Though I haven't finished it yet, I thought I should write something about Alan Moore's graphic novel, The Watchmen. Written in the 80's at the height of Cold War existential paranoia, it's the story of several washed-up masked adventurers who find themselves abandoned and ridiculed by society. To make their troubles worse, someone is killing them one by one.
What really separates the story from other more adult-themed comics is its examination of how the threat of human annihilation affects us. Though Moore envisions the possible end of the world as coming from a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union, his depiction of how humanity grapples with the possibility of its own extinction (and man's inherent moral cruelty)is as relevant today in the face of nuclear jihadism as it was two decades ago. His characters take on the 'masks' one must don in order to withstand man's barbarity. Consequently the Comedian, a brutal and conscienceless thug, can only greet the horrors of Vietnam--where he cuts his super-hero teeth doing the government's 'dirty work'-- with a shrug and a laugh. How can one understand the slaughter of children, the collection of human body parts for trophies, the rape of women, and the killing of millions? What kind of ideology or philosophy can mediate and interpret that kind of horror? The Comedian, who commits many of the aforementioned crimes, wraps himself in an ironic nihilism to shield himself from the terror of the world around and in him. How else could he avoid going insane? How else to endure the unendurable? He laughs as he slays, for the great joke of man's existence is that despite all his noble accomplishments, his artistic achievements, his glorious scientific breakthroughs, his is, at bottom, an animal of uncommon savagery and bloody cunning.
More to come...
3 comments:
I'm not graphic novel expert, but this is terribly good stuff, Greer. Makes me think of V for Vendetta. And like that novel-turned film, a quick Google-search reveals a film version of The Watchmen is currently in production, further evidence of precisely the kinds of resonance such an artifact of the Cold War has in the present.
Alan Moore is the man.
I just finished reading From Hell, his take on the Jack the Ripper murders. Though it's more all-encompassing than that. He basically posits the murders as a harbinger of the twentieth century. You're also afforded ample opportunity to marvel at what a shithole Victorian London was. Disturbing but fascinating.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is also very cool. Both comics inspired what look like abysmal movies, and I fear Watchmen will meet the same fate. Then again, V for Vendetta was decent. But if you're going to adapt Watchmen, and Moore himself thinks it's unfilmable, the way to do it would be as a miniseries. Twelve hour-long episodes, like a season of Deadwood. Come to think of it, Ian McShane would be great as The Comedian.
Anyway, I'll have have more to say once I've reread it, but people should check it out. Not perfect, but brilliant. And the Dr. Manhattan chapter probably is perfect.
By the way, Mac, you can change your nickname. From the Google search page, make sure you're signed in, and go to My Account in the upper right.
Greero, when's the next post coming? Don't let it fizzle... fo' shizzle!
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