Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Watchmen
by Alan Moore (writer) and Dave Gibbons (artist) [741.5 Moo]

This was quite a dynamic and complex novel; it is a graphic novel in that it is several comic books combined and that the nature of the story is dark and violent at times. The story is set in 1985 but different than our real 1985. In their past a few ordinary people were masked crime fighters, kind of like Batman, but a group of them formed and worked together. In time the government legally put a stop it – except for two that they hired to work for them, one of which had a sort of accident making him more than human. Disbanded, they mostly fell out of contact with each other over the decades. However one of the members refused to give up his masked hero lifestyle and discovers that one of their own had been brutally murdered – the police, not knowing his hidden identity think it’s just another murder. From here he decides to find the others to let them know and warn them they might all be in danger. He’s right; they are in danger, so the question is who and why. This would make the story a mystery but it’s so much more than that; as things progress with the investigation and the group coming together (somewhat) again, there are layers of romance, history, science fiction, and even a comic in a comic that all swirl through the pages. There is a lot more the take in than what is in the text boxes so I suggest you take your time looking closely at the graphics as well; it’s in part for this reason I’m sure I’ll read this again. I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy multifaceted novels that provide plenty to think about including relationships, morals, ethics, history and people. It’s not always told in a linear fashion and the point of view jumps from character to character so there are always multiple interwoven stories going on at once. I was fortunate enough to read it without having the ending spoiled for me and I hope the same is true for you if you decide to read it. As I mentioned it is violent and graphic in nature at times, but it also contains nudity and adult themes so read at your own discretion. I have not seen the movie at this point in time so I can make no comparisons between book and movie.

[ official Watchmen page on the DC comics web site ] | [ Wikipedia page for Alan Moore ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!