Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Although the hype for Watchmen has long faded, I figured that it was far past time that I found out what the graphic novel was about.

It has been decades since I read a comic book.  My first job way back in middle school was working for a hobby shop, and with no better way to spend my newfound cash, I started collecting comics – mostly old school Marvel and new and trendy Image titles, but also a smattering of others when something caught my eye.

Thankfully it was extremely easy to slide back into reading a comic, I love the feeling of casting my gaze from panel to panel, taking in more than just words.

Dave Gibbons’ art, while jarringly ugly at first, quickly grew on me.  Once accustomed to the hyper-DC feel of the  book I found myself really enjoying all of the little details that could go unnoticed without ruining the story.  The settings – for the most part – were drawn with such obvious care for details that the environment felt alive, seething with human violence.

As much as I found myself enjoying the artwork, Alan Moore’s storytelling stole the show.  Watchmen is set in a dark, nasty world where heroes are badly needed, but prevented by law from fighting crime.  Though convoluted at first, Watchmen slowly fleshes out the main plot points, mixing direct exposition with tangential allusions that are far more subtle than I expect from a comic book.

In particular, Moore excels at blending multiple stories into a single coherent whole, hop-scotching between threads deftly in order to tell a tale in his own unique fashion.  Gibbons’ artwork aids in this technique, as the panels flow naturally even when the words are disjointed.

For ten chapters Watchmen was a brilliant masterpiece.  And then it fell off a cliff.

I was loving the graphic novel up until the start of the eleventh chapter, where the plot takes a sharp left turn.  It was as if Moore and Gibbons came in to work one morning, decided that they were sick of the series, and decided to wrap it up as expediently as possible.  The unbelievable plot twist left a sour taste in my mouth, and I could only read on in horror as the comic unraveled into a nonsensical nightmare.  Worst of all was the finale.  The final chapter ended in a complete non-event that hinted at what might occur without providing any satisfying conclusion for fans.

I don’t regret my time reading Watchmen, but I certainly wish that the graphic novel had a better ending.  For ten chapters is was awesome, but the last two were awful.