Watchmen and Philosophy

March 23, 2009
Though comics generally are viewed as lightweight, Watchmen sports some pretty heavy moral and philosophical themes that become more apparent through multiple readings. This volume, part of the "Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture" series, tackles the issues that Moore/Gibbons present in plot and characters. Watchmen is far more than a case of the good guys being good and the baddies bad. Here the lines blur, and some of the good guys are bad-don't ask the Comedian what he was doing in Dallas when JFK was shot-and others are downright whackos (Rorschach). Those characters' behavior, along with the godlike Dr. Manhattan's emotional indifference and Oxymandias's megalomania, are dissected in essays presented in a very hip style. Along with the weighty issues, fun stuff like the significance of the aging Nite Owl's expanding gut also gets some talk. There's great chatroom/term paper fodder here for those who are waayyy too into it (give it a few years and this will be a college course). For public and academic collections.

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