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?
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