09/2008 Winner: Watchmen by Alan Moore

I just find it fascinating that this actor, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, has yet another role where his character is killed. He was on Grey’s Anatomy (blood clot), Supernatural (deal with a demon), and Weeds (heart attack). It’s like he’s professionally deceased. :stuck_out_tongue:

I have been reading the text, and I like it- you were just to anxious, I think to get to more comic book goodness!

More than halfway through it!

I got it yesteryear
its sooooooo good

By yester year i mean yesterday

Just finished
brutal
brilliant
but I was not happy with the end. I got Jon/Rosrchack(yeah im not even gonna try)'s ending but i wasnt happy.

About as succinct a summary as you can get.

I had to force myself to read the under the hood and the black freighter. They were so slow. I’m thinking about re-reaing it and I want to put a soundtrack together for reading it. Any suggestions?

Man I only was able to get through some. The first ones i read all through but till the end i didnt read them. Too slow

I’ve been avoiding this thread till I finished. Now that I’m done, here are my random thoughts and impressions.

I was struck by a similarity to V for Vendetta: the government has taken a turn toward authoritarianism/fascism. Being an anarchist, Moore would seem to think governments degenerate toward fascism.

I also wonder if he’s making a connection between superheroes and authoritarianism. Authoritarianism holds that “someone strong and wise” needs to be in charge, to be at the top of the hierarchy, so that everyone is keep in line. The presence of supermen in Moore’s alternate reality seems to have tilted America in that direction. By antagonizing the Soviets, the effect is, paradoxically, to make Armageddon a near certainty, awaiting only Dr. Manhattan’s departure.

At the same time, Ozymandias plan is for fear of alien attack to unify the world and it, apparently, works, for a time. Maybe Moore’s just a misanthrope.

I read both the Black Freighter story and the secondary material. The secondary material is mostly detail and is interesting. The Black Freighter, however, adds commentary and mood. The MADness of the situation Watchmen describes is thereby made apparent.

Super Heroes represent the next step in WMD. It would be the same if the story was about the US developing I dunno anti-matter weapons or some such. Which I advocate on the off chance that it discourages those nations currently trying to build nuclear weapons since they’d be effectively not the top dog anymore

That might work. Superheroes are less messy than nukes.

Still, they might be unnecessary. In order the play the Mutually Assured Destruction game, one must have enough nukes to assure that the destruction is, um, mutual. Otherwise, if you actually use one, your enemies have been badly hurt and you’re a giant bowl of glass.

True but one nuke is enough to cause panic and I don’t want to say over reaction but I will.

The immediate over-reaction would be to turn the perceived origin into a giant bowl of glass. But you’re right, it wouldn’t stop there.

I don’t think you could use ICBMs/SLICBMs in that case, I mean, Russia and China and India and Pakistan and Israel and France and Britain would detect you launching and who’s to say they wouldn’t be like “OH FRAK IT’S DA MUDDA FRAKKIN APOCALYPSE LAUNCH EVERY ZIG”

Note: I know there’s trajectory analysis and such but itchy trigger fingers tend to be itchy

“Alan Moore discusses Watchmen (from documentary)”*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwm4TSlNO3U

Alan Moore Interviews are always awesome. He puts so much thought and care into his work.

Seeing the movie this weekend.

Just started reading this book last night. Only up to p.26 and I’m areadly in love with it.
In fact, when it listed “All Along the Watchtower” by Bob Dylan AND “Desolation Row” by Bob Dylan in the index credits I was hooked already.

“Now at midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do”
–Bob Dylan. Desolatuon Row

Woot and Wow!!