This being a sort of watchmen catch-all right now, I'll post my long-winded crap here too rather than only in the weekly comic thread. No spoilers or anything (just one quote), for anyone going to see the movie without having read the book and such.
I re-read Watchmen today. This was only my second completion of it. In all forms of media, the more I like something the less often Ill revisit it, hoping to have enough of the details fade over time to appreciate it as fully as possible. Before I go into my thoughts on this second run through, Ill examine my first, several years ago and well before I dove head first into the medium.
My first experience with Watchmen came after I had read only a few western comics. Despite many protests from comic fans I interacted with that this was not the case and recommendations given to me to support their claims, I hadnt shaken the conception that western comics equaled 70 year old IP spandex with a thousand issues each of endless serialized daytime soap opera, shifting creative teams with wildly different creative visions retconning each other into the ground. But the protests were persistent, and despite most of the examples given still dealing with spandex and established names I gave a few works a shot.
DKR impressed me, and opened my eyes to some degree, but it was easy to treat as an isolated incident after sampling some (at the time) current and popular in-continuity works and not thinking much of them (later I realized that I just flat-out hate spider-man, probably a major reason for not liking Bendiss well-regarded USM). When I got to Watchmen I approached it with hesitation and doubt, and this led to it being shelved somewhere around chapter 3. Ironically, I dont think I was ready to accept its number of plot threads, patience, depth, and maturity. Though I was at home with those concepts in regular books, I may have been too stubborn to see what I had read of Watchmen as anything other than a slow start.
Several years later (but still 2-3 years ago) I unshelved it, feeling pressure from the sheer number of acclaims Watchmen had piled up. Determined to be patient, I read past where I had been previously. Shortly afterwards it all clicked. I pulled a marathon to the final page lasting late into the night, the sort of reaction that makes Dave Gibbons proud. That was special, that was a truly compelling, tightly woven, masterfully written story, at such a level I had not experienced in either hemisphere of comics, and not very often in any medium. So, why then didnt I explore western comics seriously afterwards? Its hard to say. Maybe just like with my first experiences with anime, among which included watching Akira and being more than intrigued, it wasnt until I had seen the medium let it all hang out with a compelling long format series that I could bring it home into the stable of my primary interests. For western comics, that was with Preacher, but thatd set me back another thousand words.
Time passed, I accepted western comics as a viable medium (to say the least, says my giant stack of books to the right), and then we reached today, where I dusted off my long since purchased but unread Absolute Watchmen. I begrudge DC a little for not using coated paper, especially after seeing a few gorgeously vivid frames reproduced in Watching the Watchmen, but Ill live. Maybe.
This reading, as Im sure subsequent ones will be as well, was for nuance. I took my time, paying close attention to each panel, each expression and background detail. Its very easy to fly through a comic when you dont respect the medium or the authors, or when youre used to manga and its generally straightforward imagery. If the respect is there, then the art becomes the equivalent of everything between the dialogue in a book, not something to be glossed over (unless youre reading Tolkien
). To know ahead of time that theres a whole lot to Watchmen, that Moore and Gibbons and Higgins obsessed wonderfully over every single aspect of this work, that nothing was arbitrary or inconsequential, its a very different experience.
I felt strongly connected from the very beginning this time, instead of just when the plot threads came together in the later pages. In the current era of abused photo reference, the consistency and detail of Gibbons art might be even more breathtaking. The clarity of vision shared between Moore and Gibbons leaves a rare presence on the page, like a camera pointed at a world rather than a representation suiting the needs of the script. The big blocks of text between chapters that were slightly puzzling the first time around (given the medium I was reading
) engaged me from the start this time, critical worldbuilding that added indisposable weight to the actions in the narrative. The Black Freighter portions, too, that originally had tested my patience somewhat and took time to pay off in the first reading locked into place here along with all the other pieces.
Give me smallest finger on man's hand. I'll produce information. Computer unnecessary.
Even better the second time around.
