Book Review: Watchmen

(This review contains no significant spoilers.)

As part of my recent resurgent interest in reading, I finally got around to tackling Watchmen.  I purchased this graphic novel, which is generally regarded as the most significant example of its kind ever published, at least 3 years ago.  I never actually read it until now, however, because I couldn't get past the art, which is, in some ways, rather poor. As I shall explain, I was foolish to be so put off by the artwork.

The Setup

Watchmen takes place in an alternate-reality America where the US soundly won the Vietnam War, and Richard Nixon is serving an unprecedented fifth term as the President.  The main story, the investigation of what appears to be the serial killing of masked heroes, occurs in October and November of 1985, but the book is laced with flashbacks reaching as far back as 1939.  Each of the 12 chapters---the  issues of the original limited run of the Watchmen comic---also features several pages on supplementary text.  This text is pulled from one character's autobiography, newspaper interviews with characters, documents from one character's history, and so on.

What I Liked

• The main story, the investigation of the murders, is interesting, though it is not the most intriguing aspect of this book.
• The extremely nonlinear way in which the story is told and in which the characters' history is slowly revealed is fascinating.
• The characters themselves are interesting, especially Rorschach, and Dr. Manhattan.  I think Rorschach is my favorite, though I wouldn't want to spend any time with him.  Or near him.  Or in the same city with him.
• The composition of the comic panels is extremely well done.  Some examples:  the reader often must look through the foreground to see that the important content is in the background, some of the panels are echoed throughout the volume, many panels feature dual storylines that mirror each other, and the angles from which the panels are "shot" are carefully chosen to draw attention to elements within each panel.
• The Tales of the Black Freighter, a comic-within-the-comic is an interesting idea, and it suggests that, in a world of masked adventurers, comics might not be about them.
• The story is very realistic.  Only one of the "superheroes" in the book has any kind of powers, and the way society reacts to these vigilantes seems fairly believable to me.
• Interpersonal relationships are a key part of the story, and they are well explored.
• I enjoyed how the book explores the motivations and evolution of the masked adventurers

What I Disliked

• As I said, I was turned off by the art when I first picked up the book The drawing is crude, at least by modern comic-cook standards, and the coloring is very flat and uniform.  (As I said before, though, the composition aspect of the art is excellent.)
• The Tales of the Black Freighter, though an interesting premise, simply drags on too long, and mostly made me annoyed that I had to read that storyline before getting back to the "real" plot.
• The exact mechanism by which the main antagonist intends to achieve his or her goal is, well, a little silly.

Summary

Overall, I give Watchmen 9.0 out of 10, one of the highest ratings I've ever given.  It's the best graphic novel and one of the best novels of any kind that I have read.  I encourage you to read this book.  You won't regret it.

I'm also looking forward to seeing the film based on this comic.  I'm worried about the movie version, though.  The extremely nonlinear means by which the story is told might confuse many viewers, so I'm not sure how much of it will be implemented for the film.  Additionally, since the book has far less "action" than the typical superhero movie, I'm concerned the the filmmakers will feel the need to punch up the flick with a bunch of choreographed fight sequences and explosions.  We shall see.