Comic Inside

I rather liked Ror Schach, but I think the whole thing was rather overrated. Or perhaps, as some readers say, it’s a bit dated. It could easily have been much better when it was more current. It just didn’t really ‘click’ with me.

I prefer The Sandman by Neil Gaiman or the JLA series.
Rating: 1 / 5

*Disclaimer: I only read a small portion of this graphic novel*

Since I’m hating on a widely acclaimed graphic novel, I feel like I first need to give some taste credentials. Sandman was awesome, Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men is a trip and Moonshadow was phenomenal. For a graphic novel to be good, it should have a good story, good art, good characters, witty dialog, and humor. I’m willing to believe that the story behind the Watchman is amazing because why else would people like it so much, but everything else is just terrible.

The artwork is gross and uninteresting, the characters, at least in the first 60 pages, are completely boring, uninteresting and hollow. And there’s not a moment of comic relief. Here are some minor, but representative examples to support my claims.

The dialog and characters are completely inane. The novel begins with the death of “The Comedian,” and old super hero, and we then see the reactions of his former colleagues. Everyone flashes back to days of old and I don’t know how many times they made retarded comments like “We’d always thought he’d get the laugh last.” It’s not even funny in an over the top sort of way, it’s just lame. I skipped to the middle to learn a little about the antihero’s origins, and you find that he’s being analyzed by a psychologist who, we are told by the author, is a really nice guy and one of the best in his field. But he’s just dumb. He fully believes the crazy antihero is becoming more sane when he claims to see butterflies and daisies in a Rorschach test. And then, later, the psychologist appears wounded to the core when the antihero makes fun of him and calls him out. How is this at all believable. What kind of psychologist goes through his career never encountering a moment of adversity. It just makes no sense. I know these sound minor, but every page is filled with stupid stuff like this. It’s all like the idiotic scene in V for Vendetta, when the main villain is broken because his computer has an affair with V.

I know that it’s arrogant and mean to come down hard on a graphic novel so many people know and love without even reading enough to get into the story. But, there are so many glowing reviews of this piece or literature that Alan Moore can deal with a little bit of criticism. The whole story just felt so hollow and empty that it seems pointless to continue reading to find out more.
Rating: 1 / 5