Rorschach’s Journal. 2021. The 35th anniversary of writer Alan Moore’s sensational, highly-influential and stunning 12-issue magnum opus, Watchmen rolls on, ever-present in the face of an unfolding mystery.
To continue the 35th anniversary Read-Along for the Comic of Comics, the @JusticeLeagueBookClub (run by myself) and the @DCHistoryClub (run by @msgtv and @TurokSonOfStone1950) will provide a fun analysis of each issue on a weekly basis, with my contributions coming from the odd-numbered issues, while DC History looks at the even-numbered issues.
How this Read-Along works :
Watchmen is NOT available on DC Universe Infinite. To participate in the Read-Along, you’ll need to have your own copies of Watchmen (be they the single issues or a collected edition) at the ready to read along with as we move from issue to issue, week after week.
Discussions will be posted on a weekly basis, with each discussion focusing on one issue. If you should run late, fear not good reader, as you are welcome to chime in on a particular week’s discussion at any time. Afterall, this is a 24/7 anniversary party.
Onto the good stuff:
Read:
Watchmen #9
If you should need a copy on the fly, the issue is available for purchase at Comixology, while the collected edition of Watchmen is also available at Comixology, as well as on Hoopla.
Discuss:
The theme of this issue is time. Jon goes on to say that “Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet.” What are your thoughts on how Jon perceives time?
Jon and Laurie’s time on Mars is the main focus of the issue, with their time on the planet also having been featured in the Watchmen movie. What are your thoughts on each iteration of the scene and how they relate to the story being told in their respective medium?
Through flashbacks, this issue goes into Edward Blake’s past, including one scene where he gets a well-earned drink to the face from Laurie. In seeing more of Edward’s interaction with other characters prior to his death, how does this further shape your perception of him?
Anything else that comes to your mind, dear reader.
That’s the journal entry for the 35th anniversary this week. Get your rear to Mars and enjoy the view.
Just got the link here from @Vroom. I didn’t even realize it was an anniversary. I just decided to read Before Watchmen along with Watchmen the graphic novel. It’s awesome this way, even tho literally everyone said don’t do it that way. I say why not? It’s amazing!!! Just did this one, well, I’m on chapter 10 so almost done.
See, now you’ll need to re-read Before Watchmen after reading Watchmen, so as to pick up on clues and such that you may not have caught the first go-around.
It’s like watching the Star Wars prequels before the classic movies: You’ll miss out on certain things in the classic movies that the prequels are hinting at, but when you watch them as produced, then you’ll see the extra little bits and bolts that you may not have noticed the first time around.
As a fan of Before Watchmen, I say any excuse to go back to it is a good one.
It’s actually working out perfectly. All the things I was like wait a minute that’s confusing. We’re cleared up in Before Watchmen for me. Now just 3 chapters and I’m done. Then movie and series rewatch and all set for test me on Watchmen trivia lol.
Just finished Watchmen along with the Before Watchmen reading order above. The librarian I usually get knows I read fast. The 1st x I returned a book she said- U didn’t like it?- I said no I loved it why? She said, I just assumed u didn’t finish it lol. This one was same way. I got it 3 days ago. Only read maybe 4hrs a day. Today I read from 1:30-7:15 by far the most since I borrowed it. But I was also dropping things on Musical References & Fun Real References while reading. This librarian said- u know u have til November 3rd & u can extend that another 2 weeks by calling in. I said, oh I already read it lol. She’ll get accustomed to me eventually…
Your librarian must have a problem with those of us who read fast.
The faster you read and return something, the more books can be checked out and the more activity generated at the library, the more secure her gig at the library will be.
Bake her a cake and bring it in when you see her next.
Haha. She’s new. My regular gave me All Star Superman the movie for free. I returned it & she said there’s smudges on this do u want it? Ummm. Yes absolutely!!! Works just fine. She said I’m ordering a new one u can keep that!! Go librarians!!!
Well, I don’t think it’s really our fault that we view it this way. That’s just how our brains work. But yes, there’s no question that’s how time works. Another brilliant example of “god explains time in a way our tiny brains can understand” is the Doctor Who episode “The Pilot”:
“Imagine if time happened all at once. Every moment of your life laid out around you… like a city. Streets full of buildings made of days. The day you were born. The day you die. The day you fall in love. The day that love ends. A whole city built from triumph and heartbreak and boredom and laughter and cutting your toenails. It’s the best place you will ever be. Time is a structure relative to ourselves. Time is the space made by our lives. Where we stand together forever.
Time
And
Relative
Dimension
In
Space.
It means ‘life’.”
But writing it down doesn’t do it justice. Whatever you’re picturing, it’s better.
I, uh… Haven’t seen the film. I’m not old enough.
Well, obviously, there’s no excuse for what he did. But yes, I do feel a little sorry for him. Moore’s poor record on women takes away some of his credibility on this issue, so that’s a whole other point. I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to any of these big questions, and that’s sort of the point. As Dave Gibbons put it in 2013:
"At dawn my lover comes to me
And tells me of her dreams
With no attempt to shovel the glimpse
Into the ditch of what each one means."
He said that! Google it!
The Comedian was partly inspired by a combination of Christopher Smith/Peacemaker, Dirty Hannah, The A-Team’s Hannibal, and most interesting for me as a mega Marvel fan, Nick Fury, while Laurie was based on both Eve Eden/Nightshade and Dinah Laurel Lance/Black Canary. So I strongly recommend reading Watchmen and Doomsday Clock, especially this issue, imagining the voices of Samuel L. Jackson and Katie Cassidy Rodgers. It is incredible.
Oh, new thought, does the idea of Nostalgia as a perfume make anyone else think of Twenty One Pilots’s “Stressed Out”:
“Sometimes a certain smell
Will take me back
To when I was young.
How come I’m never able
To identify
Where it’s coming from?
I’d make a candle out of it
If I ever found it,
Try to sell it,
Never sell out of it,
I’d probably only sell one.
But it’d remind us
Of when nothing really mattered
Out of student loans and treehouse homes
We all would choose the latter.”
Read:
Discuss:
