10 September 2004
Watchmen, issue 1, page 1
Watchmen, issue 1, page 1. Rorschach's journal is a voice-over for the criminal investigation of the apparent-suicide of his aquaintance, fellow super-hero The Comedian.
I cannot overstate the importance of this book or these opening lines. This is the, thus far, the pinnacle of graphic novels and surpasses a good deal of literary novels I've read. Some quick notes on this page: notice the classic comic book coloring (offset and sometimes a little off), the classic 1970s drawing (though much more composed and capably drafted), the pan shot (used often in Watchmen), the narration distinct from the action (also a characteristic of Watchmen and Moore in general, a nice literary technique that has one character commenting/contrasting on the action of an unrelated scene), the iconic imagery (the smiley face and triangle on the bus reappear), the 9-panel 3x3 grid. I think that Watchmen's grim world-view is unfortunate. Comics are always grim, and they lose audience because of that. But, the intricacies of Watchmen are ... stunning. What-to-say-that-hasn't-already-been-said?
The Watchmen is pretty amazing. I re-read it last year for the first time since it came out in the 80s. Great stuff. The first time, I read it one issue at a time for a year. It was tantalyzing waiting for each issue. This came out about the same time as Dark Knight (I can't remember which was first). At the time, all the interest was Dark Knight rather than The Watchmen, but after re-reading both, I'd have to say The Watchmen is more accessible and cohesive.
It'll kill me if they ever make a film adaptation, and it sucks. KILL me.
Posted by: David at September 11, 2004 04:57 PMGreat news, I think.
It will be released next year the film. Amd it looks like it will be the dream of all of us who were worried about the Watchmen Movie.
Take a look in my site to see the trailer, in the "video" section, or on the movie site (www.watchmenmovie.com).