Watchmen

Clearly I am a Watchmen fan. I remember the first time I encountered Watchmen, and admittedly, I saw the movie first. It was during a road trip I had endured many times between Utah and California, 14 year old me stopped with my parents at a routine pitstop to restock on Funyuns and Mountain Dew, or whatever fourteen year old me wanted. After walking around the store for a while I spotted a Redbox. Eagerly I surfed through it’s selection of movies and stumbled upon a superhero movie entitled Watchmen. When i returned to my car, Watchmen in hand, I scrambled to find an old portable DVD player my younger brother had gotten for Christmas a forgotten number of years ago. I watched the movie in awe as the drive through the arid desert land around me was forgotten. We arrived home many hours later, the world of Watchmen still plaguing my thoughts.

I picked up the Watchmen graphic novel as soon as i could, and have read it many times since. I believe Watchmen speaks to me because it is so different, so much darker than anything else I have read. The struggle between true justice and peace is fascinating, stuck between killing millions to save billions and the eventual exposure of Veidt’s plans to the media at the cost of countless lives. I love Watchmen because Watchmen portrays heroes not as perfect, handsome, and strong, but it shows how corrupt, ego-driven, and hopeless these ‘heroes’ are. Alan Moore’s haunting phrase of “Who watches the Watchmen?” is a perfect example of the fears dwelling within us. It is an example of feeling impotent or having power beyond control, things any rational human fears.

Although Watchmen is my favorite piece of literature I am the first one to admit I judge it through an unfair lens. In examining my own biases it is clear one of the appeals of Watchmen to me is it being in graphic novel form. I believe graphic novels (especially in this case), are a very powerful tool, using pictures to enhance already vivid descriptions. Another bias present is one which arose from outside influence, i expected Watchmen to be good because places like Time Magazine and the New York Times Book Review regarded it as one of the greatest 100 novels in recent history.

I would consider myself a fan of existential literature, most notably Camus and Sarte, and I can easily connect works like The Stranger to themes found throughout Watchmen. My love of literature with similar themes as Watchmen helped my strengthen what I have taken away from Watchmen even more.


For more information regarding the Watchmen universe feel free to visit DcComics.com/Watchmen. This is a reliable up to date source with everything from Before Watchmen comics to collectibles.