Who Reads The Watchmen?

So last week I went and saw The Dark Knight. I will cut this short and just say that so far, barring any debacle with the Wolverine film, this is the best super-hero movie made. It stands alone as a work of art as cinema, and then you consider what justice it did in translation of the characters and stories from the comic book.

But that's not what I'm writing about right now.

There was a trailer for the next big DC comic movie, coming out in March, based on the mini-series/graphic novel Watchmen entitled...you guessed it...Watchmen. My friend Mark at work gave me this book to read sometime in May and I brushed it off while trying to read literary classics in my Attempt At Culture. But the trailer intrigued me and I got to reading.

What I found was a story both typical and uncommon for comic books: a sparce few actual super-powered heroes, with the majority of the cast being costumed normal people. Not aliens, not para-dimensional beings. Just people. I also found out that Alan Moore, writer of the Watchmen, also wrote the one-issue comic The Killing Joke, which was given to Heath Ledger as a guide for his performance as the Joker. One of his other works, whether you already know it or not, was V for Vendetta. I have yet to read the comic, but the movie was great.

What I liked about Watchmen:

• A non-serial storyline allowed for closure. People die, irreversible events occur...it's not something that can be rehashed into an ongoing title to capitalize on its success.
• Aside from the handful of fanciful elements (a single "I got powers from an atomic accident" guy, an engineered monster, and teleporting) the story was largely based in reality. It was written in 1985, so a lot of the action was set against the fear created by the Cold War.
• It provided an interesting alternate reality version of the 80's, in which Dr. Manhattan (the previously mentioned atomic fella) actually helped us win Vietnam decisively. This had many interesting consequences.

What I didn't like:

• The old post-modern views of "is there a God, and if so how do you explain science?" I've read Vonnegut, and Palahniuk, and by now it's simultaneously blasé and very sad. Blasé for the reason that so many people say that type of stuff as if it's original and intelligent, and sad for the fact that so many people say that type of stuff.
• The portrayal of sex as love was annoying. But once again...it's a dystopian/post-modern story...it was bound to be in there somewhere. It is not graphically depicted at all in the book, but watch out what you're reading...you'll want to skip a few frames in certain parts to avoid that stuff.

Overall, I do recommend it, especially if you were intrigued by the trailer. And if you haven't seen the trailer, it's here for your viewing. More on Batman later, and possibly more stuff that will hopefully make you think.

Joshua