Does Watchmen still hold up today?

[@MaddoggComics]

🐶🐶WOOF WOOF! New video! As promised, in time with the 35th Anniversary, here is my review of Watchmen, but how does it hold up today? 🤔 . If you want to support the channel, why not treat yourself to something from the channel sponsor: OrganicPricedBooks! Make sure you use code WOOFWOOF for $2 off your orders! 💵 . Hope you guys enjoy this, if you did, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe if you're new, and share where you can! I think changes are coming for the channel, because life doesn't always give you a fair deal. But Maddoggs rise to the challenge! 💪 . Next video may be something a bit different, but something I'm eager to try, leave your guesses down below. Until then, stay Mad, Doggs! WOOF WOOF! 🐶

[@JimmyBackbeat]

I actually loved the pirate story. Three reasons: 1. it was a sweet reference to the early days of comic books where pirate- and Western stories were the mainstream. 2. It brought the anguish of a pending doom to life. In a world heading for nuclear annihilation; escapism becomes a necessity. 3. In our world we read superhero comics because they are fantasies of unreachable potentials. It was an interesting way to tell where the fantasies wander if the world you live in actually has super heroes. If your world has superheroes, what would you read to expand your fantasies.... Now, granted, I fully agree that the pirate adventure isn't as interesting as Watchmen in itself. But Watchmen wouldn't have been as convincing for me without it.

[@Xmies23]

The giant squid made perfect sense, if you read the comic fully and not skip over parts

[@DavidHaupt-ku6ds]

“The squid was weird.” Check out The Justice League of America #1. The squid wasn’t weird; it was a totally fitting and absolutely brilliant comic book callback.

[@OffMyShelves]

Now you have said it in public we have to get that chat done soon! Thank you for the shout out too mate! And another solid video as ever. I think fundamentally Moore and Gibbons and the unsung legend John Higgins, i think, would not see this book as entertainment. This is a written and visual art piece that is crafted to challenge and engage you more than entertain you; obviously they knew they needed it to be entertaining on some level but ultimately if it entertains that’s a byproduct of their overall purpose of saying something the creators wanted to say on life and human drama. I think comics is a perfect medium to say something that has more impact than just entertainment. Anyway more of that catchy, snappy chat when we get together 😂

[@knoober3756]

The pirate story is there because it’s supposed to mirror ozymandias’ motivations. He started out good but got jaded to the point where he crossed the line also the main silk spectre we see in the story’s name is Laurie

[@essaywhu]

Believe it or not, but the Absolute edition actually is recolored. Some interesting criticisms and probably some stuff I felt on my first couple of read throughs, with the pirate and prose sections. But now that I’ve read it around 15-20 times, I wouldn’t change a word. To me, it’s a 10/10 perfect book. Actually my favorite book ever (including pure prose books.)

[@guatobean2869]

To go along with the squid monster I think an understanding of the ctuthulu/lovecraftian mythos is important to understand the impact. It acts as an atomic bomb of sorts as far of degrees of injuries/impact. It was actually one of my favorite connections in the book.

[@jayku138]

Lovingthe way you talk about panels and colors and just the way youve absorbed the visual content

[@flipthrucomics]

At its heart, Watchmen is a character study wrapped in a mystery. All that errata is a part of those character studies. The series examines the question “What if superheroes really existed?” with powerful accuracy… who would these people be, why would they put on a mask? They’d be flawed as fuck.

[@psi-judgesanderson6983]

This is the reason I find Frank miller's all-star batman so fascinating. Bruce Wayne/batman is so fucking nuts, to me this seems to be closer to the persona and psyche a masked vigilante would have. Yet it gets so much hate. I personally love it.

[@RogerLareau-qx2cy]

When I got older I finally realized that Alan Moore was a genius with mental problems. And like you ,I admire his attention to detail and his world building.

[@BowmansWorld]

I literally read this for the first time along woth doomsday clock the other day and loved the entire journey. Watchmen most definitely still holds up today. It is a masterpiece

[@stephentheshywarrior2759]

Doomsday Clock was a worthy sequel in my eyes. Art is incredible. The wait per issue was infuriating though.🙂

[@BowmansWorld]

@@stephentheshywarrior2759 ya im lucky i just binged it all in trade

[@JimmyBackbeat]

It is great yes. But it is rather prose heavy and the art is very dated. Still it's a good read, it's made great by it's history and importance. I actually think that Before Watchmen is better. Alot has happened to the art of storytelling since the 80's, the pacing and ink is way better; but it lack the heavy punch of historical significance. Still, they are both very much worth the time to read. I still haven't read doomsday clock yet. I'll get to it eventually.

[@BowmansWorld]

@@JimmyBackbeat nope nothing about it is dated. Watchmen is still phenomenal as all hell

[@kself94]

@@JimmyBackbeat The art is still great, what are you talking about? I guess its somewhate dated in the sense thay you can tell its feom the 80s, but it very much still holds up today.

[@richardstevenjones]

Watchmen showed me that comics can be literature and not merely entertainment. The density of the exposition and the art build upon one another to create the complex character study and commentary of the work. I have heard people talk about the coloring as a negative before and those who opt for the "noir" version, but the muddy tertiary pallet is just as much a choice as the words and lines. The coloring provides a tone for the work that if changed, would dismantle a big part of what makes Watchmen the masterpiece that it is.

[@thenerdgirl1]

My list of unfinished comic books is not very long, but literally half of them are Alan Moore books. My ADHD finds him long winded and it's hard for me to focus on all of that text. I'm sure they're brilliant but I'll have to wait until I actually get a decent night of sleep before I tackle it.

[@boardsomnis55]

Its a great book, one of the first I picked up when getting into comics, along with the first trade of Sandman. I've upgraded both to Absolute editions in the past year as these are books I want to enjoy each read through. It is dense compared with modern comics, like a 30 issue main series, plus 6 issue mini, crammed into those 12 issues.

[@mladenkulic446]

I'm not a fan of Watchmen comic but I do like the movie adaptation. One of the reasons is like you said too much explosions and I didn't need Rorschach backstory. Nor did I like a guy reading a comic inside the comic. He could have been trim down and nothing of value would be lost.

[@thenightriterpartii7724]

At first the pirate part was confusing for me. It was until like my 3rd dead when it clicked. That's when I understood the purpose of it. But I understand what you mean tho.

[@Ben623]

Mad dog do you have a ranking of your scores? 68% for watchmen at the end of the video. I want to see how you have scored other books

[@maxojavierrojasurzua5746]

9:32 - 9:40 BOOKCEPTION 📚

[@_The_Worst_]

I thought the movie was heIIa good...🤘🏼💯✔️

[@jmace2424]

If anything Watchmen has gotten better with time.

[@Ben623]

It is good. And indeed dense. Worth a re-read.

[@camwatters644]

I always thought the watchmen was the best comic I’ve ever read. Ozymandias was a brilliant character study. If he is the smartest man in the world does he have to watch the world fall apart?if humankind is going to extinct itself is he wrong to kill a lot of people to stop that? The book really made u think

[@manoitin2208]

I really like the Last 3 pages of the issue

[@gorsching]

I'm curious but you don't like all the fluff from the books, but then the film is nit your cup ov tea. To me the film is the book without out the fluff. Also you have to remember you seem to have read the book in either 1 sitting or had each issue available to you. When this came out it was 1 long yr so the fluff, I believe, is because there was 30days between each issue. Lastly if someone were to pick up issue one and ask me how it ends, I'd never say some giant squid. I'd say think Cthullu and everyone going insane. People may understand it and since the Lovecraftian Mthyos was created before 1985 maybe this world assumed it was Cthullu rising. Just Alan Moore couldn't say that because copyright issues. As you can tell I love the book and the Tales of the Black Freighter I felt was amazing. The art is great and I wish they had made a full run back in the 80s. Take care

[@MarcusT23]

I swear I was in that same writing class as you and can confirm you're correct... You wrote a lot of dumb crap!

[@pope777]

still gonna read this but the top review on amazon was a straight up spoiler for the ending. rough

[@59rlmccormack]

Great retrospect.

[@stephentheshywarrior2759]

My take on Watchmen having Re-read it at the beginning of the year is its a enjoyable spin on the cold war pressure's of the time. I first read it about 6 years ago, At the time while enjoyable and a interesting murder mystery, overall I found it overhyped and didn't enjoy the abrupt end. Coming back, it was a most improved reading experience. I now appreciate where Moore was taking the story. I found the characters are perfectly realised, my favourite being Rorschach. For me the prison scenes( along with the flashbacks) were his best. Bloody and funny, the prisoners were scared s*itless. You don't mess with Rorschach. Even the ending felt more earned than my previous read. Still even now it felt like a cliffhanger to the second act not a proper endpoint but thats just me. I wish we saw a proper sequel to see where things could've gone next.. The conflict of DC and Moore is definitely interesting to me, possibly more than the story itself. While I feel it could have been told in a fewer issues, its a solid B+ in my eyes. I am looking forward to reading Watchmen again. It is a book I've grown to appreciate more with age. What I still hate with a passion is the legendary pirate section. I mentioned how much I dislike this section on a previous live stream. re- reading was frankly a chore. It was dry, hard to understand and I literally nearly fell asleep reading it.😂 Moreso I don't like how the pirate section was split up between scenes either. I'll admit I am not a clever person but what was the point. Literally added nothing to the main story. Unless it had some hidden meaning I'm mystified.😄. Skipping on the next read through. Comics are supposed to be fun. This ain't. Since it 's Comic bound favourite does he even read the pirate section? Cannot keep the Maddogg down for long. Woof woof

[@essaywhu]

The pirate section is a metaphor for the depths a man might sink to in trying to do the right thing. The sailor is damned after committing atrocities in the name of the greater good. It’s a metaphor for Adrian Veidt’s scheme to save the world with his convoluted plan, involving the deaths of millions. It’s also a commentary on the history of comics. In a world where superheroes exist, superhero comics never ended up dominating the medium and for a time, pirate stories were the most popular genre. I didn’t find it boring but I love 50’s EC comics, which is the style it is lifting from.

[@stephentheshywarrior2759]

@@essaywhu Thanks for explaining and making more sense for me, I am glad you enjoyed the pirate section more than me. I still really enjoyed watchmen overall. I do enjoy reading older stories like in epics but pre late 60s stories I struggle with. Especially being brought up with the modern style of writing.

[@markxsavage]

The Black Freighter was a parallel story exploring ti what depths a man may go for the greater good. It’s about Veidt, mostly. In the final issue Veidt even mentions dreaming of swimming towards a shire. Watchmen is full of parallel stories and motifs that carry through. The degree of planning to do so is amazing.

[@yeahey5947]

@@stephentheshywarrior2759if you say its a b+ what would you consider to be an A?

[@stephentheshywarrior2759]

@@yeahey5947 I'm my eyes A/S tier for me would most definitely be Scott Snyder's Batman, Year one, Roger Stern and Bendis Spider-Man etc. For me Watchmen has very good fleshed out characters but its a bit slow, and feel like it doesn't have the most satisfying conclusion. Still I like it a bit more every time I read it.

[@enderwinns]

amazing!!!

[@r.a.bcomicscollectibles7732]

Great Video

[@joemckenzie737]

I would like a thick paperback book of 'batman year one, the dark knight returns, the dark knight strikes again... just saying.

[@jaksilb]

You should probably make another attempt to read the text in its entirety before trying to mouth off about it, boyo. The prose parts are part of what made this comic so unique.

[@stephentheshywarrior2759]

At the end of the day Jakob if you've tried reading that section and don't like it then why would you force yourself to carry on reading. Comics are a pastime for fun. Say if you eat out and order a fry up, you really enjoy the bacon and the mushrooms but dislike black pudding. You wouldn't eat it. Its about choice. Not because it is there. The prose aren't even hugely important anyway, just build some nice character backstory. Maddogg wasn't really mouthing off either, just expressing his view even if you found it unpopular.🤷

[@marcspectororamijakelockle7232]

I totally respect what this did for the medium and so on, but I haven't read it and most probably never will. I've seen the movie and at the time of it's release it was one of the best in its genre. I've seen the TV show, that was a solid one. I've read some of the Before Watchmen stories and looking forward to reading the new Rorschach mini series, because he's just too cool. And still waiting for the Deluxe of Doomsday Clock so I can finally read that.

[@jayku138]

Your mic echoes

[@Wesz808]

Great channel! About Watchmen, I think it's good, but overrated. A lot of art, (visual art, literature, movies) from that period had similar themes and used similar devices. Moore, was the first to do it in comics. Instead of a standard superhero story with perfect heroes and with no depth whatsoever he creates something new and much more complicated. Fragmented storylines and intertextuality was something completely new at the time. But as a story and when it comes to reading pleasure, I still think it's a bit overrated.

[@yeahey5947]

insightful comment man, im not sure what media you’re referencing in your second sentence though, think you could point me in the right direction and tell me which ones? id be interested in checking them out