Watchmen by Alan Moore
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Chapter 1 ★★½☆☆
Wild colour scheme! So what do we have here? Drop from a high building? Was he pushed? Murder? Burglary? Who knows!
It‘s colourful. Weirdly so. People are unlikeable and mostly nasty. Rorschach is despicable.
A murder mystery with forcefully retired superheroes?
Chapter 2 ★★½☆☆
Flashback and more unpleasantness. Ok, the alternate timeline has potential… but didn‘t go anywhere…
Chapter 3 ★★☆☆☆
So far it‘s all set-up of some nasty and despicable people without any redeeming features. I don‘t know why I should care.
I get the general direction of the story and I vaguely like the idea of a story within a story and the various hints and glimpses of half hidden things here and there, still… after finishing chapter three I feel no great interest in continuing this graphic novel.
Chapter 4 ★★★★☆
Well, ok, Dr. Manhattan‘s story, the various timeline, his fluid perception thereof, the story of Jon and Janey and the accident — that was pretty good.
The ending of that chapter leaves things wide open — at least a reason to continue now.
P.S.: I am not reading the full text parts at the end of each chapter.
Chapter 5 ★★★☆☆
It’s night. There is an intruder downstairs in your house. You get your gun, go downstairs and the first place you check…
…is inside your fridge???
The colours are eye-watering on ocassion. I wonder what the point is of the sub-story with the ship-wrecked sailor? Should I have recognized Rorschach without his mask? Well, I didn‘t. The story was ok-ish.
Chapter 6 ★★★☆☆
Ok, wasn‘t supposed to recognize Rorschach without the mask, I think. Here is his backstory. Depressing, unsettling stuff.
Chapter 7, 8 and 9 mostly ★★☆☆☆ and a brief ★★★★☆
Nite Owl and Laurie, some Rorschach, pretty much lost interest… skimming… Dr. Manhatten appears and we see some watchmen whose name I forgot.
This is not for me. Half of this thing is backstory and build-up, the colours are garish, the characters are horrible people. Yes, smart, lots of hints and clues and… whatever! How many more boring chapters are there?
I realize that this is considered an iconic and groundbreaking graphic novel, but I am just not entertained. I need someone I can identify with, not just a bunch of callous people without humour or a moral compass. Plus, did I mention the garish colours?
Ok, Jon is mildly entertaining and sometimes something comes along that is almost pretty in a Moebius kind of way… who was earlier and proves that there was truly iconic and groundbreaking stuff before this…
Obviously, as soon as I start bitching about this, something interesting happens and I come across some good panels. Great ending to chapter 9.
Chapter 10
I am basically mostly skimming at this point, reading bits here and there. So, am I being set-up or is the really bad guy who they are insinuating? (view spoiler)
The Davidstown storyline is not bad.
Chapter 11
And I am skimming. Bam, disaster strikes… Yep, that‘s what I thought. Could‘ve only been him..
Chapter 12
Yikes! Pretty bad in a very Technicolor way… or not…?
Thank goodness, I skimmed my way to the end. Yes, I missed a lot by doing that, but I lost interest. This did not do it for me. Great stuff, if you like it, I am sure.
I might have a look at this for enlightenment at some point:
…don‘t spoil yourself! You have been warned…
Cathy's Reading Bonanza 