Reconsidering the Superhero: Watchmen

This week I read the first issue of Watchmen by Alan Moore. I was surprised right off the bat by how dark and overtly political the comic was. Right in the opening scene, Rorschach talks bitterly about "the accumulated filth" of the city drowning in blood. For a comic from as big a publisher as D.C. to display such cynicism, I can definitely see how Watchmen expanded the genre in comics.

One thing I really enjoyed about Watchmen that I don't see in other comics is how dark the humor is. As we see in the beginning of the comic, Rorschach often delivers monologues via a diary he keeps. This is often where Moore's sense of humor can be seen. In one scene, for example, Rorschach spends a disproportionate amount of time talking about how many kids his neighbor has and how she is probably abusing welfare–it's funny because of how small an issue it is that Rorschach is devoting his energies to. Rorschach also comes across as a bit comedic to me because of how angsty he is. When he mumbles about how "no one cares but me," Rorschach almost comes across as a teenager.
Image result for watchmen comic

Although I enjoyed Allen Moore's unique spin on Watchmen, one part that did bother me was the length text in the middle of the issue explaining the back story of one of the characters. Although I love reading, and actually enjoy novels more than comics, something about expecting a comic and getting pages and pages of text bothered me.

Comments

European Comics: Blacksad

Today I read the first book of Blacksad , an edgy French comic written by Juan Diaz Canales and illustrated by Juanjo Guarnido. The comics follow a panther detective through a series of anthropomorphic noir mysteries. I really enjoyed Blacksad . The story is a fairly standard mystery, but Blacksad's voice is engaging and authentic as a noir narrator, and the artwork is amazing. I felt that the art style was especially effective because it helps immediately establish character personalities--the criminals are rats and scaly creatures, the sheriff is a border collie, etc. I also tend to find that in noir movies or comics all the characters tend to look the same (all the men are square-jawed and serious, the women attractive and curvy) and the style of Blacksad helped prevent this from happening for me. Guarnido also does a fantastic job at using different shot angles and engaging acting within the panels. I enjoy this kind of visual storytelling much ...

The Future of Comics: Electric Sheep

When I opened The First Word of Patrick Farley's Electric Sheep comics , I was expecting a standard webcomic. I was very surprised that instead of formatting itself as a "normal" comic, The First Word is a sidescroller that uses simple lighting effects and motion design. This was entirely new to me–I thought standard webcomics were considered fairly modern, but this felt like something completely different. I enjoyed how Farley seemed to be playing around so much with new media to explore what a comic is. It really opened me up to think about what new possibilities might be with merging traditional storytelling and technology. The transitions were especially amazing to me, like the stream of different animals evolving. I did think Farley went very over-the-top with the lighting effects when sex came into play (I found the comic hard to take seriously at that point), but overall, the use of art was definitely something to study. One area where the comic f...

Stereotypes and Representation: March

For this week's talk on representation in comics I read March, a graphic novel by Andrew Aydin and Roy Lewis in which Congressman and Civil Rights activist John Lewis tells the story of his life. When reading March , I found myself constantly comparing it to Art Spiegelman's Maus. Both comics deal with a man narrating his experiences navigating a time of great turmoil in human rights, but they are executed in very different ways. Where Spiegelman tends to transcribe everything about his father in Maus regardless of whether or not those details are directly relevant, March is more streamlined. Even when it deals with issues in Lewis's life that aren't directly related to the Civil Rights movement, those details are a vital part of understanding Lewis himself and how he came to be the activist and Congressman--like when we see him preaching to his chickens and protesting their deaths. I think March can have this tighter focus (which I found to be very pr...

Lauren's Literature of the Graphic Narrative

Search This Blog