The Watchmen, a graphic novel.

I absolutely enjoyed this book!!! It took me a lot longer to read than I had first anticipated, but it was well worth the invested hours. The book, in comic format, talks about the lives of several superheroes, all human (or, at the very least, they all start off human), with human flaws.

My favourite character is Dr. Manhattan due to his philosophical insights, particularly on time. He describes time the EXACT same way I have always thought God to exist through time. As the book goes on, Dr. Manhattan's humanly thoughts dissipate as he inhibites his new indestructible body, in turn negatively affecting his relationships with those around him because he can no longer relate. It made me pity him! The emotions I had while reading this book where at its highest when reading Dr. Manhattan's part.

The two people, with whom I have spoken and who have also read the book in its entirety, chose Rorsharch as their favourite character. Rorsharch is honest and unwilling to compromise even until the bitter end. He chooses truth every time. Although somewhat unstable, he fights for the good guy, and kills off the enemy.

If you've read the book, you probably dislike Ozymandias for his self-righteousness. Granted he is the world's smartest man, and his goal of achieving global unity is admirable. Unfortunately, he has a perverted way of achieving that goal, killing many people along the way.

Other notable characters are: The Comedian (the only one to understand what a joke is this world we live in); the Night Owl (using all his nerdy expensive inventions to fight for good); & the Silk Spectre (hot female superhero represent!). Granted, there are other memorable characters (such as Bernard, the psychoanalyst), but I will spare you the details.

Within the Watchmen, a secondary character reads another comic. At first I didn't appreciate this comic-inside-a-comic story of the black freighter. However, in the end, I enjoyed making the parallel connections between the two stories. I think the pirate story resembles the Watchmen story in that the castaway wants to save his village from the pirates just like Adrian Veidt [Ozymandias] wants to save the people in the world from each other. But in the end, it's the villagers who need protection from the castaway in the same way that the people (particularly in New York) need protection from Adrian Veidt. "Who watches the Watchmen?". Furthermore, just as the castaway kills his own, Adrian kills his own too. Ooohhh the irony!

In conclusion, if there is at all conclusion from these random thoughts I've presented, is that you should read this graphic novel!