Wabba. Weebba. Wubba. Watchmen.
So. We went shoe and sock shopping (new sneakers, yay! new Mary Jane-type shoes, yay! new fun and silly socks, yay!), and then we went to the bookstore, and I got a copy of Watchmen. And then I sat down and I read it. And then I staggered around making vague noises as my brain tried to process everything.
I knew what was going to happen in some detail, which possibly took away from the first read but also let me slow down and take everything in.
It's weird, because I like comics so much, and because my favorite character is who he is, reading this, and seeing characters I know and love through a glass, darkly. It's strange, because while it's the comic-book deconstruction, it's also loving, in a way. The way you can pull characters apart and expose their deepest flaws to the world without loving them any less.
Watchmen is dark, yes, darker than I usually like, because I want to believe that people are, that humanity is, fundamentally decent.
But.
This story is older than I am. When this story was written, people could say, "That could never really happen."
Reading it in 2008, I don't have that luxury. I know it already did.
Worse, I know that by comparison I would almost prefer this to what really happened. I know that I can only wish that when it did happen it had saved the world, had ended the war instead of beginning it. I know that I can only wish we got an ending that happy.
I'll say that again: I wish reality had as close to a happy ending as this comic book.
Yeah.
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.
I knew what was going to happen in some detail, which possibly took away from the first read but also let me slow down and take everything in.
It's weird, because I like comics so much, and because my favorite character is who he is, reading this, and seeing characters I know and love through a glass, darkly. It's strange, because while it's the comic-book deconstruction, it's also loving, in a way. The way you can pull characters apart and expose their deepest flaws to the world without loving them any less.
Watchmen is dark, yes, darker than I usually like, because I want to believe that people are, that humanity is, fundamentally decent.
But.
This story is older than I am. When this story was written, people could say, "That could never really happen."
Reading it in 2008, I don't have that luxury. I know it already did.
Worse, I know that by comparison I would almost prefer this to what really happened. I know that I can only wish that when it did happen it had saved the world, had ended the war instead of beginning it. I know that I can only wish we got an ending that happy.
I'll say that again: I wish reality had as close to a happy ending as this comic book.
Yeah.
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.