Watchmen: Atypical Heroes

Before Watchmen, comic book super heroes had nothing important to say. It was all Gee Whiz or Holy Cow! That is, until Alan Moore entered the comic scene.

Alan took the reality of life and crammed it into his writing style, forcing his heroes to obey to these rules. With that reality, he created heroes who came from broken homes, different countries, orphanages, etc; heroes who like us, would be faced with greed, fear, deception, and hatred.

This all came about during the 80's, the time period that Moore chose Watchmen to take place in as well. This was a time in history not long after the Vietnam War and Watergate, so civil disobedience was nearing an all-time high.

The greatest theme of Watchmen is time. Literally there are so many clocks in this book and even the opening of the story is the 11th hour of a doomsday clock ticking down. Not to mention, every hero is well past their primes, with many of them still stuck in the past, reminiscing about the good times.

What I love about Watchmen is the twist of realism Moore went for. With Batman and Superman we've never stopped to ponder if they age or if they should ever retire, their universe is timeless. Moore ran with the idea of life after super heroes. He basically followed a rough plot of The Incredibles long before The Incredibles was written.