Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
Aug. 29th, 2008 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annundrielAlan Moore's Watchmen has been on my reading list for a while now, but when the trailer for the movie came out online it immediately shot to the top of list. Without knowing the story, the preview gave me goosebumps. It's just that cool looking.
Yesterday I finished reading Watchmen.
Whoa.
Overall, I still think Neil Gaiman's The Sandman is better. But, oh, this was really good. Different and involving and interesting. Which isn't to say that I didn't have any problems with it. Moore comes of as a little condescending and I don't care for the way he writes women, but other than that I don't have any complaints.
Well, okay, maybe one. But it's not really a complaint, just an observation that is less than flattering. I found the whole gigantic monstrous squid-thing kind of ridiculous, but only because none of the masked heroes had any superpowers. (Except for Dr. Manhattan, but I'll get to that.) In a world that was very real, I just felt like that was a little far-fetched. Kind of like the aliens in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But then I remembered that what happened to Jon/Dr. Manhattan and that he was blue and could change size and could see everything and every moment in time existing simultaneously and I got over it.
Also, today I find that I'm more bothered than I thought I was over what happened to Rorschach in the end. Killed because he was unwilling to compromise between good and evil. I kind of read over his destruction quickly since I was nearing the end and wanted to know how everything was going to turn out, so it's interesting now to think back on the exchange between him and Dr. Manhattan and be so bothered by it.
Now I'm wondering what it says about me that I liked Rorschach best. Out of all of the characters, I found him the most interesting. I'm not saying that I'd want to hang out with the guy because, wow, scary. But I'm most intrigued by him and enjoyed the parts that involved him, even with the crazy violence. I also wanted to know more about his past relationship with Nite Owl since they're so different but work so well as partners.
As I was reading, I liked that I could visually recognize things I'd seen in the trailer. I've watched it several times now just to see what else I can pin-point in the plot. There's actually quite a bit in there that gives important little things away, but only if you know what you're seeing. I'm definitely excited to see it.
I think now I may have to re-read The Sandman. For a while there I think I was a little turned-off of them, though. And I blame the two really annoying know-it-all girls in my comic books class. Thank god![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
trademybike took it with me because I think I would have gone crazy without someone to commiserate with. But reading Watchmen really reminded me why I like comic books/graphic novels. There is just so much you can do in the medium that would take paragraphs of description to accomplish otherwise. I just love what you can do with visuals here. It makes me happy in a really dorky, English major kind of way.
Yesterday I finished reading Watchmen.
Whoa.
Overall, I still think Neil Gaiman's The Sandman is better. But, oh, this was really good. Different and involving and interesting. Which isn't to say that I didn't have any problems with it. Moore comes of as a little condescending and I don't care for the way he writes women, but other than that I don't have any complaints.
Well, okay, maybe one. But it's not really a complaint, just an observation that is less than flattering. I found the whole gigantic monstrous squid-thing kind of ridiculous, but only because none of the masked heroes had any superpowers. (Except for Dr. Manhattan, but I'll get to that.) In a world that was very real, I just felt like that was a little far-fetched. Kind of like the aliens in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But then I remembered that what happened to Jon/Dr. Manhattan and that he was blue and could change size and could see everything and every moment in time existing simultaneously and I got over it.
Also, today I find that I'm more bothered than I thought I was over what happened to Rorschach in the end. Killed because he was unwilling to compromise between good and evil. I kind of read over his destruction quickly since I was nearing the end and wanted to know how everything was going to turn out, so it's interesting now to think back on the exchange between him and Dr. Manhattan and be so bothered by it.
Now I'm wondering what it says about me that I liked Rorschach best. Out of all of the characters, I found him the most interesting. I'm not saying that I'd want to hang out with the guy because, wow, scary. But I'm most intrigued by him and enjoyed the parts that involved him, even with the crazy violence. I also wanted to know more about his past relationship with Nite Owl since they're so different but work so well as partners.
As I was reading, I liked that I could visually recognize things I'd seen in the trailer. I've watched it several times now just to see what else I can pin-point in the plot. There's actually quite a bit in there that gives important little things away, but only if you know what you're seeing. I'm definitely excited to see it.
I think now I may have to re-read The Sandman. For a while there I think I was a little turned-off of them, though. And I blame the two really annoying know-it-all girls in my comic books class. Thank god
trademybike took it with me because I think I would have gone crazy without someone to commiserate with. But reading Watchmen really reminded me why I like comic books/graphic novels. There is just so much you can do in the medium that would take paragraphs of description to accomplish otherwise. I just love what you can do with visuals here. It makes me happy in a really dorky, English major kind of way.