I finally read Watchmen after 10 years of hearing it's the greatest comic ever

Picked up the trade paperback last month at a shop in Austin. Everyone online says it's this perfect masterpiece of storytelling. But I gotta be honest, I found the pacing kinda slow and the characters hard to care about. Dr. Manhattan is cool I guess, but Rorschach is just annoying. Am I missing something or is this just one of those things you're supposed to say is great?

2 comments

2 Comments

lewis.troy13d ago

@jana119 nailed it. Rorschach's just a crazy guy in a mask. Whole point is nobody in that book is worth looking up to. Loved the pirate comic side story. Liked it more than the main plot honestly. Pacing's a slog. Had to push through the middle. Space squid's stupid but it's Alan Moore's stupid idea so I respect it. Movie ending is cleaner. Flat out.

jana11913d ago

Read an interview with Alan Moore where he said he wrote Watchmen to deconstruct superheroes, not celebrate them. That Rorschach character is supposed to be a paranoid lunatic, not a hero you root for. The pacing drags in places though, especially the whole pirate comic within the comic part. I got through it on my second try after a year sitting on my shelf. Still think the movie ending works better than the book's giant space squid.