Its Culture
Wednesday, March' 11, 2009
Clackamas Print 5
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■in Hurlburt *
^Kackamas Print
■al you’re looking for is an action packed graphic
■, Live up and go buy the newest “X-Force” col-
Bn. If you’re just trying to confirm what you
■know, that “Watchmen” is one of the greatest
lianovels to see the light of day, you can stop
pg. I agree, if you want to know why, read on.
pjchmen” is set in an alternate world where
ned crusaders are real and Nixon made it past
Btc without ever being caught, meaning he’s
lent in 1985. It’s a scary world to live in, espe-
(fciisidering that aside from the obviously ficti-
Bernate timeline, the graphic novel parallels
knit all too well.
a this world, normal people, with one exception,
e taken it upon themselves to grab costumes and
■filth on the streets, in order to create a better
|e Exception is Dr. Manhattan, a man who was
Mate enough to get in the way of a physics
Mnt and subsequently dissolved. Later, he
Kk with powers only limited by the imagina-
|0( became America’s ultimate leverage in the
■r.
Bl jiroughout “Watchmen,' ”
WWIII looms omi-
world is
ic Qpnqrqfpr
Jrhe world
separated and everyday atroci-
iresliown brilliantly in side stories, as well as the
Blink.
lead of taking the romantic approach to cape
Bs and costumed vigilantes, Allan Moore took
rely meal and realistic approach to what a “hero”
■ally be.
Ie luperheroes are presented as both saviors and
ns ail throughout the story. In one scene you
ee a cape saving people from a burning building,
| i| another scene, you will see The Comedian
llilk Specter, leaving the reader to decide what
Ostergren
amas Print
jmusic, a twisting and
■able plotline, vivid
ers and a set of special
pt tops almost anything
re, and you have the
atchmen.” I had high
ins for “Watchmen,”
lund them exceeded,
lie was not only visu-
fng; it also told a great
roes in this movie are
lie. They are deeply
lit usually well-inten-
Imetimes they are truly
nd other times they are
[engeful, violent, uncar-
,,^|10US.
■movie begins with a bru-
E lever so cool fistfight
|v ■apartment in New York
From th very beginning,
ion is intense and interest­
nut other kind of a super-
povie begins with one of its
Bing in the first scene?
I [assaulted character,
K the Comedian, a few
ptj before being thrown
II plate glass window to
|hi[ death, spits out the bit-
I, life’s a joke.”
»atjhmen” feels pretty
but in a satisfying way.
Mar, irony, and chaos are
III themes in this film,
pre often than not it is the
Hho
the cause of it
pdlet, it is hard not to like
ie g&racters, and primarily
ise.thcy seem so real.
is good and what is evil.
The graphic novel stripped heroes of what in the
earlier years of comics were purely black and white
figures, replacing everyone with an amalgamated
grey image. With 416 pages, characters have time to
become well developed and the reader can connect
with them, if not always agreeing with them.
The art in the book, although dated, is not painful.
It may not have the myriad of colors and sleek look
that new comics have, but it still keeps your attention
and doesn’t ruin the experience at all.
What has propelled “Watchmen” to its almost
unbeaten level of acclaim among comics and graphic
novels is how well Moore is able to put out a message
that every generation can embrace. This is not a
book that was meant to sell quick copies and capi­
talize on current events. This was a piece of comic
book literature. It’s been more than 20 years since
its release, and the novel is still as meaningful as it
was in 1986, even if the Berlin Wall has fallen.
The book forces readers to ask, what is a hero? J
It begs people to question their highest authority
because even heroes are deep down just people.
One of the most powerful lines iirthe graphic j
novel is its reoccurring theme “who will watch
the watchmen?”
It shows how symbols can decay and ulti­
mately, that ordinary people are what it takes to
really save the world, even if it takes a push from
something outside of themselves.
Like I said, this is not a comic for those looking for
mind-numbing action. It will make you think, and if
you don’t want to think you won’t get it. The story
is complex and each re-reading will help the reader
understand it just a little bit more.
Visual metaphors and artwork that builds up on the
dialogue make Moore’s way of story telling unique,
powerful and manages to use the medium to its fullest
extent. Neither looking at the panels nor reading will
give a full picture of what is going on.
I would recommend this graphic novel to anyone
Masked vigilantes not spon­
sored by the government had
eventually been outlawed by
Congress in 1977 when the pop­
ulace grew tired of the
trouble they some­
times caused. This
is especially impor­
tant to understand
the movie.
The
main characters
are not supposed to
be running around
f i g h t i n g
crime or
saving
people
from
bum-
i n g
build-
i n g s j
a n y -
more.
Many of the heroes had retired
until the events of the movie
began; it was because of the
death of the Comedian that
they started to wake up.
There is definitely
i sense that this
movie is from JF
capable of thinking on their own, with an attention
span long enough to do anything besides watch televi­
sion. Even though some of the content is for mature
readers because of themes like rape, murder, impo­
tence,
nudity, infidelity, violence etc . . .
\ but it’s all a part of the real world.
A “Watchmen” captures this reality,
serves it with a side of some
severely fucked up super-heroes
and asks the reader to
eat it raw.
photo illustration by Kayla Berge & John Shufelt Clackamas Print
Tension is a key point in the feel, without any of the hin­
film. There are always several drances that are normally pres­
points of tension, whether it is ent in the comic book medium.
between the Soviet Union and Action sequences are choreo­
the United States, the fracturing graphed expertly, and there are
relationships between the vari­ only a few rare instances where
ous caped and masked heroes, slow motion is used, which is a
or the internal struggles of the good thing, just enough time to
movie’s protagonists to come really see what is happening and
to term with their own pasts. appreciate the smoothness of the
And sometimes, the tension is special effects. Oh, and if you
just built up so that it is all the like explosions then you should
a n d more satisfying when Rorschach not be disappointed.
that is a smashes a criminal into a toilet
The music for this movie is
good thing. and throws boiling hot fry oil epic. It is hard to understate
The events onto an inmates face. The movie how much it. adds to each setting
supposedly is definitely for those who are at and each new scene. The score
take place in least a little sanguine.
includes music as diverse as Jimi
While in most superhero Hendrix’s version of “All Along
an alternate
universe: movies it is easy to tell who the Watchtower” to Wolfgang
1985.
In the good guys are and who the Amadeus Mozart’s “Requiem.”
this alter­ bad guys are, it isn’t so easy The music is usually appropri­
nate time­ in “Watchmen.” The Comedian ate to the scenes. It subtly adds
line due to had attempted to rape one of his to the excitement, twists itself
the inter­ fellow heroes and had murdered with the more ironic moments
ference a Vietnamese woman he had or gives credence to the more
of
Dr. knocked up during the Vietnam melancholy moments.
Manhattan, War. Rorschach often takes jus­
This film was spectacular. I
America’s greatest tice completely into his own don’t care what other critics have
strategic asset and hands, killing the criminals he been saying; you are not wasting
the only person with finds in cold blood. Silk Spectre your money seeing this remark­
real superpowers, the and Nite Owl break into a prison able film in the theaters. So
United States won in order to bust out a former much of this movie is brilliantly
the Vietnam War and comrade. Dr. Manhattan has made, that the flaws are hard to
sparked even higher grown so distant from humans even find. The movie, diverged
tensions between because of his godlike powers, only marginally from the origi­
the U.S. and the that even when people are suf­ nal comic, and in the case of the
Soviet Union. fering or dying, he feels no sense ending, I like the new one better.
Throughout, of concern. Ozymandias feels In most ways the film stayed true
there is a sense so superior, that he must take to its origins, and I think that
of impending everything into his own hands to was what I like about it most. It
disaster
as save humanity.
wasn’t some tacky reimagining,
nuclear war
The camera work is shot beau­ but instead took a masterpiece
looms ever tifully. The colors and frames and transposed it to a different
Photo illustration by Kayla Berge & John Shufelt Clackamas Print closer.
give the movie a comic book medium.