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Ness, Sara J. Watchmen as Literature: A Critical Study of the Graphic Novel. Jefferson: MacFarland, 2010. 211 pp. Softcover. ISBN 978-0-78644475-5. $35.00.
Over twenty-five years after its initial twelve-issue run, Watchmen is now generally accepted as the magnum opus of the graphic novel genre. It made Alan Moore a legend in the field, and crossed over into popular literature, most notably being the only graphic novel named in Time Magazine's list of 100 best English-language novels published since 1923. It is a bit unfortunate, then, that Watchmen as Literature: A Critical Study of the Graphic Novel lacks confidence in its highly acclaimed muse. It spends the opening chapter justifying that Watchmen, as well as contemporary graphic novels Maus and The Dark Knight Returns, are worthy of the accolades they and their fledgling industry have accrued, and then spends further chapters detailing a number of devices Watchmen uses which are unavailable in text-only literature. While there are in-depth analyses of the plot, structure, and characters later in the book, a good deal of text is spent differentiating Watchmen from typical literature, instead of showing it as an elevated example of it. This is not necessarily a flaw of the analysis, as it points out many interesting things that could be missed even by the most careful close readers, but it is a shortcoming of the title. Once that is disregarded, the reader can be released from its implied promise and learn an incredible amount about Watchmen, from the origins of the characters (they are based on characters DC purchased from Charlton...