What I Read - Week of August 24, 2009

Watchmen - The further I get into this story the more I think about buying the Absolute edition.

I've been limiting myself to one chapter a week. At first I didn't feel the urge to keep reading. That's not the case anymore. For the past three weeks now, after finishing chapters 5, 6, and 7, I've felt the urge to keep reading. At the same time I don't want the story to end. Eventually it will. I've got just five chapters left to read. In my mind the best way to savor what's left is to continue to read just one chapter per week.

I read chapter 7 this week and it was great, better than I thought it would be at first. I thought I knew how and where it was going, and on one level I was right but I didn't know it all. I thought this chapter was going to boil down to nerd-gets-the-girl. On one level that is what happened but the chapter is much richer than that. It was the last few pages that proved me wrong. It wasn't until I had read it all and then flipped back through the last few pages that it all sunk in and then I felt myself starting to tear up.

I blinked back the tears because I was at the laundromat waiting for my clothes to finish drying and I didn't want to attract attention. Still, I got a little choked up. The funny thing is I'm not sure exactly why, which makes the experience that much more precious. I think it may have something to do with Dan's devotion to his job and his fellow superheroes.

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by how good this story is or how much I am enjoying it. After all, it was written by Alan Moore .

Wednesday Comics - I bought the first 4 issues last weekend. I've only read #1 and just started reading # 2. For the most part I am very impressed. The art on the first installment of Sgt. Rock was gorgeous. I was also quite pleased with the look of Deadman and Hawkman. I'm surprised by how quickly the Superman story hooked me.

Superman: The Bottle City of Kandor - The dialogue in these stories is enough to make me groan. Its amazing how much of it is used for exposition, to explain what you can already see on the page. Setting this fact aside, I love how silly these stories can be:

• Superman has a distant cousin, Van-Zee, in Kandor who not only looks exactly like him, but also has a twin brother, Dik-Zee, who Lois Lane falls in love with while she is stuck in Kandor (Superman's Girl Friend,Lois Lane # 21)
  
• Jimmy Olsen (while stuck in Kandor) has his memory wiped of Lucy Lane, similar to but decades before Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen # 53)
  
• Renegade Kandorians using Green Kryptonite on Superman, like they shouldn't be affected by it (Superman # 158)
  

In part I think that it is the silliness of these stories that keeps my interest. It also maybe a bit of nostalgia. Most of the comics in this collection were released before I was born but I read either these or many like them (especially Jimmy Olsen comics) when I was growing up.

Links

Wikipedia: Watchmen - Wednesday Comics - Kandor