a piercing look into the human condition. The underlying fears and motivations of the characters reflect essential truths of human behavior.
The basic story revolves around a plot to kill the few remaining superheroes in a world that had long ago outlawed vigilantism. When one of their own is murdered, the ex-heroes come back together to try to sort through the murky layers of suspects, clues, and their own character flaws.
The only true super hero is Dr. Manhattan, who was caught up in an accident involving intrinsic fields that gave him super powers at the cost of his humanity. The Night Owl is a pudgy, retired hero that must squeeze back into the leotard one last time. Silk Specter is a beautiful young woman who only got into costumed heroics to please her mother, a member of the previous generation of heroes. The greatest character is a thoroughly insane masked vigilante called Rorschach, whose identity is secret through the first half of the book.
As strange as it might seem if you’ve never experienced the medium known as sequential art, The Watchmen is a satisfying read and a work of truly great literature.
