Book of the Moment: Watchmen

Watchmen is ultimately one of the keys to the rise of the Graphic Novel in America. Interestingly enough, both Alan Moore, the writer of Watchmen and several others, and Neil Gaiman, the author of the Sandman (the first volume of which I read last weekend), are both British guys who have done much to gain acceptance of Graphic Novels in America. In America (unlike several other parts of the world, such as Japan) comic books and animated television/movies are oft considered "child" forms of entertainment. Graphic Novels are the more adult form of comics: often darker, edgier, more violent, more emotional, more thought-provoking. The art of the graphic novel in American culture rose in the 90s and now is having a heavy influence on Hollywood. You've probably seen a live action movie based on a graphic novel (From Hell or the less than extraordinary League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and if you haven't, you will shortly (Sin City).

Watchmen itself is the tale of a a group of superheroes (the Crimebusters, nee Minutemen)... an unravelling of their back stories (the characters are new for the novel, although derived from older, now out of vogue, characters), an examination of their worth to society, an examination of their morality and mortality. I've long been of the belief that a good superhero comic is an exploration of morality, and Watchmen delivers that well. That belief shows in my preference often of Marvel's comics (Spiderman, X-Men) to DC's (Superman, Justice League), and perhaps another facet of why City of Heroes just didn't keep my attention. That isn't to say that Marvel doesn't have its poorer properties or DC its worthier properties. In fact, it has been DC that's lead the pack towards more maturity lately ...

Re: Fanaticism

Well, I feel sort of offended by this post from a friend of mine. I can't equate "Bush hating" with fanaticism. I'm not a Free/Open Source fanatic... I see the pros/cons of both sides and use only what suits me at the moment. As much maligned as IE is, for an example, it's recent shot in the arm of security (from XP SP2) puts it in line with Firefox as far as basic security is concerned and major exploits post-SP2 are usually user error (which I would argue most exploits before SP2 were still user error, but there were the definite "magic self installers" out there, too).

But as for Bush, maybe it is fanatical to love my country, but is it fanatical to complain when you think someone is damaging your country and offending your morals? Is that fanaticism?

I hate Bush because he is damaging the country. Him and his PNAC buddies/owners are doing irreperable harm to the country by tearing down some of the good international policies our forefathers fought hard to get in place, by ignoring the Geneva Convention, by deciding that "for the good of the country" (read: "for the good of corporate interests") that the United States must be engaged in an endless war...

I hate Bush because he represents some of the worst of Christian bigotry. Am I a fanatic for believing, as the forefathers did, that there should be a seperation of Church and State? Am I fanatic for not being a "religious fanatic"? Am I fanatic for being offended by the way Bush throws the word "God" around like pennies or the way Bush acts like he's the second coming?

In my few short years on this small planet I feel ashamed by the ...