who watches the watchmen
Oh my.
I just finished Watchmen, and...dear God. I need to hold something. Someone. Anything.
This is more than a mere comic book. This is quite possibly the most seminal work of fiction I have ever read. In any medium. It was written twenty years ago, but it fits the post-September 11 era like a bad sock.
What's it about? Lots of things--the impending nuclear holocaust, the annihilation of American moral identity, the death of the superhero genre. All things that have, thankfully, never come to pass. But that is hardly an adequate description. It betrays the story's inherent timelessness. The best I can describe it is that it is a story about the powerlessness of (super?)human existence, and how terrible and precious it is.
That description isn't completely accurate. And I know it doesn't say a lot. But I don't think I could say it better than the book itself.
Two weeks ago, while waiting for Spider-Man 3 to open at the Apollo:
I just finished Watchmen, and...dear God. I need to hold something. Someone. Anything.
This is more than a mere comic book. This is quite possibly the most seminal work of fiction I have ever read. In any medium. It was written twenty years ago, but it fits the post-September 11 era like a bad sock.
What's it about? Lots of things--the impending nuclear holocaust, the annihilation of American moral identity, the death of the superhero genre. All things that have, thankfully, never come to pass. But that is hardly an adequate description. It betrays the story's inherent timelessness. The best I can describe it is that it is a story about the powerlessness of (super?)human existence, and how terrible and precious it is.
That description isn't completely accurate. And I know it doesn't say a lot. But I don't think I could say it better than the book itself.
Two weeks ago, while waiting for Spider-Man 3 to open at the Apollo:
Me: Do I have twenty dollars to spend on this?
David: No. Don't bother.
Tom: Well, that depends. What are you looking at?
Me: Watchmen.
David: I take that back. The answer is YES. For Watchmen, the answer is always YES.
Me: ...But that's a day's worth of food.
David: EATING IS OVERRATED.
Me: All right, all right...I figure I could live for a few miserable extra days, or I could let the time I have be enriched by a wonderful graphic novel.
Matrix Games clerk: I like how this guy thinks.
