80s comic turned movie
Nathan Humphreys
Book Review: “Watchmen”With all the hype the “Watchmen” movie is recieiving, it’s well worth revisiting the graphic novel that inspired the blockbuster.
Written by Allen Moore, who also composed the graphic novel that spawned “V for Vendetta,” “Watchmen” is a Hugo Award winning piece of litterature that sets the graphic novel worlds away from regular comic books.
Set in an alternative, dystopian 1980s, where Woodward and Burnstein have been mysteriously murdered and Nixon has been reelected, the book starts with a society that’s on the brink of Armageddon and it’s masked heroes have been forced into retirement by anti-vigilante legislator.
Rather than centering around the masked hero’s epic battles, Moore focuses on the individual lives of the human beings behind the masks, following them in their lives after they’ve given up their adventuring lifestyles.
The book starts with a murder of one former superhero, leading to whispers of conspiracy as other members of the team are targeted with plots to remove them from the picture.
To solve the conspiracy, the team of has-beens has to go uncover decade old rivalries and grudges that belong to a past they thought they left behind.
The plot unravels with countless twists, turns and layers. Moore seemlessly weaves in themes such as the implications of big-brother government, mob-mentality, consumerism, megalomania, and the meaning and value of life itself.
In between chapters are excepts from the former hero’s lives and include chapter’s from the characters’ tell-all books, corporate memos, rap sheets, and psychotherapy notes
The art is wonderfully drawn by Dave Gibbons, though the retro color scheme takes a little while to get used to.
In short, “Watchmen” is well worth a read, or re-read, before seeing the movie, with the added bonus of witnessing a far more shocking ending than the theatrical version will show.
