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Posts in category Watchmen

Watchmen – Alan Moore – Part Two

Jul19
2011 Written by catc1731

The killing of The Comedian is the spark which ignites the story.  For me, one of the most impressive comic book images ever, and one which also kicked the movie adaptation into life.

The character of Rorschach is the one who picks up on the killing but is currently incarcerated.  All the superheroes have now retired with the exception of Doctor Manhattan, now working for the United States government and the main reason the Cold War has been won by the American’s.

As the story progresses, we learn about the previous lives and personal interactions of our assorted, retired superheroes.  The Comedian is revealed to be a misogynist, possibly even a rapist but is also eventually the one who has discovered the plot one of their number to cause massive destruction in the name of world piece.

The Silk Spectre is involved in a relationship with Doctor Manhattan but this deteriorates as Manhattan becomes more drawn into his research.  Spectre is comforted by Nite Owl and they briefly don their costumes and begin superhero activities once more.  It is they who start to believe Rorschach’s conspiracy theories and break him out of prison.

Ozymandias is eventually revealed to be the enemy within and has built a gigantic business empire, using his wealth to fund efforts into defeating the others, especially the seemingly indestructible Doctor Manhattan.  Ozymandias is not a typical bad guy, he believes that his plan to cause huge loss of life in New York will actually save more lives as political tension decreases in its wake.  He does however, have to stop his former colleagues from thwarting his plans and The Comedian is the first to go.

Ozymandias completes his plan for mass destruction before Manhattan and Rorschach can stop him and the story now centres around Rorschach’s desire to reveal the truth to the media.  Ozymandias and Manhattan do not want his and Manhattan is forced to kill Rorschach.

The final scene shows us Rorschach’s journal, having been posted to a media outlet and we are left to assume that the story will be revealed.  Check out the 2009 movie trailer for this excellent attempt at a film adaptation.

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Watchmen – Alan Moore – Part One

Jul13
2011 Written by catc1731

To kick off a series about the most iconic graphic novels and comic book series that have ever been produced, there are a fair few to choose from.  Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and many other countries can lay claim to a comic book industry which has spawned a multitude of stunning hand drawn creations.

Obviously it’s a subjective subject, but one of the most influential must be Alan Moore’s Watchmen and that’s the focus of this article.  First released in 1986/7, Moore was certainly approaching the genre from a different direction and this is what he had to say about the creative process:

“I suppose I was just thinking, ‘That’d be a good way to start a comic book: have a famous super-hero found dead.’ As the mystery unraveled, we would be led deeper and deeper into the real heart of this super-hero’s world, and show a reality that was very different to the general public image of the super-hero.”

A dead superhero may have been the starting point for the novel but the alternate reality which the story creates is a supremely well-crafted creation.  The backdrop is that after the emergence of a generation of superheroes following the Second World War, the United States embarks on its Vietnam adventure aided by these characters.  It duly wins the conflict but this marks the beginning of a different era for the assorted superheroes.

The superheroes featured are all Moore’s creations.  He had originally wanted to use a set of characters acquired by DC Comics from the defunct Charlton Comics, but the nature of Watchmen’s storyline meant that the characters would be largely unusable afterwards and DC were unwilling to agree to this.  Watchmen’s superheroes are Dr. Manhatten, Rorschach, The Comedian, Nite owl, Ozymandias and The Silk Spectre.

In the story, the government outlaws go-it-alone superheroes in 1977 – some put away their costumes and retire, others agree to work for the government.  Then one of the characters is killed and the story begins…..

Part two follows….

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