Watchmen

Watchmen (1987) Alan Moore

So, after so many people recommended it to me, I feel guilty saying it. But. I didn’t like Watchmen. Not at all.

I’m not saying it isn’t good, and it isn’t compelling, because it is, on both counts, I’m just saying I didn’t like it. I kept wishing it was over but I also kept reading till I found out what happened.

So if the story had me, why didn’t I like it? For the same reason I didn’t like League of Extraordinary Gentleman Vol 2, or Joyce Carol Oates Blonde–I found it horrifying. Not in the manner of slasher films, but in the sense of it filled me with distaste–whenever I set the book down I walked away with a feeling of physical unease. My stomach felt just a tiny bit queasy, and my head just a little bit achy and the more I thought about it, the more I felt that nothing was right with the world.

It’s not a feeling I like in the slightest, which is why I go out of my way to avoid horror, because I hate the way it makes me feel.

So what did it? The details within the story perhaps? The bit about Rorschach and the dog in particular. The fact that I didn’t really like any of the characters, with perhaps the exception of Dr Manhattan, who seemed far more a victim of his circumstances than any other the others.

Yet, as I said, I had to know what happened, and so I kept coming back to the book whenever I put it down, despite the way it made me feel.

As far as the story…
The Watchmen, and later the Crimebusters, were a group of vigilantes who fought crime. Excluding Dr. Manhattan they had no special powers, other than perhaps an overdeveloped sense of adventure. And now it seems that someone is after them.

It was a good story, and an interesting one. I just hated the characters. My dislike is solely do to a personal distance and is not a reflection on the quality of the work, so keep that in mind if you are considering the reading the story yourself. And Michael liked the book and the story, so consider that as you consider my opinion.
Rating: 4/10

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