Costumed Hero's and a countdown to zero

First Impressions
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I’ve never really been into comic books or graphic novels, whichever title you choose to give them - if you do indeed believe that the two are separate. Sure, when I was a kid, I enjoyed the occasional Spiderman comic but the adventures were continuous things and you had to wait a week to see what would happen next after being given possibly five pages of a particular adventure. When you consider the size of each frame in comic, five pages isn’t a hell of a lot.

I was around about 14 when a friend recommended a book called Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons, in fact he was so enthused about the book, he lent me his prized copy. He knew that I liked to read in fact I got through about four or five books a week at the time but I had never tried a graphic novel.

“Just give it a chance”, he pleaded looking at my doubtful expression.

So I took it home and opened the bright cover to see a yellow smiley face badge with a small splat of blood on it. The picture was the first frame and set the high standard for the rest of the book. The artwork was superb, you could take almost any frame from this graphic novel, blow it up, frame it and hang it on your wall. It is visually attractive and professionally drawn and coloured making for a very polished finished.

But then you have the added delight of the text and story complementing the story well. With a flawless script and story to complement the outstanding artwork, you know within a few pages that you have stumbled onto a truly excellent collaboration of an excellent author and an equally brilliant artist.

Throughout the story - intermingled with the graphic format are short two to four page sections of just bulk text – usually mock excerpts from a Newspaper which gives more information, depth or background to the story.

Background - What's it all about
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The world is a warped version of the one in which we live, in the novel’s world costumed heroes have been around since the 1930’s – fighting in wars for the American government when needed and keeping the peace on the streets, fighting crime, etc. They are not superheroes, by the common definition, none of the early costumed heroes have any special powers although they do have some gadgets and some have above average but not superhuman strength.

In fact it is not until an accident at a nuclear testing site in the nineteen fifties that the first and last Superhero is born. A young scientist (aren’t they all) accidentally gets atomised in a nuclear experiment. Although his body is destroyed, his consciousness remains and over a period of months he is able to put his body back together atom by atom. He learns as he reconstructs himself to improve upon his natural body and thus is reborn as Doctor Manhattan.

Where appropriate, flashbacks such as the creation of Dr Manhattan occur to answer questions before they fully begin to rise.

In 1977 - in the novel’s world - the Keene Act, outlaws all costumed heroes apart from those working within the government. This includes of course Dr Manhattan who almost single-handedly won the Vietnam War for the U.S.A which led to public support for Nixon changing the rules and extending his period as President of the United States beyond the normal number of terms.

Most of the costumed heroes disappear quietly into the night and retire or go public. Rorschach – named because of his mask, made from a material with fluid, moving blotches reminiscent of the Rorschach ink blot tests – refuses to quit. In defiance of the Keene act, he continues to leave broken and battered rapists and child molesters on the steps of the police HQ with notes saying “never quit” to indicate that as long as evil walks the street, so will he.

The Story
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The story begins with the death of a man called Edward Blake. It is Blake’s blood on the smiley face badge, the next frame zooms out and you see the badge is on the pavement. The next frame pulls back again and you are looking at it from a height with pedestrians walking around. Through each of the opening frames a narrative by way of an extract from Rorschach’s Journal - leads in to the story.

Rorschach is investigating the death of Edward Blake, and it is through this investigation that we are introduced to his retired associates, The Nite Owl – Dan Drieburg, Laurie Jupiter daughter of one of the original costumed heroes Sally Jupiter. For the main part of the story it is Rorschach that we are following around, hearing his thoughts through his Journal, which sometimes accompany the frames as narrative.

Like all good stories, this is not about the death of one man. His death merely is the catalyst for setting Rorschach off on an investigation rather than a voyage of discovery. With almost every country in the world at war with another, the world is in serious decline even on a precipice to disaster. The threat of nuclear war is a growing threat as we are kept up to date with current events with the occasional side-track to a newspaper vendor who’s voicing of opinions is almost as informative as the headlines clearly drawn for the readers attention.

As Rorschach delves deeper into the investigation, the magnitude of the story and the global ramifications of events that are in motion are revealed. I cannot say more about the story, as it really has to unfold for itself, suffice to say this is not simply the story of the murder of one man but a hugely enjoyable and involved story looking at the extreme measures sometimes needed to bring about the salvation of a doomed world.

Rorschach
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The main character of this story and our dark guide has to be mentioned. He has no special powers. He is a masked “anti-hero” who uses extreme tactics to gather the information he needs, his reputation as a brutal avenger precedes him. At one stage, the best example is he walks into a crowded bar for information. When a young man makes a few ill-conceived comments, Rorschach uses him as an example. He starts with the mans little finger and breaks it without hesitation, malice or regret – it’s just business, a tool to get to his goal. He continues to break his fingers until, someone provides a snippet of the information he needs and then he leaves without a second thought for his victim.

He is a character who has through his own traumatic experiences abandoned the world and regards it as sick with the cancer of evil spreading throughout it. He knows he can’t stop it but is driven by his rage at suffering to work his way through destroying the cancer of society wherever he can at whatever cost.

Overall
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Since reading this novel when I was 14, I have never found anything that comes close to touching it. The Artwork as I have mentioned is so superlative and the story and dialogue so defined that it is like watching a film and a great film at that.
Graphic Novels are not my cup of tea at all but this transcends merely being a novel or a comic into being an outstanding piece of work in it’s own right.

In other words, there are novels, there are comics, there is artwork and there is brilliance…and then there is “Watchmen”.