Ever since I saw the trailer for Watchmen, I’ve been curious about the graphic novel. People told me it was great, but I never got around to reading it… until this week.

And it is just about as great as everyone says it is.

I borrowed a copy of the graphic novel from a friend, and I had trouble putting it down to go about my regular holiday duties. The first couple of issues are riveting – they just draw you in. Although I wasn’t quite as thrilled with all of the later issues individually, I was driven to keep reading to see how the story resolved itself.

Masked Adventurers, Not Superheroes

 One of the things I like about the Watchmen world is that (almost) all of the superheroes are just plain human.  They each have their gifts and talents, but with the exception of Dr. Manhattan no one has super-powers.

This is what always drew me to characters like Batman and the Punisher.  Other characters – X-Men, Superman, Spiderman – are cool.  No doubt.  But there’s something really intense and intriguing about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

There’s a Sense of Time

Another thing that sets Watchmen apart, in my eyes, is that there’s a sense of time and history.

A lot of major comic series have spanned decades. Yet the same characters continue, and time just passes incidentally. It seems like time is ignored, and there’s no effort to create a coherent, long-term “history” of what’s happening in the world of, say, the X-Men.

Watchmen doesn’t suffer this problem, in part, because it was written in twelve short issues.  There’s no need to incorporate hundreds of issues into one coherent story.  Yet the book does present a larger picture, a real history of the world.

The story spans two generations and some forty years, and you really get a sense of what changes over that time. People retire, people die. Society changes, and so does it’s view about superheroes.

Things are not static, and it isn’t taken for granted that the future will be anything like the present.

Was the Ending Too Abrupt?

This is my only concern with the story. It seems like it could have gone on for 16, 20, 24 issues without trouble.

The early issues pulled me in, but there didn’t seem to be a lot of story development. Things moved slowly.  Rorshach uncovered a few clues, and they slowly pieced together. The real interest came from learning more about the characters in this world.

In the last three or four episodes, though, the plot speeds to a conclusion. The ultimate plot is uncovered and resolved in the last two issues.

This part could have used some more development, in my opinion. This may have been necessitated by the choices that the characters made, though.

Had Dan and Jon acted differently in the end, there could have been a longer, more drawn out conclusion. However, as it was, the steam let out quick and there was no where else to go.

Will the Movie Be as Good?

Good question. The first trailer I saw looked cool. Mysterious, thrilling. The second one looked a little more cheasy.

Can’t say that I’m sure it’ll be a blockbuster, but I hope it is. With a couple months left until release (March 2009?), I can’t wait to go see it.

This is certainly a topic I plan on revisiting.  I’ll probably get my own copy of the graphic novel for Christmas, and after I read through it a second and/or third time I’ll have some more concrete thoughts to share.  First impression of the book, though, is awesome.