Watchmen

Uh, yeah. So NOT interested in the conventional superhero stuff or its demise. I guess the fact that I don't read superhero comics and never have really jarred my reading of Watchmen. I expected a few things I didn't get out of the reading, namely: a happy ending and a character I liked. Bummer for me.

There is nothing basic about this book, so it's unfair to start a sentence with, "The basic premise here is..." or whatever. I'll just tell you what I got out of it, and you'll have to pick it up if you want to know all the things I missed. Edward Blake, The Comedian is brutally murdered in his home. Rorschach believes there is a plot to kill off masked heroes and tells Daniel (Nite Owl), Dr. Manhattan, Laurie (The Silk Spectre), and Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias) about it. They are fairly unconcerned. Laurie and Dr. Manhattan (Jon) split up, and Dr. Manhattan leaves earth for Mars. Apparently Dr. Manhattan was the only thing keeping the Russians from beginning World War III, and the war threatens to begin. Laurie hooks up with Daniel. Laurie has issues with her mother and Edward Blake, which she attempts to resolve during the course of the book. Rorschach gets arrested, but Daniel and Laurie free him. Together the three of them uncover an awful plot, but no one is really sure what it's all about. At the end, we discover who's behind the awful plot and what it's all about. Jon returns to earth. There is a horrible moral dilemma. A great evil resolves another great evil. Everyone is left dirty, impotent, and evil. The end.

Obviously I haven't told you who the mastermind was behind the plot. Knowing that would make the book not worth reading, and it is really worth reading. I didn't like it, but it's worth reading. I also have not scraped the surface of the complexities of the book. There is a tremendous amount of philosophy in the book, and it does much to demean the superhero medium in a sadistic, make-you-want-to-shoot-yourself kind of way.

I will concede that it is laudable. If you are looking for stories in the graphic medium that are also literary but aren't interested in intensely disliking every character you meet (with the possible exception of Rorschach), read Sandman!