"Watchmen". More than just a graphic novel

Watchmen is a very famous graphic novel written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons ‘collaboration in the drawings. It was published by DC comics in 1986, and even it was adapted to a film in 2009. Mainly, this novel shows us a darker world than the one we know surrounded by superheroes, heroes and villains. When I heard about watchmen at very first time was because the movie. To me was amazing to see that plot and variety of different heroes. After that I realized that this astonishing film was based on a graphic novel.

However, I am not interested in telling the story or going deeper in its plot. The point I would like to highlight is that to me there are many aspects about this novel that make it outstanding and that is the reason why those called my attention. The first one is that to me is the fact that Alan Moore show us a version of superheroes mostly different from the classical one. In this novel we can see how some masked heroes look for justice and fight crime despite being detested by the same people they protect. It is not the story of the muscular superhero saving the beautiful girl, it is a story deeper even complex at some point.

Another feature is the mixture of colors. If we compare for instance the film adaptation with the graphic novel itself, we can realize that there is a marked difference between them. The graphic novel uses a very limited range of colors that you could even underestimate the novel at the first glance. Nevertheless, this is not an impediment to realize that this is a masterpiece in the genre.

Another important aspect to me about Watchmen is that Alan Moore implies in his novel something that maybe we have not payed attention to in other genres or similar, such as comics. He, at some point in the novel, presents a scene where Walter Kovacs begs for having his "face" back. He mplies that his real face or identity is the version of him wearing the mask, being Rorschach. This means that heroes to some extent become in the hero itself. Thy kind of forgetting about their real identity, who they really are.

In conclusion, it is a fact that this graphic novel signified a before and after in the novel realm that we know. Its reception was so positive since it was published that even it is said that use of the term “graphic novel” to describe this kind of genre was due to this novel, the spectacular “Watchmen”

Sources

Moore, A. (1986). Watchmen. New York: DC Comics.