Who discusses the Watchmen?
Posted by: Kaite Stover
A teacher friend of mine told me he is having his senior English class read Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons for a class assignment. Mark has always been a fan of Watchmen and he showed me his dog-eared bedraggled copy of days ago and said he was on his tenth reading. 
Any book that makes someone read it ten times has got to be good, so I picked up Watchmen and started reading. I was immediately absorbed by these flawed and tragic superheroes and found them all so much more easily identifiable than Superman, Batman and Wonderwoman. I started thinking about how this graphic novel could be discussed in a group setting and what topics I’d want to cover.
First, I’d talk about the artwork of Dave Gibbons and how it may or may not remind readers of the comic books of the Golden Age. How does Gibbons use this style of art help tell the story and create a sense of time and place? The graphic novel flashes back and forth from the 1930s to 1985 back to the 1950s and ‘60s and back to the 80s. I’d want to talk about how the Alan Moore uses time in his graphic novel as flashbacks are one of my favorite literary devices.
I would also encourage the readers to explore the heroic characters and what makes them human and what makes them superhuman? How do their super-qualities impinge on their human ones? The caped crusaders don’t all particularly like each other, but they all attend the funeral of one of their fallen compatriots. What draws them all together even as they are compelled to “retire”? What urges the Watchmen to help a society that cannot accept them, turns against them, and generally doesn’t deserve saving in some situations?
I would ask the attendees why the world feels it needs superheroes. I would also want to know if superheroes ever live up to the expectations placed on them. This graphic novel offers much to chew over in conversation and not just for the eager fanboys awaiting the movie’s release this weekend.
After discussing the graphic novel, it’s time for that time-honored book group tradition of screening the movie and comparing it to the book.
March 5th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
I host the Experimental Literature Book Club here at the Nashville Public Library. We read the Watchmen in November and the discussion was a huge success. I think it was the first time a library-sponsored adult book club had read a graphic novel. In a few weeks we are meeting to discuss Borges’ Labyrinths, but I know we’re going to end up talking about the Watchmen movie.
March 6th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
later this month, i will be hosting my book group and we will discuss “watchmen.” the choice was mine and i am so curious to hear what ensues.
i read the book last fall, a gift from my daughter, my first graphic novel. i was riveted from the start, though the reading was surprisingly slow-going as i adjusted to the medium.
yes, i think the first thing to discuss is the format. it took me right back to the days of action comics, but i never before realized the genius of the genre..the ability to explain back stories, to skip through time, to create suspense by hyperfocussing on an element that only becomes distinguishable much later on as the it is seen in the context of a whole scene. i was both carried back and swept away.
our group comprises 10 well educated women and the
host provides a small sophisticated spread of wine, cheese, a few chosen sweets. i planned on changing all that and surprising them with an array of junk food, reminiscent of our earlier days. when i told my daughter of the plan she said it didnt make sense. after all, i was bringing the book in as legit literature, so why
didnt it deserve the the usual upscale choices?…
great point!
anyhow will let you all know how it goes.