10 August 2009

Book Review: Watchmen


Title: Watchmen
Author: Alan Moore
Published: 1995 Pages: 416
Genre: Graphic Novel
Rating: 5/5

Buy  |  Borrow  |  Accept  |  Avoid

Watchmen was my first foray into graphic novels, and I was immediately hooked. I found the characters fascinating and intricate, the illustrations vivid and evocative, and the plotline depressing as hell.... To explain: Moore wrote this in 1985 but it could just as easily been today with minor changes. Different players but the same game. It's a mad world. It always has been and heaven help us, it always will be. At least that's what it feels like sometimes.

Moore creatively intertwines various stories, highlighting not only our "heroes" but also ordinary people on a street corner. This juxtaposition helps the reader see the hero, the villain, and the victim in everyman.

The ninth requirement for Jenners' Take a Chance Challenge asks participants to write a poetic review using three different forms of verse: haiku, limerick and free verse. Originally, I was going to use a book I read for the challenge, but I thought it would be more fun to write a review of Alan Moore's Watchmen in this form.

Disclaimer: I'm not a poet.

Morality is fluid
A world that is flawed
The human in the hero

There once was a man named Rorschach
Who knew he could never go back
The others copped out
Too filled up with doubt
So he had to pick up the slack

Then and now intertwine
As nuclear power becomes technological power
And Ozymandias becomes Thomas Gabriel
Rorschach is reborn in all our anti-heroes
Manhattan is all who could help but for a broken heart
Moore saw the present and the future
And the future in the present
We can but hope for change,
While we mourn for our loss,
And a World without Heroes. Amen.

7 comments:

  1. I love your poem! And I was very impressed with this book too.

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  2. Thanks Nymeth! I loved this book and I am so glad I read it because it opened up a whole new world of books for me!

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  3. kaye - Thanks! It was a lot of fun to write the review in this form.

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  4. Trisha - this is excellent! Great review, and great poetry. I am so glad I've found your blog! I'm going to link to this on my post. =)

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  5. Elizabeth - Thanks. I'm really not a poet or even a reader of poetry for that matter, but it was a lot of fun to write this.

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  6. I think you did a fantastic job with the poetry! I think your haiku is just wondrous! And rhyming Rorshach -- genius! I've heard about this graphic novel but never read it but it sounds like it has a lot of layers to it.

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  7. Jenners - You should definitely read this; it's absolutely wonderful.

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