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Watchmen
I finally finished reading Watchmen.
Damn.
Just...damn.
I'm very nervous that they want to make a movie out of it. It'll take one talented bastard to pull it off the right way. Hollywood just doesn't impress me often with this sort of thing. Zack Snyder is fine and all, but I dunno.
It's a very impressive piece of literature, not sure why it's taken me this long to read it. I love how it's really good all the way through, but the last book just slaps you upside your head. Although I did kind of figure that Rorschack would die. Didn't figure it would be so noble. Not sure how I feel about Jon, I'll need to explore the source of his apathy for a while. I'll also be pondering the notion of compromise and what it really says about someone when they refuse to do it.
I didn't really understand the significance of the Black Freighter story, until I read this: Moore has said that the story of The Black Freighter ends up specifically describing "the story of Adrian Veidt". Richard Reynolds states that just like Veidt, the protagonist of "Marooned" "hopes to stave off disaster by using the dead bodies of his former comrades as a means of reach his goal". Which makes perfect sense once you think about it.
I presume the name "Veidt is because of Conrad Veidt from The Man Who Laughs. Neat. Because who else could it be?
Overall, I was profoundly impressed, disturbed, and and blown away.
Rorschack is my hero.
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I had wished earnestly that they would create a 12-part cable series based on Watchmen. That would have been the way to do it. I could have done it really well, I think, if someone had given me a buttload of money and told me to go wild.
The way that Zach Snyder described it, he had told the men in suits that he really didn't think that you could make a MOVIE out of Watchmen. They told him that YES, you could, and that they WERE, with him or without him.
He signed on to prevent some Hollywood guy that didn't know comic books from making it. :(
Alan Moore is always amazed that Rorschach is the POPULAR one. He intentionally made him the most unlikable guy in the series.
I am also leery of Zach Snyder. I mean at least he's "one of us", but so far the trailers haven't impressed me. Looks kinda cheezy. Malin Ackerman looks yummy, though. [shrugs]
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HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
Turn back now if you haven't read this!
Really!
But here's the amazing thing - As good as the book is, and as acclaimed as it is, almost nobody gets how brilliant it really is. At least not consciously.
I had 2 questions as I read - 2 questions that weren't obvious to me. Why is Doc M blue? Why does the Silk Spectre have a skull on her choker?
Because they are Vishnu and Kali. Hell, Doc M has a dot on his forehead for Pete's sake. The idea of Kali as stage-mother devouring her own young is brilliant. Look for the number of times Doc M is shown to have more than 2 arms. :)
There's a flying elephant too! And a demigod of war with an ironic motif (in India it's a peacock feather), There Archie aka Garuda who breathes fire and has a deafening shriek and carries the gods into battle. And Rudra... er, Rorshach, who is the scary night god whose symbol is a jackal (dog). It goes on and on. When I discovered the Surya (the god of light and knowledge) had a chariot draw by 7 horses each of a different color, I thought I'd count how many different talents the plan required. Any guesses?
Look for Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice holding hands in the restaurant at the end of issue 1. Their bow-ties will show you who they are. :)
Look at the issue called Fearful Symmetry. Look at it from the spine (middle) out. You'll see that the whole thing is symmetrical - panel layouts, colors, characters featured - and in the very middle there's an important arrow. As if to say "J'accuse!"
And there are 6 sets of paired covers devoted to a specific character. The first shows the hero's public image, the second shows that character's private problem.
The first set is the Comedian:
1. The smily face and blood.
2. Violence to women.
THe one that kills me though is Doc M's public image. They've cropped the FALLOUT SHELTER sign to read
ALL (nuclear) HEL. And then the first panel of the book crops the Nuclear warning symbol to be an exclamation point!
The covers get ever more ambitious until the Silk Spectre's duo nearly threw me completely - the first cover (that I call premature fanboy ejaculation) is clearly in keeping. THe second one though... It tookme a couple minutes to see that not only were we honoring the sweep hand, but to see the scarred face of the Comedian reflected. It also took me a while to realize the light reflected on the IN GRATIITUDE plaque made it say IN-GRATITUDE.
Moore and Gibbons worked so many angles beyond where anyone else was even capable of understanding (though Shyamalan's Indian heritage gave him a huge leg up for making Unbreakable about American gods. But that's another story).
You did notice the blood splat as the shape we can see through on the cover of #11?
Re: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
Re: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
I discovered all of this piece by piece as the individual issues came out. It was an absolutely thrilling year.
For all his planning, I firmly believe that Moore changed the ending (I believe it was originally Hooded Justice doing the intro murder at Veidt's orders, and that the reason for Adrian's beloved genetically-engineered female pet was to even out the symmetry between the sides in the final fight by created a parallel of Silk Spectre). I happened to be in the right place at the right time to discover some of the whys and wherefores. That said, it's probably much the better for it.
Bon appetit!
MORE SPOILERS
NOW MORE SPOILERS.
(though not as many).
And that the Gay Women Against Rape poster, is not just a GWAR joke, but a pyramid with an ankh with teeth! And note that the sickly yellow shark is stabbed though the eye, and that head on it looks like the cover of Issue 1. Oh that our man alright.
Moore is also something of a wag. As to Rorshach being the popular one - of COURSE he is. Sure Moore did his mightiest to show all the unpleasant Objectivism and pathological horror that drives him on. But really Rorshach is the hero. He's the one who not been bowed or silenced or made to change. He's doing the work, and paying the price.
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