(http://tinyurl.com/5r7rya)
I wound up reading almost have of it last night. Pretty amazing to put it lightly. I entered with very little exposure to the graphic novel; the first time I heard about it was maybe 9 years ago in a History of Comics book I had but at the time the short synopsis didn't catch my eye. Then a few months ago I saw the trailer for the movie, which got me interested despite the ugly costumes, heh. In short I was able to not only be severely late to the party but also totally spoiler free with little knowledge on the story.
Anyway having started reading it I must say, it's definitely one of the best things I've picked up in a long time.
-I'm really liking the way the story is told from multiple POVs/flashbacks. It reminds me of Lost actually
-Also the files/excerpts at the end of each issue are great. The Dr. Manhattan one could be a fucking short story and be stunning by itself
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-Alternative history woohoo. I've binged over many WWII alternative history books and came up with some of my own (horrible) short stories, but the thought of a Nixon second (and third) term never crossed my mind. Not to mention a prolonged Vietnam conflict with a victorious conclusion.
I like the variety of the writing, thanks to a group of different characters with different personalities and psychological make up. From the almost noir-ish writing for Rorschach (who kinda reminds me of Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver) to the abstraction of Dr. Manhattan. And all this is vividly brought to life by some great art, with gritty coloring/inking.
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The Comedian is (was) badass, and I can't wait to find out what led to his death and also what led to his disillusionment, although I have an idea. Rorschach is pretty fuck awesome as well. And I want to see more Hooded Justice
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I'm at the part where Nite Owl and Rorschach are speeding to Viedt's secret layer in Antarctica.
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This is truly amazing on every level. Perhaps my favorite "moment" so far was the entire psychoanalysis of Rorschach, as well as him getting captured/set up in the first place. The revelation that he was the sandwich board end-of-the-world guy threw me off; I sort of expected that dude to be involved in the murders of the heroes, given his proximity to nearly every murder (or funeral). Without spoiling shit, what do you guys think about that? Was it simply an "alter ego" for Rorschach, a way for him to publically express his view on society?
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While the final confrontation and Veidt's initial exposition were pretty awesome...the plot kinda struck me as a bit too crazy. If you're going to introduce the suspense of belief with nuclear experiments creating a god man, or a mere mortal catching bullets...why resort to the mass creation of a fake alien by a bunch of writers and artists? The motive was definitely interesting...but come on, seriously? Why not just go full distinguished mentally-challenged fellow and introduce a real alien. But like I said, ultimately this odd choice was saved by Veidt's ultimate plan. Finally, a mastermind "villain" who takes Nike's advice: just do it. For awhile I thought hmm, maybe Nite Owl and Rorschach can stop him. Nope. :lol
That being said, the odd spaghetti monster plot was totally redeemed by the last page with the journal being found, and the stained shirt metaphor: the world is not saved because man is truly not saved - the clock has merely been reset. Nothing ever ends :/
And that seemed to be foreshadowed in the awesome pirate comic Bernard was reading. And on that note, I loved the exchange between the psychiatrist's wife and the white Bernard, after which he says what's the point of being nice if ultimately it doesn't matter - and then of course before being obliterated he winds up trying to protect the black Bernard, a parent-like gesture of caring that in real world terms doesn't matter (they still die) but is important nonetheless
For some reason I made a full circle, and I now prefer the original ending again.
The more I think about it, the more awesome it is in all it's absurdness.
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Think about, if that would actually happen, it would be so mind blowing nobody would doubt it. A fucking huge alien killing thousands, everybody would piss his pants.
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I'm gonna try to avoid spoilers on how the movie ends, but I do know the journal is found at the end
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I mean, if he could take a dead psychic's brain and turn it into a super weapon why couldn't he create a real alien. I agree with Rebiak about the likelihood of the plot working regardless of how absurd it seems but I just feel something more awesome could have been thought up
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I'm fine with the ending in the comic. It's bizarre and improbable but so is a lot of other stuff in the book (Dr. Manhattan, Bubastis, Veidt's Antarctic base, the magically floating owlship). Similarly to other stuff in the book, it also serves as a piece of the satire of the traditional superhero comic. The villains often have some extra bizarro plan, it just happens to work in this case (maybe).
On the other hand, I don't think the monster is necessarily the strong point of the book, but everything surrounding it at Veidt's base is great.
What do you think would have been more effective TVC? I can't think of anything though maybe the execution could have been more plausible. Better pointing out that psychics and genetic engineering exist in the world would probably have helped. If you're trying to bring two earthly superpowers together, and an extraterrestrial threat might do it.
My brother-in-law had this and a bunch of other books, supplementary material, and histories of comics at their house in New Orleans, but I never found the time to look at it.
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He actually did his dissertation (I think) on the transfer of intellectual properties through different media, and decided to use comic book movies as his subject. I helped out over the summer a few years ago by going through box office sales on IMDb and putting together a spreadsheet of various other data.