Watchmen

What even did I just read....

This is not a book for someone looking for a casual or fun read. This is a book that will make you think and reconsider your opinions at every turn. For a graphic novel, there is huge walls of text in the speech bubbles and multiple story lines going on at once, between the different heroes, a comic book hero (yes within a comic book), and the regular people on the street. The text make be difficult for older readers or people with sight problems to read unless an e-book version will enlarge the pictures.

All of the story lines and points of view make the story hard to follow along with, so the reader has to be dedicated to the novel and not let their attention wander. The plot is set up for the thinkers to solve a mystery while also pondering the state of the world in this comic and how it may reflect the world we live in. So, this is a great graphic novel to teach with.

The art is in the old superhero style, but with muted and dull colors. These aren't colors to draw in reluctant readers, but they do set the tone for the bleak setting. There are also usually nine panels per page, which makes the pictures smaller, yet not lacking in detail. There is massive amounts on each page within these small panels, some without text too, so readers much be prepared to pay attention. At the end of each chapter, or issue, there are special articles, chapters from made up books, or other things which provide background information about what is going or characters.

The characters are all dynamic in their own way with no one being completely good or completely bad and having their own moral codes.

Personally, I started out liking the story and curious about where things were going, but after 20% in I was bored with no idea of the point of the story. I found the text to be long-winded and at times annoying. The characters were hard to relate to since everyone seemed quite extreme in their morals or what they thought in the good v. bad debate.