The Watchmen is one of the most popular graphic novels of all time. It was published in 1986-1987 as a series of comics written by Alan Moore, British author of V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Swamp Thing, and many others. In 2009, a film adaptation was released by director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, 300, Sucker Punch, Man of Steel).
Incidentally, I have found that the primary indication of the quality of a film is its director, followed by its writer. If you enjoyed any of the above, you will enjoy The Watchmen. The dialogue, imagery, and cinematography are excellent.
Cold War Alternate History
Leonid Brézhnev and Fidel Castro
The Watchmen is set in the 1980s in an alternate history universe. Richard Nixon was elected president 5 times. The US and USSR sit on the brink of nuclear annihilation, and the world is more technologically advanced than present day earth.
Frustrated by increasing crime, corruption, and the ineffectiveness of the justice system, a group of vigilante cops formed a team of eight superheroes known as The Minutemen. The Nixon administration passes a law banning the wearing of costumes in public, designed to end the actions of the extrajudicial Minutemen and other superheroes.
All comply with the new law, except Rorschach. One by one, members of the Minutemen are murdered, and Rorschach sets out to warn the others and investigate the cause of the murders. The film opens with a monologue by Rorschach commenting on the depraved condition of society:
This city’s afraid of me. I’ve seen it’s true face, the streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood. And when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumlated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up around their waist. And all the whores and politicians will look up and shout “save us”. And I’ll whisper “no”
Rorschach
Rorschach, uncompromising idealist
Rorschach is a principled idealist. He witnesses a brutal crime one day which turns him into a jaded extremist, who gives zero fucks about the law, political correctness, or nuance, and sees things in absolutes, right or wrong. He continues:
Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into bloody hell. All those liberals and intellecutals and smooth talkers. And all of a sudden no one can think of anything to say. Beneath me, this awful city, it screams like an abbatoir of retarted children and the night reeks of fornication and bad consciences.
Attempts To Revive The Vigilante Watchmen
Night Owl II, prefers living in the Matrix
Rorschach’s first visit is to the character Night Owl II, who declines to take up the life of crimefighting again. Night Owl tries to reason with Rorschach, pleading, “Nobody knows who you are. You can give it up. Try to have a normal life.” Rorschach’s response:
When you walk down the street in a city dying of rabies, past the human cockroaches talking about their heroin and their child pornography, do you really feel normal?
Rorschach is frustrated that others are content to live out their lives rejecting the red pill, taking the path of least resistance, and following the authority’s law, right or wrong. After failing to convince Night Owl, he mutters,
“First visit of evening fruitless. Feel slightly depressed. Soon there will be war. Millions will perish in sickness and misery. Why does one death matter against so many? Because there is good and evil. And evil must be punished. Even in the face of armageddon. I will not compromise in this.”
The Comedian
The Comedian, unprincipled, out of control vigilante
The death that Rorschach is investigating is that of The Comedian. The film begins with him at home in his apartment, in retirement, but with identity still unknown publicly, being brutally murdered. The Comedian is a twisted, sick individual, who caused the original Minutemen to fall apart. He abuses his power, and follows no guiding morals or principles, other than whatever The Comedian wants to do in this moment, he will do.
He reacts to the depraved world standing on the edge of destruction with spite and disgust, commenting, “What happened to the American Dream? It came true. You’re looking at it.” He enjoys violence and being a vigilante more than the principles behind it. He will attack and hurt innocent civilians without giving it a second thought.
While the two characters are incredibly different in their outlook and behavior, Rorschach can relate to the Comedian.
“[The Comedian] understood. Humans are savage in nature. No matter how much you try to dress it up to disguise it. [The Comedian] saw society’s true face, chose to be a parody of it, a joke. I heard a joke once. Man goes to doctor, says he’s depressed, life seems harsh, and cruel, says he feels all alone in threatening world. Doctor says treatment is simple. The great clown Pogliacci is in town. Go see him. Should cheer you up. Man bursts into tears. But doctor, he says. I am Pogliacci.
Dr. Manhattan
Dr. Manhattan, all powerful (penis edited in Puritan (USA) domestic release)
Dr. Manhattan is a difficult character to describe, and one of my favorites. He is an incredibly powerful superhuman who was altered by an accident with nuclear radiation. He is the only character with superpowers. He is almost god-like, possessing incredible wisdom and power.
He has a frame of steel, which is tested by Silk Spectre, to an entertaining and cool-as-ice resopnse. He grows increasingly detached and uninterested in humanity, bordering on apathetic as he sees the immorality and lack of logic in human actions. He, along with the Comedian, is one of two characters who cooperate with the American government, and Dr Manhattan is responsible for the highly advanced technology of the 1980s in the film, which is beyond that of today. As Manhattan states, “We’re all puppets. I’m just a puppet who can see the strings.”
He becomes a thoughtful philosopher, caring less and less about Earth and humanity, and more and more detached and unrelatable.
“They claim their labors are to build a heaven. Yet their heaven is populated with horrors. Perhaps the world is not made. Perhaps nothing is made. A clock without a craftsman. It’s too late. Always has been. Always will be. Too late.”
Rorschach’s Philosophy
Rorschach directly confronts a member of the establishment, and spells out his utter disgust:
You’re fat. Wealthy. Liberal sensibilities. What you call compassion. Wanting to understand the guilty, this rotting society, what it calls rehabilitation, nothing short of compromise… You want to know about Rorschach? Once a man has seen society’s black underbelly, he can never turn his back on it, never pretend, like you do, that it doesn’t exist, no matter who orders him to look the other way. We don’t do this thing because we’re permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we’re compelled.
Eventually Rorschach is able to convince one of the other Watchmen that the only way to get results is through his more aggressive methods. You forgot how we do things. You’ve gone too soft. Too trusting. Especially with women.
Rorschach assembles a small team to fight back, and without giving too much away, those that cooperate with the corrupt establishment are not rewarded, but rather brutally punished for their cooperation in working for the side of evil by their masters, while others face retribution from the remaining members of the Watchmen.
The film is very much a classic tale of good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, but told in a complex manner, where there are no absolutes. There is plenty of sharp dialogue, black comedy, fight scenes and action, beautiful cinematography, lots of symbolism and visual details which make a rewatch enjoyable, and a three hour play length that never drags on (note: see the director’s cut for the full effect)
Major Themes
Not your typical comic book story
1. Means Vs. Ends
The ending of the film raises the powerful philosophical question of whether the ends justify the means. The belief of one character that
“Humanity’s savage nature will inevitably lead to global annihilation” seems logical, but the moral question remains of what to do with this problem.
2. Corruption Of Power
Another theme is the corrupting force of power. The US government greedily leverages The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan and uses them readily to benefit its political goals. This reminded me of Operation Paperclip and the co-opting of Nazi scientists in order to achieve nuclear and rocket dominance in furtherance of military goals.
3. Technology
There is the theme of man’s technology outpacing its moral, ethical, and spiritual means to understand and leverage technology. With different leadership, the world could have easily ended in the 1960s. Watchmen presents a world where this is an even more serious threat.
4. Absolutism
Absolutism vs practicality: Is complete dedication to an ideology courageous and bold, or futile and ineffective?
5. The Noble Lie
Finally, there is the theme of Aristotle’s noble lie. Is truth of utmost importance? Or are there times when a lie told for the greater good can be justified?
The film is very thought provoking, and has many parallels to the neomasculine movement. The ending is not a typical Hollywood happy ending, and will leave the viewer with many questions and conflicting ideas.
Read More: You’ve Already Seen One Of The Greatest Red Pill Movies Ever Made
Rorschach was always my favorite. When this movie first came out I had a blind hatred for Comedian (being the beta I was, I had to hate him after he tried raping Silk Specter), but now I think he may be the most compelling character. Scum, but very well written.
****************************Spoiler Alert****************
The Comedian was just honest.
Save Rorshach, everyone else in that movie was a liar. Manhattan lied to save people’s feelings and to calm their fears. Nightowl II lied to just be a nice guy. Ozymandias lied to deceive everyone about his plans. Silk Spectre (I&II) lied for whatever reasons they could come up with. The Comedian was brutally honest about everything from his thoughts to his actions. That may be why he had to go first.
Come to think of it the, amongst the “heroes”, the most deceitful people were the only ones who lived through the end.
Ireeeeeeeeeene!
“What are you waiting for? DO IT!”
Hard to believe Rorschache is played by Kelly Leak:
Yeah, possibly my favorite part of the movie. Even the snow had stopped falling during that part.
Looks like he had a receding hairline at age 12, lol.
I’m pretty sure he played Freddy in the Nightmare reboot. Was also in the new Robocop reboot. The guy is pretty good actor.
Did YOU ever bat .841? Didnt think so.
“Save Rorshach, everyone else in that movie was a liar. Manhattan lied to save people’s feelings and to calm their fears. Nightowl II lied to just be a nice guy. Ozymandias lied to deceive everyone about his plans. Silk Spectre (I&II) lied for whatever reasons they could
come up with. The Comedian was brutally honest about everything from his thoughts to his actions. That may be why he had to go first.”
If the Comedian was so “brutally honest” then he’d wouldn’t have been tormented when he discovered Ozy’s plan to destroy NYC to unite the world. Think 911 WTC attack, and the eventual destruction of Mystery Babylon (the entire NYC and all of America in WW III to birth the real New World Order under the Antichrist).
The Comedian is therefore like a military or CIA type or Neo-con who can see the growth of the police state in America and would think the real reasons for invading Iraq was oil, and Afghanistan was drugs and minerals, and be OK with that. However, he’d be totally oblivious to the Satanic plans within the plans, and when he discovers them he left crying like little girl, realizing everything he thought was real wasn’t.
Like the Comedian, the joke is on whoever is a fan of the Watchmen but doesn’t “get it.” He is however given the critical line about the American dream coming true.
http://i.stack.imgur.com/Zl0Tz.png
That’s a really important concept because America (and the entire “West” as separated from Orthodoxy in 1054) was founded under false ideals that have been carried to their logical but ruinous conclusions.
Moreover, the name “Watchmen” itself comes from the “Watchers” of the book of Enoch, the angels that were supposed to watch over man but many of whom became fallen angels. And the question “Who watches the Watchmen,” the answer is God, who allows all these things to happen by His permissive will for the unfolding of His purposes and grand design.
Watchmen creator, Alan Moore:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/alanmore2.jpg
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/11/alan-moore-talking-on-ma.html
“When I was much older I started to visit occult shops, but I felt that only I was rational. I felt other customers’ needs were emotional rather than intellectual; the need to have secret knowledge to liven up a dull personality.”
“When I was in my late 30s, I read about John Dee. He certainly was not an idiot. He sounded like a genius, a mathematician and the man who invented the concept of the British Empire in the reign of Elizabeth I after studying mythology. But he spent a lot of his time talking to beings he called ‘angels’. John Dee probably had to call them angels; people were always wanting to prove occultists were flammable.”
It was after reading about John Dee that Alan Moore decided to take magic seriously, but his declaration that he was a magician – on his 40th birthday after a bit too much to drink – didn’t seem to surprise any of his friends. “Most people didn’t bat an eyelid,” he said.
Deciding to follow through on his drunken announcement, Alan talked to his friend Steve Moore (no relation, despite the surname, but a fellow comic-writer and an occultist).
Alan said that Steve, who honoured the moon goddess Selene, recommended choosing a god or goddess “because magic is an imaginary territory, so you need an imaginary friend”.
Steve told Alan: “Either choose a god, or let one choose you.”
In January 1994, at Steve’s house, Steve asked him if he had seen the Greek snake god Glykon and showed him a picture of a statue that had been discovered in the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Tomis, in Constanta, Romania.
He said: “It was a beautiful snake with a humanoid head and a face a bit like Paris Hilton. It was comical, beautiful, awesome – and smug. I thought I could relate to that god.”
http://thefishshow.com/Archive/Demon-Ozy-02.jpg
Quality post. Wasnt the book of Enoch excised from the Bible in the middle ages?
Excellent post.
No. It was never considered Scripture, or inspired. It’s a first century BC pseudepigraphal (not written by the cliamed author). It does not appear in any of the Biblical book lists of the early church fathers. I think only the Ethiopian Bible contains Enoch. Enoch himself is mentioned briefly in Genesis as “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” implying that he never actually bodily died, but was taken up physically, and still alive, by God before the flood.
Some claim that Jude quotes it, but their are some differences in quotes, and second temple Jews actually did believe in an Angelic/Watcher/Elohim rebellion against god by taking human women as wives. Perhaps it is eluded to in Genesis 6, maybe not. Something strange is certainly going on there.
The Fallen Ones are also mentioned in Genesis, as the procreators of the Raphilim, Nephilim, etc… as bastard sons of the “Watchers/Fallen who laid with women” So it would seem that there is a cohesion that was lost for the need of Enochian scripture (although i have yet to read it)
Yeah there certainly something going on there. Have you read Michael Heisers work? He’s a biblical scholar who reads I think 10 ancient languages. A lot of his work talks about a divine council which God sits over, that then rebels. Not angles but other Elohim that seem to function on a higher level than Angels, but are subserviant to God himself. Its interesting stuff that incorperates the things you mention.
The Comedian took his name from viewing life and the world as a big (sick) joke. He gets the joke and just DNGAF. He is largely a homicidal psychopath who who displays a sliver of humanity only twice in the story. I don’t know if being an impulsive, cynical loudmouth qualifies him as being “honest”.
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Rorshach is an uncompromising ideologue whose crusade for justice does not leave enough time to even take a shower.
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Dr. Manhattan becomes basically amoral and detached from his humanity while still having certain emotional frailties.
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Silk Spectre II is a product of what amounts to chid abuse, having been trained from birth to be a vigilante.
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Ozymandius is framed as some sort of liberal who thinks he is smarter than everyone else and has no qualms about saving the world from itself through manipulation and deceit while grandly botching things.
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Night Owl II is the blandest of the characters who comes across as the most normal and likeable. . . until you think about it a bit.
Great movie the Watchmen. Rorschach was my favorite character too. Love the prison break scene….
Written almost 30 years ago!
The original Dark Knight comic written and drawn by Frank Miller is amazing as well.
Grim stuff written during the go-go 80s…
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Cant beat the writing of miller or moore. Chris Clairmont and Neil Gaiman were good too
That wasn’t your best day…
6. The few for the many. Destroying NY and everybody in it to create world peace.
I am Rorschach.
Don’t forget the animated version!
The Watchmen is a criminally underrated movie and Zack Snyder gets too much criticism for what he makes. Sucker punch had some great parts but on the whole it felt like something was missing.
Sucker Punch was awful. He wrote that himself- hes clearly not one.
Talented guy, and watchmen is a great film, but I was under the impression Alan Moore was a big leftie
He is, and probably meant for Nite Owl to be the character everyone rooted for. It just didn’t turn out that way.
Nite Owl couldn’t get it up with the sexy Silk Spectre in both the movie and the novel. I don’t see that as a trait one would write in for the hero. What I liked about Watchmen is that there is no one character that is the “good guy”. Like real life, there are good and bad traits about each of them. And so I find myself admiring the determination of Rorshack, the wisdom of Dr. Manhattan, and the vision of Ozymandius, but unable to ‘root’ for any one of them. Much like real heros.
He couldn’t get it up when he was Daniel the lovestruck beta loser.
After he became Night Owl the alpha ass-kicker, he nailed the crap out of her.
He is now, but was he then? I dont know.
He definitely is one now- I read an interview with him where he trashes Frank Miller, calls him a fascist.
v for vendetta was pretty leftie too. I think I recall he might be a feminist
He and his wife make “feminist porn” for a living. That’s what they call it.
nasty
Great. so, based on this, and what Unorthodox posted above, he went off the rez a few decades ago
thats confusing, to me v for vendetta is showing a future government where the leftists won.
it shows Britain as a fascist state. I think he had in mind an extreme right wing rather extreme left wing government. The reality is there would be little practical difference.
The reality is lost on him then lol
As I’ve seen commented here before, V for Vendetta constantly sets up homosexuals as the oppressed victim class in that world, despite the comic apparently having little reference to that. Not only that, but I noticed that the movie often deliberately states that the dictator is “deeply religious” and shows a Bishop (?) as being a perverted enabler of such things. It’s meant to be leftie porn, but I think only conservatives actually understood the real-world application.
Is your name an Ace Combat reference?
Alan Moore is a notorious leftie and a bit of a cuck – his wife left him for another woman, taking their daughters with her , and he was completely upportive of that. Given the references in V for Vendetta to gays as an oppressed class, he must have been glad to liberate his wife from his patriarchal oppressiveness. Sometimes politics trumps sense.
Real men wear superhero underwear but we all know that the KINGS WEAR ROBES:
http://www.seducingwithstyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/heffner1_narrowweb__300x4250.jpg
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http://coloclothing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pope4_1671332a.jpg
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http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bj0fdAQOI98/TCiga7hbufI/AAAAAAAAB8g/uBN9i93H51Q/s1600/byrdkkk.jpg
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https://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/1381439539_Ghostface%20Bathrobe.jpg
And of course the KING OF KINGS
http://www.divinerevelations.info/pics/jesus_christ_image_031.jpg
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Amen to the King of Kings.
Halleluyah!
How do you have a kkk guy and a black guy? I’ll give you Hugh Hefner
The black guy is NYC gangsta rapper ‘Ghostface Killah’ net worth 20 mil. The klansman is clearly former WVa senator Robert Byrd. No, the men in robes may not all agree but they’re all kings in their own sense. You might say that they all have earned their respective robes. The last man in robe knows them all. Then there’s this little fella:
http://coloradomoms.com/wp-content/uploads/DSC_0769-e1348071022451.jpg
I doubt he’s ‘earned’ that robe as of yet, but he does have good taste in robes. Maybe it’s just a coincidence.
What’s he smoking on?
We all know what the emperor wears.
“And of course the KING OF KINGS”
Heterodox pictures tend to make the Lord look like a “nice guy,” in fact, too nice to be afraid of.
Orthodox Jesus knows what you’ve done, is disgusted by it, and makes it clear that you better be repenting before your time runs out.
http://commons.orthodoxwiki.org/images/0/04/ChristChora.JPG
This from ‘True Belief Comics’: Jesus beating the crap out of Darwin:
http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lk7wviL1VU1qj07b2o1_500.jpg
And this piece nicely framed will bring the final touches of warmth to any family room:
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http://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/2027506/81584519.jpg
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The movie and especially the graphic novel are worth the time. Lots of complexity is lost in the film adaptation though because of the medium. You’ll need to read the source two or three times to really get everything.
It was really amazing how much stuff the novel covered in such a cohesive fashion.
reading the graphic novel is worth it for “tales of the black freighter” alone.
I loved this movie. I liked it better than “The Dark Knight”. (I think both came out within a few months of each other)
Its the greatest comic book flick of all time- slightly ahead of The Dark Knight.
Hell, the opening credits are better than most movies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVUDdQS2UxA
It’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen…
Has so many layers and the cinematography/artistic directing is completely its own.
At no point in the film does it break the narrative or come across as cheezy. It’s completely believable the whole way through despite it being a fantastical sci fi.
Watchmen gets my thumbs up.
I think it’s better than The Dark Knight… Dark Knight has Ledger’s timeless interpretation of the Joker, but Watchmen has more depth and a more powerful climax.
Its better than Superman starring you??
Maybe… But my original soundtrack is still the best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toyAfS_1x9s
Something else wrong with modern movies- they cheap out on people who can create an amazing score. Danny Elfman is great too
I need to go back and re-watch the movie again.
I remember just absolutely hating this movie when I went to go see it in theaters even though I’m a huge fan of the graphic novel.
I also wasn’t a subscriber to my current neo-masculine philosophical ideals so I might find a new appreciation for it.
I think thats your girlfriend talking…
Yes. So much was conveyed without even one line of dialogue.
Elfman is a genius. That he’s libertarian and on our side is simply gravy.
The most overrated comic ever produced. Had good points here and there, but it’s not the MacBeth of comics it’s made out to be. Like Norman Lear’s Archie Bunker, Moore’s Rorschach was supposed to make the readers mock the right wing, not sympathize with them. And like Bunker (and also like Ron Swanson, the Parks and Rec uber-Libertarian that was designed to be a mockery of Libertarians, not to promote them favorably) I have a pet pop psychology theory that these characters were the subconscious expressions of their writers inner right wing reactionary, a part themselves that they didn’t want to acknowledge to the liberal crowd they chose to align with.
John Williams is pretty expensive, and Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner have left us. Not many first class film score guys left.
I keep seeing people say that, and yet i keep seeing Elfman aligning himself with a whole raft of leftist causes. And he married a Fonda, to boot.
I see your point about Rorschach being more of a lampoon of conservative ideals, since his extremist methods of dealing with criminals/degenerates and his reflections on society and liberalism in general mirrors leftist paranoia and propaganda of the ignorant conservative, that persists to this day.
The great irony though is that with the growing number of young adults (especially men) shifting to political conservatism and cultural libertarianism, characters like Rorschach, Ron Swanson and Archie Bunker are now becoming models and not mockeries. Put The Watchman in the hands of most guys today and they will immediately relate to Rorschach’s character, being completely fed up with the ces – pool their once great society has become.
I don’t imagine John Williams is cheap, but is he really very expensive when compared to the multimillion dollar salaries of the stars? Basically every movie Williams has ever scored is a classic, and the music even more memorable than the main actor (think Jaws, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, etc.)
Don’t forget the inherent left-wing paranoia over Nuclear Armageddon between the US and USSR.
I remember being nearly bored to tears while watching this movie but it was also when I was pretty blue pill so I might have to give it another shot. So…pretty much same boat as you.
I had to watch this movie 3 or 4 times to fully appreciate. The first-time around I was expecting a super bad-guy to show up and for them to save the day. This is much deeper stuff.
I recommend the directors cut – which my local library had on blu-ray luckily.
No mention of the switched ending? in the comic book, Ozymandias uses (spoiler) manufactured alien threat to unite the world (causing major havoc in the process). In the movie, Dr Manhattan gets the blame.
My theory is that some studio executive thought it better to banish a god than to unite against an external threat from outside.
Honestly, I thought that the movie version of the ending was better. The idea of framing Dr. Manhattan makes more sense to me as it is a more believable threat, more immediate, and longer lasting. The idea of the alien certainly worked, but using blue boy strikes me as being much more practical, fitting in with Ozymandias’s supposed intellect.
movie ending was better.
The first people who will get what is coming to them is going to be liberals who question those who man the wall that keeps the state of nature from overtaking society.
The collapse is coming. If you don’t think it is then you are a fool. Prepare now.
You couldn’t pay me to watch that movie again. A small part of my heterosexuality died the first time I saw it. Way, way way too much dangling blue penis.
I hate to tell you this, but if that is what you got out of the movie, you may need to reexamine your sexuality…
After watching that movie…..I did.
you get that same feeling when u stare at a mirror?
No, my aversion is only to other men’s penis. Guess you don’t have that problem.
I absolutely adore Watchmen, coming from a guy who normally looks down on geek culture. The director’s cut has an extra scene where Night Owl I dies that is so beautiful, I could cry.
Rorshach and Comedian I most identify, but often I feel like Dr Manhattan, tires of the insignificant problems of people who are only looking for their own ego validation.
I absolutely adore Watchmen, coming from a guy who normally looks down on geek culture. The director’s cut has an extra scene where Night Owl I dies that is so beautiful, I could cry.
Rorshach and Comedian I most identify with, but often I feel like Dr Manhattan, tired of the insignificant problems of people who are only looking for their own ego validation.
Also, as much as I appreciated this article, going to nitpick and say that I’m 95% sure that it was Plato who taught the noble lie, not Aristotle. But Aristotle was the better philosopher in general.
From comics that I’m not familiar with, not growing up with them, Hellboy was rather cool, in the cinema, and by that I mean Hellboy II. I sided with the “bad guys” nearly the entire film. No, the entire film, I sided with the “bad guys” and against the traitor cunt sister.
Never heard of the Watchmen, never read them, never saw them. On the other hand, I put 200 rounds through a KSG this week. So it’s give and take.
It’s worth checking out. It’s one of those cultural milestones that transcends the medium. Watchmen put comics on the literature map. In the layout and execution it also basically broke every rule of traditional superhero genre. Gotta do something after the range…
200 rounds of 12 gauge buck and/or slug puts you in a world of pain for a couple of days. I often go to my books, or at least browsing from the iPad for a week or so after a Saturday shooting.
I took an interest in Batman and Spiderman as a kid. That was about the extent of it though.
Damn. A box .30-06 and I’m sore for a few days. I actually wear a shoulder now when I’m shooting.
I’m with ya. Never read a lot of comics as a kid, collected some but wasn’t that into it. That said, I love reading them now. All digital and everything looks great on a tablet. I’ve been reading Night Force lately, a underrated DC title:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Night_Force_(New_Earth)
http://secretsun.blogspot.com/2015/09/hey-kids-weaponized-black-magic-all-in.html
200 rounds with a shoulder pad. 200 without would be murder. I can do around 60 without a pad, but that leaves me shoulder a bright cherry red for a couple of days and seriously hurts.
Do you reload for shotgun?
Actually no, I don’t. I should I guess, all things taken into consideration. I do reload rifle and pistol, but shotgun has always been so affordable that it’s been hard for me to justify a new press for shells.
Shotgun can be pretty fun to reload, there are tons of types of buckshot and slug molds out there, I got basically every kinda Buckshot mold from 0000 (yes that’s Quadruple ought) down to T shot, I’ve also got slug molds that range from the standard Lee mold 1 oz slug, to custom made 800 grain slug molds (Incase the dinosaurs should return?), How’s that KSG treating Ya ? Is it a nice Gun? Ever hear of the DP-12?
Here’s another good look at the philosophy of the Watchmen, from the Blackwell series on pop culture and philosophy.
http://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Philosophy-Rorschach-Blackwell-Culture/dp/0470396857/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444532856&sr=8-1&keywords=Watchmen+and+Philosophy
It’s an allegorical story about the CIA and the alternative world they’d like to live in. Dr. Manhattan is an obvious metaphor for nuclear weapons. The comedian kills JFK in the opening credits of the film just like the CIA killed him in real life. The CIA think they’re a bunch of masked superhero patriot “watchmen,” but no one is watching them.
I detest super hero crime fighter stories because they elevate violent crime to something logical, rational and white, when, in my observation and experience, most violent crime is just black people acting stupid or senselessly selfish.
Good heavens. Watchmen both the graphic novel and movie are nihilistic Leftist propaganda.
Not sure if anyone here has reported, but HBO is in talks with DC and Zack Snyder to produce a Watchmen Series. http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/watchmen-series-hbo-zack-snyder-1201607567/
If it gets greenlite, there are a lot of areas that they could explore that were left out of the movie.
Probably just adapting the “Before Watchmen” comics. Which are shit.
I watched the film when it released with my then girlfriend. Still fairly Blue Pill minded at the time mind you. The experience of the film made me buy & read the trade paperback collection. I was even more impressed with the literary depth of the novel. Though, I still find the idea of a multi tentacled gene engineered creature a tad ridiculous. I’m glad the film didn’t go that route.. The Black Freighter storyline running in parallel with the main one in the graphic novel was inspired. One of the best literary investments I’ve ever made in conclusion.
The girlfriend is now a distant ex but the graphic novel & Director’s cut DVD is like an old friend I visit from time to time.
The philosophical message of one of the shittiest, most unwatchable movies I’ve ever seen? Nah, I’ll skip this one.
I collected some comic books (Teen Titans, X-Men, and a few other titles) in the mid to late ’80’s but never read Watchmen when it came out. The trailer for the movie looked so cool that I investigated it and bought the graphic novel before seeing it at the theatre.
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One thing that doesn’t come across to Millenials who see the movie is the pervasive sense of nuclear paranoia that was in the atmosphere in 1986. At that time I was a corporal in the reserve forces and weekly, monthly, and all summer we trained to defeat the “Fantasians” who had come out of the Arctic Circle and we’re making a drive towards Toronto. At least once a week there was a newspaper article discussing the nuclear threat. One showed a map of Toronto and described the effects of a one megatonne bomb being dropped on the CN Tower. Movies in and around that time included Wargames and The Day After. If you were into games then maybe you were playing Morrow Project, Twilight 2000 or Supremacy. Basically, anyone born after the release of the original comic has no conscious recollection of a world without the USSR. It is something that is lost on this generation of moviegoers.
That’s how we have a disgusting commie openly running for President.
I’m Canadian so I am just an observer. But really, WTF were you thinking to give Obama a second term?
Still the best comic movie, IMHO.
Best comic hero movie ever. Only one that really made any sense. Who can fight a god or a man fast enough to catch a bullet? But how can they fight human nature?
Rorschach was the best badass ever.
“You’re Locked In Here With Me!”
You left out Ozymandais. He more than anything represents means to an end. The Comedian perhaps influences him and is subsequently horrified when he finds out what he has planned (which is why the Comedian is murdered). That is too much even for him. Wonder what the writer of this post’s thoughts are on that?
…well, the boys on this site must not be paying much attention to who Alan Moore is or to his ultra left-wing politics, or else you’d all be clawing your eyes out in impotent rage at the very mention of his works.