Maybe you should send your LOL to Time Magazine, as it is on their list of the 20th Century's Greatest 100 Novels.
Yes, Graphic Novel is a euphemism for comic books. I don't know who coined it, but I'm sure it's used more liberally today where the term "trade paperback" is more accurate. Watchmen was a comic book when it came out, a limited series. Either way, it won a Hugo award, which is for the best works of Science Fiction and Fantasy and they changed the rules afterward to not let any other comic books win. Its also listed by Time Magazine as one of the 100 greatest novels of all time.
Not all time, just novels written in English since 1923. Still good company. http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html
I've never read the comic book and i really enjoyed it that rourshak guy was badass and he had some awesome lines
I just finished reading the Watchmen graphic novel and.... I must say.... That was one big mountain of CRAP. I mean... wow.... just really really crappy. If you are interested in reading it, do yourself a favor: skip the first 11 issues and go to the very last, 12th issue and read it. Why? Because that's the only issue where anything at all happens. Oh, and the stuff that happens in the 12th issue is just as fanciful as any of the other stupid stuff you'll read in any other comic. I've been very anxious to see the movie. Now, I'm not so sure.
Wow. In more than 20 years, this is the first negative review I've read of the graphic novel ever. Somewhere I'm sure someone also hates Citizen Kane, thinks Hamlet is a dumb play and believes Hakeem Olajuwon was overrated. It takes all kinds.
I went into it optimistically. I like a good comic, I LOVED the Dark Knight Returns graphic novel, and I've been looking forward to the Watchmen movie. With all of its accolades, I was expecting to be completely blown away by the Watchmen graphic novel... .. and I was... ...in a bad way.
If you watch the movie previews without knowing anything about the book, you'd think it was your typical action filled big budged blockbuster superhero movie. If you decide to read the comic expecting that, I can easily see how someone would be disappointed. There's relatively little action. They heroes have no powers (aside from Doc Manhattan) and are either past their prime or psychos. And you don't get the exact "save the world" ending we've all come to expect. Fans of the book will say that that's the beauty of it, but somebody who goes in expecting something completely different may not like it.
Fair enough. It's the idea that the graphic novel was "crap" that I find silly. As Wallace Shawn said, "A parsnip is not really a 'bad' carrot, it's a different vegetable."
Watchmen is a great novel, I'm going to read it again next week. As for the movie, I loved 300 and V for Vendetta, and those got about the same mixed-bag reviews from the critics. So we'll see how it turns out, hopefully I will at least be entertained.
What was good about it? The Laurie/Silk Spectre character contributed NOTHING to the story. NOTHING. AT ALL. The only thing The Comedian contributed was his death, sparking Rorschach's investigation. Other than that, he was completely useless. Nite Owl contributed almost nothing, other than giving Rorschach a ride. The whole Rorschach-gets-arrested-and-Nite-Owl/Silk-Spectre-break-him-out scene was completely useless and contributed NOTHING to the main story. The chopiness of the story made it unpleasant to read - switching back and forth from the actual story to a guy tending a newsstand. and if that wasn't confusing enough, they simultaneously threw in useless dialogue from a pirate comic book. A God-like character of Dr. Manhattan is introduced, but he spends most of the story on Mars, away from the story, rambling about particles and time. Rorschach is interesting and is the only character that's actually trying to do something. Those are the outstanding annoyances that I found. I'm obviously not seeing many of the gratifying qualities of the book. What am I missing?
You know that old saying about remaining silent, and making people suspect you are not too bright? The alternative being, open your mouth, and remove all doubt..
The fact that I dislike a popular comic novel and have indicated specific elements that contribute to my dislike of the novel is NOT an indicator of how "bright" I am. I didn't like The Great Gatsby, either. Big deal.
Seriously man, I really don't mean to sound insulting, but I think the book's point and you did not meet. Keep in mind it was written in the early/mid 80s, when darker, grittier stuff like this was not very common. In addition, there are a lot of different themes behind it, but one of the big ones I always took away from it was a complete 180 on the 'superhero' idealogy. In a real world sense, what type of people would put on costumes and go out into the spotlight like that? It takes the idea of the shiny, angelic supehero types - perfect people with perfect values - and rejects it. And I don't mean what a lot of people consider 'dark'. It goes much further than the 'oh, Wolverine is so dark! He cusses and cuts people with his claws!' characterization. All of these characters you seem 'annoyed' with are different examples of that; flawed, disturbed human beings. And that's just a part of it; you've got all sorts of other themes and ideals to look at, with the Cold War backdrop, what's happened to Dr. Manhattan, Veidt's view of the world, etc. There are plenty of people out there who could do a better job of explaining Watchmen than I could; you should look up some of the great articles on it. Hell, the Wiki probably contains all sorts of good stuff. EDIT: I'm also assuming you are genuine here and not just trying to stir up some crap in the thread, so , you know...
If you can't figure out the roles the various characters play (which seemed pretty obvious even to a dimwit like myself), then I guess there isn't much anyone can say to change your mind (or at the very least, get you to read it again and pay a little closer attention). For the record, I happened to like V for Vendetta better, but I can still appreciate how good Watchmen is. And the Great Gatsby is one of the top 5 novels of the 20th century (and one that is fairly easy to read as well) - if you can't appreciate that, then I'm going to guess that literature isn't your thing.
I just got back from watching it and have only one thing to say.... .......Dr. Manhattan costumes will be HUGE for Halloween this year! That is all.
The way those two contrast is one of my favorite parts of the book. You have one guy obsessed with being a superhero, he worships them and eventually becomes one. Puts on a funny outfit, loves the thrill, the attention, etc... Manhattan, the one actual superhero with powers doesn't even give a damn.
