Review: Watchmen

Thomas Ballard 

Watchmen

BEWARE OF SPOILERS!

              For the past couple weeks/over agora, I reread my banned book, Watchmen, written by Alan Moore illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The book was a graphic novel that I felt resembled a more realistic and mature version of a typical superhero comic. The art was very good through the entire book. I also found and reread my essay on the Banned Book Project. The book is set in NYC when there are large military tensions in the world. Superheroes are also pretty common, but only a select few “masks” are legal and sponsored by the government. The main protagonist is Rorschach, a retired mask, who is also writing a journal about what is happening. There are also a good number of other unique characters in the cast, one of my favorites being Dr. Manhattan, who was a blue, omnipotent being and a weapon of the military.

In the beginning, a retired mask is killed. Other masks are also being targeted throughout the book. Rorschach eventually noticed that someone was targeting masks and making the city vulnerable after several masks were targeted, he was framed for a murder, and Dr. Manhattan was hated due to a conspiracy. This conspiracy caused him to teleport to Mars out of sadness, making the US very vulnerable. So, they all go to Vedit, another retired mask who was very powerful and rich to do something about the plot against masks. However, Vedit reveals he was the one targeting masks. He then completes his master plan when he released a monster to NYC, killing many. He made this tragedy to “bring the countries together” during the high military tensions. While the book is a decent number of pages, it is not a long read at all, especially if you like graphic novels. I strongly recommend checking this book out because it is thought provoking as it is a more realistic environment with consequences for the superheroes. It also makes you question if Vedit was wrong in the first place, as his plan was saving the entire world at the expense of few lives.

I remember having some difficulty during the project because the book ban was not very accessible online. There were very few challenges, all contesting the nudity, violence, and language. I agree with my past self that this book should not be banned. I recall the challenges to this book surprising me after reading it initially. I thought the content in the book was not too excessive, especially when compared to the internet and other resources that are commonly accessible. I also dislike the idea of challenging books for being “too controversial,” as controversial books are some of my favorites and tend to be the most thought-provoking like Animal Farm by George Orwell. I rate this book a 9/10 and strongly recommend this book to anyone interested. This was one of the few books I enjoyed analyzing, I also liked Language and Literature 1 last year.

Thanks for Reading!

Thomas Ballard