still reading but blog post due at 10

Having never read or known anything about Watchmen before this, I can now see why Time calls it “a work of ruthless psychological realism” (quote from back cover). Unlike the other superheroes we’ve read about this semester, these characters have complex backstories with individual histories that you can’t just predict from the start. In fact, I think this is one of the first stories we’ve read that’s divided into chapters, where each is part of an ongoing mystery rather than a story in itself. I started Watchmen a little confused, but I became intrigued as I kept reading. How did these characters all meet? Why doesn’t anyone else want to help Rorschach find out what happened? Are we going to find out what happened? (I’m writing this post now so that I can post before 10 pm but I’m hoping that some of these questions will be answered in the coming pages.)

I also liked the 9-panel layout because it is clean and effective. When the panels are laid out in an orderly manner, the plot seems more structured. I found that some parts of The Dark Knight were confusing because the panels were all over the place, and at times, it was hard to figure out what was going on in the panels. Like we said in class, we were often looking at Batman from strange, unnatural angles. Here, it seems that what’s happening in each panel is relatively easy to figure out. Although Watchmen was published in the 80s, it is generally the much older comics that have more structured panel layouts. For example, take the original Superman. The panels are all rectangles of different sizes and there are no weird or funky shapes. Similarly, the panels are pretty normal looking in Watchmen. At least for me, it’s easier to read and understand.