Watchmen

I have never gotten into comics. I never read comic magazines when I was a kid. I have never read a "graphic novel" (aka comic book), although I own both 300 (which I will proudly tell you that I got well before the movie was even announced) and From Hell. I bought them because they are supposed to be very good and I was eager to try something new, but I never actually got around to reading them.

I started to get a bit of an interest in comics after I played Marvel Ultimate Alliance on the 360. I picked this game up mainly because it had so many characters to choose from that it seemed to have a lot of replayability. I enjoyed the game immensely. As I played, I slowly got sucked into some of the character's stories and thought it might be cool to learn a bit more about them. But I never followed up on that, either. In fact, I was very interested to see Iron Man in the theaters because of Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but once again, I didn't followed through.

Then Time Magazine came out with an issue about the 100 greatest movies, albums, novels, etc. since 1923. Firmly planted within the 100 best novels list was Watchmen, a graphic novel by Alan Moore, the writer of From Hell. I started reading up on Watchmen and I soon discovered that many folks consider it the best graphic novel yet written. That really piqued my interest. I ordered it from Amazon.com and started reading it just a few days ago. And one word can sum up my feelings:

WOW.

It is incredible (so far). It completely turns the superhero genre upside down and at the same time takes it to spectacular heights. It is at times hysterically funny, especially when talking about when the first masked crime fighters arrived and how silly they all felt giving themselves names, dressing up in costumes and wondering whether it was practical to don capes.

But the amazing achievement of Watchmen is just how psychologically complex all of these characters are. They are presented as real flesh-and-blood people, each with their own code and philosophy. Some are inherently wicked, while others are noble yet misunderstood. Most of them have no real superpowers at all; they are just masked vigilantes who are trying to make the world a better place. Many are misguided and arrogant and most of them lose sight of what their original intent was. It has been an amazing journey so far and I am only about a quarter of the way through the book. I can't wait to pick it back up again. It is that compelling.

This experience has made me very anxious to try other graphic novels, at least the ones that are considered classics in the genre. I imagine that after I finish Watchmen, I will finally get around to 300 and From Hell. A movie adaptation of Watchmen is being made, to be released next year. I can't imagine they will be able to capture the magic of the novel, but I wish them luck. In the meantime, I plan to savor each and every twist and turn in Watchmen.