Alright. So, tonight, I decided that I was going to finish the book (which I had got as a Christmas gift). I was already on Chapter 4 when I started today, and for five hours I read all of it, and after some thinking, I present my thoughts on what some people call the greatest graphic novel of all time.

Watchmen.

From this point on, there will be heavy, heavy spoilers. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!





We good? Alright, here we go.....



When I first began reading it, I tried to approach it with as little bias as possible. That was pretty hard, considering all the acclaim that the book had received over the years since it's release, but I managed. First, I must say, the art......did the job. I can't really imagine the characters being represented in any other way than what they were shown-despite being years old, it still holds up today. So, that's a plus. I wouldn't say that the art is outstanding, or mindblowing, but it definitely stands with the rest of the book.

I knew that there wasn't going to be much in the way of action as I started reading, but once I got a ways in, I found that what little scenes of physical contact there was were actually pretty good. Ozymandias' short takedown of the would-be assassin I must've looked back at several times-maybe it was the blood or something, but it just looked really savage when he smashed the man's face. Ouch. Rorschach taking down the police was very entertaining and tense-I knew that whatever was going to happen wouldn't be predictable-this book was from the same dude who did V For Vendetta! (Back to the stand-off....the homemade flamethrower was awesome as awesome could be)

Almost instantly, from the start, Rorschach was my favourite character. I loved the costume-it was ominous and mysterious. I liked how he never wavered in his beliefs, or ever backed down. Even when captured, or faced with certain death, he stood tall. For the rest of the book, I ALMOST found it boring when it focused on anyone else (other than the Comedian). They just seemed so......plain. Yes, even Doctor Manhatten seemed boring compared to the bloodstained vigilante.

(Speaking of boring.....I found the excerpts from books and magazines interspersed in the book to be unbearable. I couldn't wait until I got them out of the way, but I realize that they added to the book :I)

The book was slow. It took.....what......seven chapters for the ball to get really rolling? But it was all necessary I guess. The story wouldn't have worked without all that build-up. But when it did lead up to something big, it grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. Nite-Owl and Silk Spectre breaking Rorschach out of prison was awesome-I was doing mental fistpumps in my head the entire time. Following that, when Manhatten and Silk Spectre go to Mars, despite it being a thought provoking chapter, I found exciting almost. Was the massively powerful blue man going to help "save" the world, or not? Would he leave them to their fates after Spectre essentially left him? When he decided on returning, I smiled. Whoever planned the insanity was in for some heavy retribution, I thought.

BUT I WAS WRONG!!!!!

(Dun dun dun!)

Man, this book threw me a curveball. I find it almost funny how I was okay with this massive, elaborate plot involving genetically manipulated psychic creatures killing millions plausible, but the death of Rorschach not. I think it was because I didn't want him to die SO BAD. I want to see more stories involving him! I want him TO LIIIIIIVE! GAH! I want Ozymandias dead people......to quote a classic gangster movie...."I want him dead! I want his family dead! I want his house burned to the ground!"

Once I finished the book, I thought back on it for a bit. What did it all mean? Was there any satisfaction to be had in the ending for me?

After a few moments reflection, I realized that I could be wholly satisfied with the book. For you see.....Rorschach's death, after a bit of thinking, is acceptable. It appeared that he was killed easily, with little remorse, with little remorse, and little consequence. Maybe some of that is true. Maybe it's not.

I like to think that Rorschach was fine with dying at the end. He knew that it was inevitable and that it was alright. That's a bit of comfort for me, cause I think it's better to go down without being dragging, kicking and screaming. But, I also like to think that he won, getting the last laugh. Manhatten is gone, so he can't do anything about it. Ozymandias and Silk Spectre don't know where the journal went. I find it plausible that the whole scheme, and the deaths of millions, will not go on without being avenged because of Rorschach's journal.

The question posed by the book (I think), is that, is any act acceptable as long as it is for the greater good? What do you think? What would you have done in place of the Watchmen?

Maybe it's okay what happened, since it essentially prevented the destruction of the world, and saved the lives of millions more. But, I respectfully disagree. With the whole scheme of things, I find that even if more will benefit.....even if more, or the majority, shall have greater quality of living, and even if a legacy is formed, and humankind is continued, it was not acceptable to do what Ozymandias did. The deaths of innocents in New York are not equal to the lives of the rest of the world?

Why was it New York? What gave Ozymandias the right (besides the title of "world's smartest man") to choose which people in the world shall die? Furthermore, why was it necessary to kill those people? Surely it would've been adequate to unleash his creature (via alternative form of transportation) in a different location, perhaps abandoned. He could have manufactured more of them, and sent them to different places all over the world, without deaths. This could have allied the goverments in much the same way, I think. It wasn't fully necessary to kill those millions. There were, in my opinion, many alternatives to what he did. Less destructive alternatives.

You might be asking me what makes the Comedian any different than the rest of New York. Why aren't I defending him? Well, in the book, it is implied that the Comedian recognized and agreed with Ozymandias' plot, and thus didn't fight back. He essentially agreed, but he didn't want to live in a world that was created that way. It was, pretty much, fine by him to be hurled out of a window to his death.

Anyways, in conclusion, I think Watchmen fully deserves all the acclaim it has got over the years. It's truely an amazing book. There's not much quite like it, and the questions it poses will make you think and feel. It's very 'gray'. Honestly, I like books that make me like that. Sometimes I want to be entertained in a dumb way....sometimes I want to be moved.....sometimes, in Watchmen's case, I want to think and maybe even learn a little.

With all that said, I think I might enjoy the movie more, if it ever comes out (Fox, I'm watching you. Remember that!). It'll probably be the same as V For Vendetta.....I enjoyed the movie more than I did the book, maybe a lot more. I think that it will be interesting to see just how they incorporate (if at all) the subplots and other information into the book (like all of the parts of Tales Of The Black Freighter, or the original Nite Owl's autobiography, Under The Hood), but I have faith. Plus, the special effects look tops :)

So, if I had to rate Watchmen of a scale of 1-10.........my mood would decide whether or not it's a nine or a ten. As of this writing though, I can say definitively.....Alan Moore's Watchmen is one of the best comics (maybe even fiction in general), that I've ever experienced.

So, currently.......my score for the 12-chapter long mystery/thriller/drama comic, graphic novel, and just plain novel Watchmen is:

10/10

Till next time, I'm Epsilon.....thanks for reading my ramblings :)

Marvel: Reed Richards

Doctor Doom

The Leader

DC:

Batman

Lex Luthor