Watchmen: One Big Joke

The 1986 graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons was something I (kinda) read several years ago... but I sped through it, and didn't really take in the details. With the movie adaptation about to hit the big screen in the next few weeks, I thought I'd refresh my memory with the original, aclaimed work...this time slowly enough to truely appreciate it.

On the face of it, it's a simple story; a masked 'super-hero' is murdered, and the remaining superheroes try to solve this mystery, as they may be the next target. However, what you get is something much richer.

It sets up a rich back story of an alternative Earth where costumed heroes have existed since WWII, as well as establishing two generations of complex character history and relationships.
It uses unconventional narrative techniques to tell the story...dialogue overlapping onto story panels that don't relate (directly) to what's being said.
It mixes flashbacks with present day. It inserts 'non-comic book' media between chapters (news articles / book extracts / character profiles). Add to that periphical characters that appear frequently to comment on unfolding events plus a parallel comic-strip story "The Black Freighter" that's interwoven throughout the main story..and you have something you have to pay attention to.
It subverts the superhero genre, asking things like, 'if superman was sooo powerful, would he really give a shit?' or 'would Batman be psychlogically stable if he beat up too many people?'
It examines faith, science, society, politics and questions the morality of humanity. Deep stuff that reminds me of where The Matrix and The Dark Knight would venture in the years to come.
Also, much like Alan Moore's suburb V for Vendetta, it tried to make the comic book format more paletable to adults, by stictly formatting each page to equal sized panels and by eliminating 'childish' sound effect and motion elements from the drawings.

A brilliant work, from masters of the comic book form.