read: & Was shunning you. 😉

Now, I see Doug has covered most of the bases. Good job, Doug.

I’d also agree that reading it in the 80’s helps. While Watchmen never transcends the genre (in fact, it embraces all that had come before) it certainly reinvented it at the time. It had an impact that’s hard to put into perspective twenty years later.

Doug also points out that having a heavy grasp of superhero history helps. Perhaps this is why the characters feel flat for you. All the the major characters are riffs off older, well established heroes.

I’d also argue that finishing the book (& reading every page) would lend insight into the characters motivations. Moore does an excellent job of defining what drives the cast to do what they do. It’s kinda the whole point of the story.

For a long time reader like me, comics have always been Punk rock. While it’s hard to argue that any Mats tune is overrated, I feel the same could be said for comics (although thanks to Hollywood, I might agree this is starting to change).

& Lost rocks (even though I fought it for years myself, Doug).

Still, don’t believe the hype…ever.

Watchmen is a trenchant deconstruction of the superhero paradigm. (Woo-hoo! I remember one term from my literary criticism class 15 years ago!) Which only seems amazing if one has spent the formative years of one’s life consuming the conventional superhero paradigm, so one recognizes the twist without even trying. And, yep, is more likely to have been the case if one was male during that period of one’s life. (Not to be sexist, but I worked in a comic shop for many years, and females were a distinct minority in the client base.)

Reading it without having that heavy superhero background is kind of like tackling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead without having first mastered Hamlet (and plays in general).

Watchmen also held more power back in the mid ’80s when it first came out (and when I read it), when there was still tail end of the Cold War to enhance the paranoia. (It’s not the same when the boogie man is terrorism rather than communism.) To read it for the first time now–I’m not sure it could possibly be the same.

Of course, that’s just what I remember of it from 23 years ago. I was pondering whether to re-read it before the movie comes out, but I suspect that may ruin both.

But you are correct about being killed by hype. That happens with so much. I recently started watching Lost (my fiancee wanted to get into it), and while it’s better than I expected, I’m still not convinced it’s actually good. Obviously there are those who worship it, but they probably drank the Kool-Aid from the start.

Wait. I should have referenced a book there. Hmm. Nothing comes to mind; I guess books don’t get that much hype, so there’s not as much to live up to.

But ultimately, all these pieces of art, be they books, movies, plays, TV shows, etc., are what they are; it’s those who perpetuate the hype who must suck it.

Except they’d just talk about how cool sucking it is…

My favorite graphic novel of all time is Epileptic, by David B., it is unforgettable like Fun Home.

I had more to say but I have to go. Jodi you should still read Jimmy Corrigan though.