Search - Watchmen

Hugo-Award-winning graphic novel.
I definitely felt a little bit behind-the-times for reading this now, when there was such
a buzz about it when it came out, but better late than never?
The story focuses on a group of aging, has-been superheroes. Now that the goverment has banned their brand of vigilantism, there isn't much call for costumed crusaders. And moreover, now it seems that someone may be targeting them for murder.
Although the murders frame a fantastic story equal to any comic book adventure,the real focus of the book is on the characters, their interaction and (abnormal) psychology.
It's not at all 'juvenile' in tone, and unlike many graphic novels, that you can just zip through, reading this goes no faster than reading a text novel - there's a lot here to both look at and think about. Very well done - but still, a rather depressing story.

I don't often read comics (or graphic novels), but I had wanted to read this one before the movie came out so I'd get a better idea of the characters that are in the film. I found that they were all quite complex and the story itself is rather sad and depressing, but I found it to be a really good read. It's not full of the stereotypical eye-rolling catch phrases you assume to see in a comic and it's definitely not for young children with many adult situations, violence, language and nudity.

Watchmen is a graphic novel originally published as twelve comic books in 1986 and 1987. It is also the source material for the 2009 movie of the same name.

This is a dark and disturbing story set in the recent past of a world very similar to our own. Costumed crime fighters - superheroes of one sort or another - exist and were mostly forced out of the business by law some time before the story opens. Those who work for the government or ignore the law continue what they were doing while the others retired and aged. As we join the story someone starts killing them off, and the plot grows from there.

Every character in here has a difficult back story of one sort or another, and their psychological challenges are on stage just as much as the plot itself. That's somewhat to be expected. After all, just how likely is a normal person to put on a costume and personally fight crime? No, it takes someone special - or disturbed - to do that.

I found the story engaging, but the methods used by the villain - particularly at the very end - seemed a bit over the top, even for this world. The characters were pretty good, but some suffered from a lack of believability. I bought into Rorshach, and the Comedian, found both Dr. Manhattan and Veidt too far fetched, and Nite Owl didn't resonate. I won't call out the whole list but you ge the idea.

Overall I thought it was a good read, but not outstanding. My copy says it won a Hugo award and is on Time Magazine's list of the 100 best novels. I don't think I can agree with the latter, but it's good in any case.

Recommended with some minor reservations.