i never read the comic but i read what it was about in Wizard and Wiki. looks cool but i'm still excited about the movie because of the director. can't wait!

Whoa, it's cool to see Wombat posting on CAG blogs. That was unexpected

I'm going to look into this series but I do have to agree with what you said. Sounds like one Superman clone with a lot of Batmen/batwomen. Hopefully it's a little better than that though. I figure you're the local expert on Comics though Wombat so I take what you say pretty seriously You usually know your stuff.

I see what you are getting at, But isnt that what seperates Watchmen from the rest? all the other comic characters of the time all focused on the Superpowers, meta human type of characters.

In the Watchmen, it's more of a Reality Vs. Fantasy comic, superhero's would never fit in, with real world issues, WAR, politics, taxes, nuclear warfare, racial tensions...You'd need a God to make everything better in the world. Superhero's need a villian, a tangible bad guy to beat up and make them shine out as an example of truth and justice. In reality, there are no villains and there are no hero's.

The point of Watchmen is to either accept the world for what it is, or to become something else, to sacrifice yourself and others for what your belief in justice is.

One of the reasons I like Watchmen is because it doesn't get too deep in the superhero fantasy stuff. I feel empowered and somehow closer to characters like The Punisher and The Boys and Rorschach because they are 'humans' and deal with human problems. The addition of Doc Manhattan is a neat little touch and a nod to the sci-fi superhero stuff in most comics, but then HE is the one with the love triangle story. Very cool.

If it were all superheros, it might have ended up like another XMen, JLA, etc. Those are fine and all, but it's nice to have something different as well.

Hm, that's an interesting take on the story. I read it recently, and was also disappointed that there weren't more superpowers. However, I found it easy to connect with the human characters and thought Moore did a good job of showing Manhattan's disassociation from humanity. Superman, or at least the impressions I have of him since I'm not an aficionado, seems to want to fit in on Earth as much as possible. Manhattan doesn't even pretend to relate, even though he, too, is one of a kind.
I can see how the other characters are similar to Batman, but we don't really see them in action, so I'm not sure how much further the comparison can be taken. Oh, except Rorschach, who is shown kicking ass a la Batman. Okay, I'll give you that one. :p
And as for trust - they weren't trusted, hence the Keene Act which essentially puts everyone out of business except the Comedian and Rorschach. And there is good reason for the Keene Act, but I can't reveal why lest I be killed by the Anti-Spoiler Brigade.
Thanks for putting this up!

I liked Watchmen but that's a really good point.

When I first heard on the CAGcast that you weren't too crazy about Watchmen, I was a bit confused, but reading this blog entry made things a lot clearer about why you felt the way you did. I knew I really enjoyed reading Watchmen recently, but I couldn't quite articulate why I felt that way. Let's give it a go here....

***Uh, warning: thematic SPOILERS for multiple books, movies, and TV shows ah' comin'!!!***

Now I'll admit that I'm not a comic-book expert, but I seemed to enjoy seeing how far Alan Moore could take his derivative characters of various (Silver/Golden) Ages of Comics in inserting them into realistic geopolitical situations, at least from the standpoint of the 1980s. Mature content (and the related actions of the adult protagonists) only served to heighten the degree to which I was immersed in the storyline, which allowed "heroes" to sink to seemingly amoral depths and, conversely, to rise to the occasion when need be (er, so to speak). Real(istic) consequences that deeply affect characters is a big reason why I like TV shows like Heroes and Battlestar Galactica, as they're not afraid to kill people off (totally unlike the rarely changing continuity [and never-say-never deaths and returns] in most superhero comic books and TV shows in general). One-off movies can provide similar payoffs with the right character investment -- like certain war or even sci-fi movies (like Aliens) -- much as a miniseries/trade like Watchmen can.

So how does the ability to do anything with a universe (world, cast of characters, etc.) work in Watchmen's favor? Moore can take the theme of superheroes as tools for the government to the right extreme, as explored in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and later in Justice League: The New Frontier. Super-powered beings (and the non-powered human heroes) wreak havoc on a societal scale, which even super-powered villains rarely get a chance to touch in other properties (as opposed to regularly dismantling New York City's physical confines). Kurt Busiek seemed to take an opposite approach in Astro City by not looking at how superheroes would change the real world, but how -- in their own way -- they blend right in... in an alternate-universe kind of way. Watchmen takes the real world to the brink -- and lets you see what it might really take for the heroes of the world to save it.

I think I'm starting to go Moore-ish with this comment reply, though, so I'll just end here with my love of this awesome example of postmodern comics at its arguable best. I'm sure Wombat's read a lot more comics than I have, but I just know what I enjoy. I'll post again if inspiration strikes (and I have some more time before my next dinner -- or after this one). Hope you're doing well with Sabrina Eden, Papa Wombat! Lookin' forward to 3.6.09.

While it's been awhile I remember being into the book. I'll have to reread it again before the movie and I think you'll find the time for that too.

All I know is that by them adapting this and Vendetta, it's gotten my non-comic friends asking me about it and reading some comics. That's good enough for me.

I think your interpretation of the book is fairly shallow. I'm not trying to rag on you. I won't bother going into depth, considering a 1000 page thesis could be written on the book (and probably has). It's that great. I'm not saying it's my favorite Moore book, but it's technically his masterpiece. (V for Vendetta is my favorite by the way.)

I've never read Watchmen, but I did have some issues with The Dark Knight Returns, regarded by most comic fans to be a classic. I know how you feel.

It seems like you have no idea what you read.

You look at everything at face value instead of looking for something beyond the shallowness you see in other comics.

What? You didn't like it because you went into the story with the wrong idea? As a story itself it's awesome.