Animation Domination: Watchmen Chapter 1

In an alternate reality where superheroes exist and their very presence effected the course of history, they are now hated by a society disenchanted by vigilantism.  It is 1985, and the Comedian (Rick D. Wasserman), a vigilante turned government agent, is murdered.  Rorschach (Titus Welliver), one of the few outlawed heroes still active, begins to investigate, believing that someone is trying to get rid of masked heroes.  He warns his old partner Dan Dreiberg (Geoff Pierson) who was the second Nite Owl; Jon Osterman a.k.a. Dr. Manhattan (Michael Cerveris), an extremely powerful godlike being who is now working with the government; and Laurie Juspeczyk (Katee Sackhoff) who was once known as Silk Spectre but is now the romantic partner to Dr. Manhattan. The world itself is on the brink of nuclear war, and with the extremely powerful Dr. Manhattan’s very presence as an American, he has been the only thing from stopping an all-out nuclear holocaust. With such power, Jon has become less and less human as time has gone on. He sees life and death and the passage of time very differently and has nearly lost all emotional connection to the human race, but during a live televised interview, Manhattan is accused of giving all his previous partners cancer which causes him great distress and he decides to flee the world and go to Mars.  This has now opened up the world to the possibility of nuclear war.  Rorschach now sees that, this was also somehow planned and has also learned the The Comedian, may have learned who was behind it all before he was killed. Another former hero Ozymandias, Adrian Veidt (Troy Baker) is the smartest man on the planet and now runs his own successful enterprise, is attacked and nearly killed, but before he can question his attacker, he swallows a cyanide capsule. Rorschach is also arrested when a trap is set for him by whoever is behind all of it.  And that is where Watchmen: Chapter 1 ends.

Watchmen: Chapter 1 is based on the award winning and critically praised comic book limited series published by DC Comics in 1986-1987.  The new animated film had a digital release on August 13, 2024.  The comic book was written by Alan Moore with art by Dave Gibbons and color by John Higgins.  Moore originally used characters acquired from Charlton Comics, but since this would leave these characters unusable in the future, DC convinced Moore to use original creations.  The series is often thought of as one of the best series ever written and also popularized the “graphic novel” format, along with Frank Millers, The Dark Knight Returns. Critics praised the book for its smart sophistication and emotionally resonant narratives. Moore originally wanted his comic creations to open the doors for comic creators to be more diverse, and less constrained by the current comic storylines. Ironically, this had the opposite effect, soon comics seemed to be stuck in a “depressive ghetto of grimness and psychosis”. The series is at the top of most “Best of Lists” and became one of the best-selling graphic novels ever.

On Christmas in 1987, someone, I can’t even remember who now, but a non-comic collecting family member, gave me two graphic novels, The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. I can only imagine that this person walked into a comic shop and asked, “what you would recommend”, and what I was given were two of the best reads I have ever had.  I read the Dark Knight almost immediately, but I set Watchmen aside.  I was leaving home that next year and the graphic novel sat untouched in my comic box for months as preparation for my high school graduation and eventual leaving for college grew near.  It would unfortunately remain unread for quite a while, as I forgot I had it.  Then, one slow day at college, I dusted it off and started it.  It was gripping and engaging and “binge watching” wasn’t a thing, but this would be the closest thing to it in the late 80s.  I couldn’t put it down and when I had to, all I could think about was getting back to it.  It combined many of my favorite elements, superheroes, a touch of horror, and a mystery.  My college roommate at the time was in no way a comic book nerd like I was.  But while I was in class, he saw it and picked it up and also could not put it down.  He was respectful and allowed me to finish it but would read it when it wasn’t in my hands.  When the Zack Snyder film was released in 2009, I enjoyed it and felt it did a good job at updating and displaying the overall theme of the film but made a few too many changes to the story.  This new animated version is much more faithful to the original source material and includes the comic within the comic “Tales of the Black Freighter”.  It is darker and more violent than the Snyder movie keeping very much in lines with the original characters from the comic.  The heroes aren’t always morally pure and often do things that cross lines that the heroes we are use to would never think of doing. This moral ambiguity is one of the major themes in the book and this comes across well within the animated film.  In addition to the story being more faithful, the very look of the film is wonderfully reminiscent of the source material and the voice acting and music is top notch.  I was enthralled by this new adaptation and cannot wait until the concluding Chapter 2 is released sometime in 2025 (I don’t want to wait that long!)