“Literature is found in the beginning of all things, this is what I am truly certain about. It continues to live throughout the ages. It connects human beings and mirrors reality in an artistic way, in a profound value. As long as our world lives, so does literature flourish”.-Angelo Lorenzo
Watchmen isn’t a superhero comic ,its about normal people being superheroes.Something always bothered me about people who like watchmen why do so many people like Rorschach? He’s a misogynist, lunatic with delusions of grandeur but if you go to anyone they would tell you he’s there favorite character and I would like to think as flawed as he is in the story of Watchmen he is the audience,the story teller and in a way the main character.Issue one ,the story is thru his perspective entirely, were not only are plunged into his mind but also the world that he lives in ,that he hates but tries to save.For all of his flaws he tries to be a hero and like him the other characters in the story are flawed, foils of there super hero archetypes.
Watchmen started as a story Alan Moore wanted to tell with characters from Charlton comics. Charlton comics were a comic book company that was founded in the mid 1940’s and then bought out by DC comics in the 1960’s and there stable of characters Blue Beetle,Daredevil,Peacemaker,Captain Atom,Nightshade and the Question. When Alan Moore wanted to create watchmen, he wanted to use those characters and put them in this hyper realistic story but DC wanted to use the character in other projects. So him and Dave Gibbons made there own characters based on the Charlton characters.
Watchmen is what I show to anyone who still think comics and manga are childish. Watchmen talks about politics, society and philosophy that perfectly embodies the mindset of the culture at the time. It was 1986, a time of Margret Thatcher,Trickle down economics, The Aids epidemic ,Ronald Regan and the cold war. What was happening was that the world was changing from the black and white time of world war 2 era ,like the superheroes of that time selling war bonds and joining the fight against the nazi menace. Watchmen uses those hero archetypes with its modern setting of a world where the cold war is actually a war that may end the human race andNixon remains president of the United states symbolizing Reagan politics. Watchmen perfectly reflects a world where they see the world forces them to quit being heroes and in a way quit being themselves. Some take it like Laurie Juspeczyk (Silk Specter) but Dan Holland (Owl Man) comes to a moment of crisis on whether is owl man is a part of who he is,while Rorschach through out the entire story never compromises even when Ozymandias wins by killing million to save billions and his fellow teammates compromise to the horror of what he’s done. The ink blots on Rorschach face never changes he never compromises.
This book changed the comic industry permanently with comic companies making more mature and complex stories with super heroes. Symbolic heroes who’s stories became darker such as superman dying while fighting a monster, Batman getting his back broken by bane and the avengers being destroyed. Comics were being sold more then ever before with people buying books thinking they would be worth money and after that the comics collector spectacular bubble popped the industry never recovered. Comic book companies got greedy by doing stupid gimmicks,covers and cheesy story deaths,while supporting a fake system saying collecting those comics will make you a fortune. Ultimately causing a crash in sales to the point Marvel one of the biggest companies filed for bankruptcy. Now you can find 90% of those books at your local garage sale. Comics have never changed since Watchmen to the point now DC is doing a sequel series called doomsday clock. Which is revealed that Doctor Manhattan one of the most tragic characters in Watchman who gives up his humanity to be a god. Enters into the dc universe and changed it into a darker more cynical universe.To me watchmen does what a great piece of art should do, change and challenge the status quo. To be the only graphic novel to be put on the Time magazines 100 greatest novels of all time is a testament of how any story well told in any form can be effective and everlasting.
When I first bought Watchmen only watching the movie it gave me an experience the movie could never gave me. As a life long comic book fan I thought I knew what to expect from comics. Watchmen changed that like how the Great Gatsby changed my view of the american dream and what a man would do to achieve what he wants in life. The autobiography Malcom X creating my idea of what it means to be a black man to america. Watchmen redefines how you can tell a story not just with words but visuals and show how compelling they both can be at telling a story.
