When the movie V for Vendetta came out, I loved it so much that I started looking for information on the original comic. As part of the search, I found out that the same writer, Alan Moore, was also responsible for Watchmen, which is regarded as the best graphic novel ever written. My inner geek immediately made me want to read it as well. I’ve never been a comic-book fan myself, as I’ve always found them to be kind of childish, and most times, hard to follow due to their long, episodic nature. But now that I’ve read Watchmen, I can definitely understand why they’re referred to as graphic novels. This is a deep, involving story, with some of the best dialog I’ve ever read, listened, or viewed. It is no surprise Time magazine voted it one of the 100 best novels of all time, the only graphic novel to be nominated in this category:

Watchmen is a graphic novel [...] starring a ragbag of bizarre, damaged, retired superheroes: the paunchy, melancholic Nite Owl; the raving doomsayer Rorschach; the blue, glowing, near-omnipotent, no-longer-human Doctor Manhattan. Though their heyday is past, these former crime-fighters are drawn back into action by the murder of a former teammate, The Comedian, which turns out to be the leading edge of a much wider, more disturbing conspiracy. Told with ruthless psychological realism, in fugal, overlapping plot-lines and gorgeous, cinematic panels rich with repeating motifs, Watchmen is a heart-pounding, heartbreaking read and a watershed in the evolution of a young medium.

The story is set in an alternate US, where “super” heroes exist, and have an impact on history. The US won Vietnam, electric cars are common, and Nixon remains the president even on 1985. The great thing is, that the whole super hero legend receives a touch of realism, since with the exception of one character, nobody has super powers, they’re just remarkable people who decide to take justice on their hands while using costumes to cover their real identities. Hooded justice, they call it. The story also deals with the fears and conflict of the people, who question their motives. There’s even a law passed in 1977 that bans costumed heroes because of this. Who watches the watchmen?, they say. The story is dark, gritty and violent, and the characters are deep and psychologically charged.

As I said, the dialog is just awesome and clever. Sometimes, as the storylines intertwine in a Tarantino way between each frame, the dialog for one describes what the other is depicting. On one particular “scene”, a guy and a girl are trying to have sex (and the guy is failing at it), while a stunt man is performing acrobatic maneuvers on TV. The lines from the narrator on  the TV result in a sort of sarcastic parody of the couples attempts, resulting in a funny yet charming moment. There’s also a lot of political and social critique going on, the kind that makes you think even when you’re not reading it. It even has inserts from fictitious books, journals and documents, in regular book format at the end of each chapter, that help understand the back story of the characters, as well as the events in their alternate timeline.

I seriously encourage everyone to read it it, not just comic fans, but anyone who enjoys great literature. Amazon has it for about US$13 on paperback, same one I bought. DO NOT read the Wikipedia plot summary for it, as it contains major spoilers. Also, the director from 300 is working on a movie adaptation. I will definitely be waiting for it to come out, but I don’t think a movie is necessary, this is a truly remarkable work of art as it is.