Has anybody given any thought to Watchmen. I realize that it’s a comic book, but it’s also a really incredible work of fiction and fantastically dense. I read it first as a kid, but I’m more than willing to re-read it again for the fourth time or so. Plus Zack Snyder the dude that made 300 is working on the film adaptation now for a 2009 release.
Great idea. In fact, this is the book I give to people who are dismissive of comics.
(Really worried that they’re going to mess up the movie, though.)
I third the motion.
I totally support this. Watchmen is a beautiful book, up there with “Sandman” in terms of demonstrating the quality and depth possible in comic form. I am aware of two colleges that use Watchmen in English literature modern writing courses.
I was worried but, I’ve been reading up on the production lately and it seems they’ve got a good head on their shoulders with this one. It could go either way but I have some confidence at this point. Wikipedia - Watchmen. I especially like Snyder’s casting choices as he’s picked people who aren’t necessarily big name actors and won’t draw attention away from the characters.
I can’t believe I missed this thread before but I absolutly love this book, it’s number 7 on my all time favorites (which recently got bumped down when I added last months nomination Ender’s Game) and my 2nd favorite comic book after Batman: Dark knight returns. The story is a great one with a great twist ending, the characters are memorable and the pace is exciting. Many stories claim to have multi levels and different aspects but Watchman is one of the few books that literally has a story withing the story.
You know, Watchmen started it ALL for me, comic books I mean. it all began when I saw a discovery channel documentary called “Comic Books Superheroes Unmasked” - I never read comic books as a kid (which is NOT entirely true, I had the exact total number of 1 spiderman and 4 or 5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - anyway, I saw that documentary and I thought, yeah, well, what the heck, I’ll give Watchmen a chance, it received a Hugo Award and that’s usually a “quality guaranteed” label. So I read it. And it was awesome, it was like “getting postcards from Oz” 
So I was hooked. And then I decided, well I’ll read The Dark Knight Returns, because they said it was as good as Watchmen, in a way. and then I wanted more … and more … that was 9 months ago and I have since read 40plus Batman graphic novels…
Welcome to the association of the addicted my friend Galaxy Ranger. I am absolutely hooked, I recently picked up Batman Year One from a comic-con for about five bucks the other day and seriously it was a great read. It’s almost exactly where they derived the plot for Batman Begins.
oh yeah, “Year One” was among the first ones I read. when I had read “Dark Knight” and “Year One,” I didn’t know which books to continue with, so I stumbled upon this site:
http://uk.comics.ign.com/articles/624/624619p1.html
and it was a really great guide to some of the best Batman comics. boy, did I love The Long Halloween and “Dark Victory” and “Tower of Babel” and so many, many more…
You know, “Tower of Babel” says it all: Batman’s different, he’s an outsider, I LOVED the ending of “ToB” so much… because it’s all about WHY only the Batman does it for me. I tried Superman, I tried Spiderman, but they don’t turn me on, there’s no trace of that dark, Poe-ish magic that draws me toward the sinister world of Gotham City…
I need to start a Batman thread…
You should do it, but if you do maybe you could outline the particular ones that a newcomer like myself should pick up.
Glad to be of service. I started a thread at
http://forum.galacticwatercooler.com/showthread.php?p=12828#post12828
I only just recently read this book, and it was quite the experience. Even if you’re not into comics or graphic novels, you should definitely still check it out. The book is laced with quite a bit of symbolism, and a lot of small and hidden details in the panes. It is definitely the type of book that is well worth re-reading.
The characters were difficult to like, at least for me. Without spoiling anything, I thought it was interesting how the characters you thought were the most moral in the beginning to mid-book, were in fact no better than anyone else, and vice versa for some of the less than perfectly moral characters. I have quite a few thoughts on this, but I will save for when/if the book gets chosen for book of the month.
Definitely check it out if you get the chance.
I picked this up with my next-to-last Amazon order and just started it 2 nights ago. So far - WOW! My only complaint is that I’m so busy reading the story that I forget to look at the art!
That’s alright. Tear through it the first go 'round, then go back and linger.
Ok - I’m up to Chapter 7 (or is it 8?) now and it’s still good. Darker, but good. I still have no idea about the majority of the art but that crystal-like palace on Mars caught my attention - AWESOME!
The Onion AV Club ran an Alan Moore primer a couple weeks back ( http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/primer_alan_moore ) , and it included a link to Moore’s scrapped proposal for a DC comics future-shock crossover epic called Twlight of the Gods. Depending how you print the thing, it’s about 20-25 pages of great reading about how John Constantine, Superman, Shazam, and the rest of the DC mythos bring about the end of the world as we know it – in one possible future reality. Check it out at:
So I finally went and got this from Borders. I’ve known it’s great for a long time (too many intelligent people say so for it to be otherwise), I’ve felt bad about not reading it for a long time, and I’m glad to say I’m loving it so far. Unfortunately, I don’t have that much time to read it, so it’s been pretty slow going. Also, unfortunately, I know the ending (ish), but it’s still been a fascinating read, watching characters develop as each layer is revealed. I can’t wait to finish it so I can loan it out and share the awesomeness with my friends.
[quote=Katebo;19158]layer
oh yeah, this graphic novel’s story has so many layers, it’s like an onion, it’s just a blast. great stuff.
[quote]I can’t wait to finish it so I can loan it out and share the awesomeness with my friends.
In the meantime, you can share the awesomeness with us.
Finished it last night. Sweet! The line, [SPOILER]“I did it thirty five minutes ago.”[/SPOILER] has to be one of the best twists ever. Now I’m curious about the movie- how can they possibly portray these characters? I mean, Rorschach, one of the heroes of the work, is such a disturbed and disturbing character. I’m very afraid they’ll Hollywoodify him, making him much more relatable and much less batsh*t crazy.
Yeah, I loved his line at the end about [spoiler]“never compromise. Even in the face of the apocalypse.” which I found to be pretty cool. Though I agree, I hope the movie shows him as this bat shit crazy character, because it makes his moral stand at the end even more impressive.[/spoiler]