Review: Watchmen

Alan Moore cited the work of William Burroughs as his greatest influence in the writing of Watchmen, but Watchmen's structure reminds me more immediately of the works of Ginsberg or Nabokov: Watchmen is symmetrical, not just beginning-to-end, but also in its iconography, in which sets of symbols seem to collapse into and expand out of each other like the crenellations of a Mandelbrot fractal.

Briefly put, Watchmen asks the question, "What would happen if superheroes existed in the real world?" far more seriously than any other work. In traditional comics, superheroes are usually paired against villains with powers of a similar magnitude but, in reality, would masked vigilantes be likely to restrict their policing activities to beating down the unambiguously and flamboyantly villainous?

What if, as in the case of the Watchmen character Rorschach, a superhero felt that drug abuse, prostitution, and homosexuality were society's biggest threats? What if, as with fellow Watchmen hero Ozymandias, philanthropy seemed a more effective way to mitigate the world's ills than beating up thugs?

Watchmen also probes the possible political ramifications of superhero activity. In the universe of Superman, the activities of the Man of Steel seem to have little to no impact on international politics, while, in Watchmen, approximate Superman analog Dr. Manhattan wildly tips the scales of power by providing the United States with a mascot who can fly, walk through walls, and stop bullets.

Another facet of more plausible superhero behavior the book postulates is the possibility that some masked vigilantes might have chosen their profession in order to find a pretense under which to vent hidden sadistic impulses. The militaristic Watchmen hero named the Comedian best embodies this idea, using his U.S. government sponsorship to commit acts of violence above the law.

The softer and more vulnerable side of the superhero is also shown by Watchmen through the character of Nite Owl. He uses his vast wealth and technical expertise to fight crime, but the daring to run through gunfire does not come naturally to him, perhaps making him the most heroic character of all.

In the universe of Watchmen, superheroes, after enjoying widespread public admiration during the Eisenhower era, gradually came to be percieved as social misfits. The only heroes still operating publically are Rorschach, who has no regard for the approval of others and Dr. Manhattan and the Comedian, both of whom have the sponsorship of the U.S. government.

The other principal question that Alan Moore asks through Watchmen is, what is the most effective way to do good? Each of the book's protagonists quests along a different path for a solution. (Significant poilers follow. If you have not read the book, I would recommend not reading this article further.)

Nite Owl and Rorschach seem to believe that physically restraining evildoers is the best way to improve the human condition. Dr. Manhattan, on the other hand, with his exceptionally wide-ranging knowledge, seems to hardly believe that the improvement of human life is possible. The Comedian, somewhat similarly, believes with certainly that humans are inherently barbarous, and that salvation is unattainable.

Ozymandias's approach to the problem of international disunity and the nuclear threat is what covertly underlies the book's plot. Ozymandias plans to traumatize the nations of the world into peace through creating the illusion of an extraterrestrial attack on Earth showing, despite his liberal pedigree, a remarkably fascistic philosophical touch: to him, safety is paramount, and safety trumps both truth and freedom. Conversely, though Rorschach is a self-avowed ultra-ultra-right-winger, his actions show that he values abstract ideals like truth over the establishment of security and the perpetuation of stability.

Watchmen's analysis of these issues is deep. The characters are unique, complex, and identifiable. It's one of my favorite books, and has few notable flaws.

The character of Malcolm Long (a.k.a. the portly black psychiatrist from the chapter "The Abyss Gazes Also") seemed too simply-drawn to be plausible, and too easily pulled into Rorschach's web of nihilism. Silk Spectre II was more thinly-drawn than her male counterparts. The tone is, also, sometimes overly heavy-handed.

Nevertheless, for any reader seeking a full, sincere, and original exploration of fundamental philosophical dilemmas wrapped in a brightly-colored superhero get-up, there is no better recommendation than Watchmen.