Fantasy / Graphic Novel: WATCHMEN

THE BARE FACTS

Title: Watchmen
Author: Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Publisher: DC
Date of Publication: 1985
Pages: 424
Grade That Means Nothing Coming From Me: B

SO BASICALLY, IT’S ABOUT…

In a world where costumed vigilantes are no longer permitted to fight crime, a government-sponsored superhero is found murdered. When former colleagues investigate the case, they uncover a larger plot threatening the whole world.

WHY’D YOU WANNA READ THAT?

You hang out with enough geeky, comic-reading people, and this book’s going to come up in the conversation. But when Time calls it one of the best American novels, and Entertainment Weekly says it’s a landmark cultural touchstone, you start paying attention. (Although the fact that Time, Entertainment Weekly, and DC Comics are all owned by the same conglomerate has not escaped me.) When I mentioned a casual interest to Jason Chin, he did not hesitate to put the book in my hands.

AND HOW’D THAT WORK OUT FOR YOU?

It almost seems unfair to judge a work in a genre with which I don’t even have a passing familiarity. I never read comic books as a kid. They didn’t feel fluid. Rather than flowing smoothly from paragraph to paragraph, they broke up their story into snapshots, little bites that made the story stutter. And, of course, they were for kids, and I was absolutely determined to be a grownup.

But Watchmen is the Don Quixote of graphic novels. It’s the book that takes the form to another level, and demands to be judged apart from its peers. Moore and Gibbons have meticulously planned the book, using new methods of achieving foreshadowing, metaphor, and counterpoint. So I’m willing to give it a go.

I’ve thrown a lot of reservations out there about why I wouldn’t like the book, so I should begin by saying that I found Watchmen quite readable. Considering the need to set up an alternate universe in very short order, the authors map out a very compelling story right from the outset. Using the helpful device of a murder mystery (a true MacGuffin), Moore & Gibbons bring together a large cast and a variety of plot threads to form a cohesive whole.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of Watchmen is a vivid palette of characters with rich emotional histories. To choose just one, the story of Doctor Manhattan rises far above the basic plot of a man turned immortal by a freak accident. We actually learn how a person’s altered existence might cause him to turn his back on humanity. One of the hallmarks of great science fiction is to allow a reader to experience an unthinkable set of circumstances as though it is reality. The realistic characters of Watchmen earn such a comparison.

One technique Moore uses to enhance his story is the use of endpieces, little chapter appendices that shed light on the history, motivations, and machinations of the characters. The first thing they remind me of is the Griffin & Sabine books, which used elaborate artwork and clever packaging to enhance a wafer-thin dialogue of seduction. Watchmen goes a lot further, making the extras essential to appreciating the whole story. At least one person told me they did not read the endpieces until after they had completed the main story. I find this utterly baffling, like trying to read a book written in slang without the glossary. The story and the extra materials intertwine, by design and to the benefit of the book.

The first sign that Moore & Gibbons are going for something bigger comes in the opening pages, with the introduction of uniquely cinematic techniques like zoom-outs and separate angles intercut together in a sort of static montage. The use of mirrored images recurs frequently (reaching a peak with an entire chapter the turns out to be a visual palindrome). It does become a bit heavy-handed, constantly striving to provide ironic counterpoint. But it’s fascinating to see how a medium that combines text and visuals strives to find its own brand of literary technique.

I’m afraid the book’s biggest shortcoming is in the story’s climax, which did not hit me as quite the “shattering” event that was promised. I considered the possibility that I’m just hardened to the kind of cataclysmic event depicted here, or that my unfamiliarity with the format didn’t set me up properly for the events to come. But I think it’s just confusing. Late in the story, it becomes clear that the mystery we think we’ve been following is a ruse to cover the real machinations. But the clues are so subtle as to be almost invisible, leaving a faint sense of being cheated. And the revelation comes so late in the story, I think it’s impossible to grasp the extent of the calamity as Moore and Gibbons intend. It’s supposed to be a life-changing, history-altering moment. And the authors do portray it terribly tragic. But not monumental. To be blunt, it should feel like September 11. And maybe it did in 1985. Maybe it did to readers who didn’t think that such a thing could be portrayed in a comic book. But to me, it felt smaller than it had to be. I admit, that’s a lot to be piling on any book, let alone a graphic novel. But in a way, it’s inexcusable, because Moore and Gibbons have free rein to tell their story on a universal scale. Given all that precedes it, the ultimate potential of the story seems unrealized.

SHOULD I READ THIS?

Ya like comic books? Let’s face it, if you’re used to paging through Jane Austen, Watchmen is going to be a shock to the system. It makes no apologies for being a comic book, and proudly flaunts the baggage that comes with it. It’s a different kind of reading. But it’s not an inferior kind of reading. Watchmen has characters as rich as you will find in any Pulitzer Prize winner, and tells its story deftly and with an economy of words and images. The flaw, I think, is that the small stories are more interesting and better expressed than the overall story arc, which I find rushed and anticlimactic. I’m not sure it’s the masterpiece it’s been made out to be. But it’s a book of great worth, and if you’re up for it, it’s a pretty involving universe.

Shane Wilson is a writer and contributing editor to The Greenroom (which will return soon, he swears), and writes the weblog Last Wilson Testaments.