I wasn’t a big fan of the superhero comics (Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Hulk, …), but I had a friend who was so I read quite a lot of those comics during my teens. They provided a nice pastime, but nothing more. I was much more a fan of Guust Flater, Durango, Rode Ridder, Soda, Jeremiah, Blake & Mortimer, … which non-Belgians probably never heard off. Your loss.

The very first page of the Watchmen immediately sets the tone with an excerpt from Rorschach’s journal, October 12th, 1985:

Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout “Save us!” …
… and I’ll look down and whisper “No.”

How’s that for change? Can you even imagine Superman, Batman, Spider-man, Wolverine, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Storm, Wonder Woman, … utter a phrase like that? Saying no to a person in need. The Watchmen grabbed my attention from the very first page.

When the story takes place the glory days of the costumed heroes or masked vigilantes are over and they are outlawed. Costumed heroes because apart from Dr. Manhattan they do not have superpowers. The only ones still active are Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan and the Comedian, but these last two work for the government.

The story starts with the murder of one of the costumed heroes. Is it a standalone event or is there a plot to kill and discredit these masked vigilantes? Or is there something much more sinister going on? Will the remaining heroes find themselves out of there depth on this one? Follow Rorschach on his, initial lonely, quest for answers.

The author makes no effort whatsoever to make the costumed heroes look sympathetic: paranoid, cynical, estrangement, aggression, violence, rape, murder,  … You sometimes wonder what the difference is between the heroes and the villains. The characters transcend the simplistic good versus evil so often found in comics. How do you judge someone like Rorschach or the Comedian? How do you judge a god-like being as Doctor Manhattan? How do you judge Ozymandias?

I can see the world through Rorschach’s eyes, understand Doc Manhattan’s estrangement from humanity, kinda get the Comedian’s joke, follow Ozymandias’ logic, and sympathize with the Night Owl 2.0. If you have read the novel, you realize this is kinda scary. It only shows Alan Moore’s genius.

You can call this story impressive, awesome, a master-piece, or a classic, but it’s not a nice or enjoyable story, it grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. The scope, the setting at the height of the cold war in an alternative history where the USA won the Vietnam war, the flashbacks to the early years of the Watchmen and even into the origins of their predecessors the Minutemen, and the mix of comic and text makes this book a master-piece. For a comic this book contains an unusual amount of text; excerpts from (auto)biographies, interviews, news paper clippings and psychiatric reports.

Usually a story written for a certain format doesn’t do well in another format. Who doesn’t know the expression “the book is better than the movie?” However, this comic would hold it’s ground if published as a novel. The story, the setting, the scope, and the depth would make sure of that. Which is probably why it made Time Magazine’s list of 100 best novels.

The first time I read this, I just grabbed it on impulse in the adult comic section in the public library where it was on display between the Star Wars comics and the comic adaptations of Agatha Christie’s and Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels. They should have put a warning label on the cover, “This is no ordinary comic.” If I would have to compare it with a well-known novel than it would be George Orwell’s 1984.

I am not the first one who finds it hard to write a review of the Watchmen. How good is this book? What do you have to compare it with? I have less than a dozen Marvel comics, but even if I would have 5 times as many, I would give them all up for a copy of the Watchmen. I wouldn’t give up my Guust Flater collection though. I would also find it hard to part with my Blake & Mortimer collection or with the beautiful, 3-part, hardcover, comic adaptation of Joe Haldeman’s Forever War by Marvano.

Some of the references to other comics might seem obscure, but Belgium has more to offer than fries, chocolate, beer, and waffles. Belgium is also known for its comics, but unfortunately you will have to learn either Dutch or French to read most of them. Point of reference: Tintin wouldn’t make it to my top 10 list of best Belgian comic series.

I hope you found this review helpful.

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