The Watchmen

      

Relevance of the 21st Century 

Super Hero

     The Watchmen is The book that got me into the whole Graphic Novel genre. I saw the movie trailer and was taken in by its visualization. I felt like I had to read the book before watching the movie and I was glad that I had. Alan Moore created a very successful book in that he created a world with characters that were relevant to the time that they were made, even if it was a period piece from the 80's.
     The movie was very accurate to the book, much the way that Frank Millers The 300, and Sin City reflect the graphic novel almost page for page. The Watchmen pays homage to the Authors style on the page, but Moore himself is a very outspoken hypocrite of Hollywood. On the one had he disparages any and everything having to do with modern cinema, and on the other he readily sell the rights of his work to be produced by the very thing that he seems to hate. He has done much to keep the idea of the super hero relevant, but it is hard to look past the imposing duplicity of Moore.
     Before taking this class I never would have given the relevance of the modern super hero much thought. For me it felt like they were always around, but I think that is due to me growing up in the pinnacle of the age of the comic book either independent or corporate driven. I feel that the story of the super hero will always be a legitimate source for new work in the graphic novel and comic book environments, I mean after all it was on their backs that the industry was built.