Watchmen - Alan Moore

Watchmen - Alan Moore

Paperback / 408 pages

Published 2005

Goodreads Summary:  It all begins with the paranoid delusions of a half-insane hero called Rorschach. But is Rorschach really insane or has he in fact uncovered a plot to murder super-heroes and, even worse, millions of innocent civilians? On the run from the law, Rorschach reunites with his former teammates in a desperate attempt to save the world and their lives, but what they uncover will shock them to their very core and change the face of the planet! Following two generations of masked superheroes from the close of World War II to the icy shadow of the Cold War comes this groundbreaking comic story -- the story of The Watchmen.

This was my first comic novel, and it was much better than I had expected.  I am not big into superheros or any of that stuff, but I had heard so much hype about this book I figured that I would give it a shot.  

Honestly, for the first 100 pages I was lost.  I didn't really understand what was going on, but I also found it hard to follow.  I am so used to reading novels, and comic novels are so different.  Instead of getting a lot of descriptions, in a comic novel you get all of the pictures.  I felt like that slowed me down a lot because I had to keep reading the blurbs, and then looking at the picture, and then going back to the blurb again because my ADD got the best of me.  

After about 100 pages, I think I started to get the hang of it.  I received this comment from Man of La Book, and it really hit home about a quarter of the way through.  He said "Graphic novles are a medium to tell a story. Like everything else, some are great (Kingdom Come, Sandman) some...not so much."  Once I looked at it like that and realized that Alan Moore is just using the pictures and what not to tell me the story, I think it was a little easier to get through.

I still don't think I got everything that was happening, and I'm sure there is a lot that I missed.  I really enjoyed the parts with Dr. Manhattan and Laurel Jupiter -- it was romantic and sweet.

While this wasn't my favorite book, I did enjoy the new experience.  I would recommend this book to anyone that has never read a comic novel, just for the experience, and for anyone that does enjoy comic novels.  

3 stars.

Happy Reading,