The start of my journey into comic collections can probably be traced back to two people: Alan Moore and Joss Whedon. Alan Moore’s novels V For Vendetta and Watchmen were two of the three comics I started with (the third being The Dark Knight Returns), but it was Whedon who sustained my interest. In the few months since I renewed my comic book readings, a large portion of the stuff I’ve read has been Whedon-penned titles; Astonishing X-Men, Buffy Season 8, and Angel: After the Fall (which, granted isn’t written by Whedon, but it’s his property and he has final say) have been consistently witty, action-packed, and all-out entertaining even in their weakest moments. Now, since the current Buffy arc has a crossover, I cracked open Joss’ first major foray into comics, Fray.

Set 200 years into the future, Fray takes Joss’ own slayer mythos and turns it on its head. In this future, magic has somehow been erased from the Earth, but vampires and other beasties still remain. Greatly reduced in number, vampires- called “lurks” in this futuristic mega-city- have largely been relegated back into children’s stories, though they are slowly gaining in numbers. Stranger still, a Slayer hasn’t been seen in over a century.

**more after the jump**

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Zack Snyder, the man behind 300 and the Dawn of the Dead remake has without a doubt wooed audiences with his cinematic prowess, truly a director worth watching.  However, when ambition overrides common sense in the world of film, it can only lead to disaster and humiliation.  The film in mind is none other than Alan Moore’s groundbreaking graphic novel, Watchmen.  First images of Snyder’s ‘vision’ appeared online late last year and captivated Watchmen devotees everywhere – even so, disapproval was not uncommon, and rightfully so.

Then this past month came the trailer of the film, that’s when things started to get interesting…

I’ll admit, initial views of the trailer were orgasmic – at the time, I had only read bits and pieces of the graphic novel, in itself, a bad way to go.  I had reveled over movie scenes mimicking unforgettable splash panels, actors identical to their graphic novel counterparts, and visuals that fail to displease the eyes – the adaptation to end all adaptations.

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I’d like to invite you all to join Mr. Peabody and me as we hop into the Wayback machine and go all the way back to 2006. It’s January, and I keep hearing about this upcoming film from the Wachowski brothers, directed by their former A.D. (assistant director) and now-puppet James McTeigue. I had been crushed by the Matrix sequels, but still remembered the first installment with devout love, and the news that Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman were the leads only made me want to see it more. However, I don’t like seeing adapted films without reading the book it’s based on (unless it’s just a comic film in general in which case there’s no definitive novel anyway), so I bummed a copy from a friend. So, in 2006, I, for the first time, sat down and read a graphic novel.

V For Vendetta was a deep, complex, question-raising novel that shattered my preconceived notions of comic books and was the first concrete step in getting me into comics. Even to someone who A) had never read more than a few single issues in grocery store newsstands and B) has never understood art and how to interpret paintings/sculptures/etc., I knew that David Lloyd’s art was beautiful and telling, capable of conveying emotions even on a guy who is always wearing a fucking mask. I realized for the first time that comic books–always derided for being for dumb kids who need pictures to read–could tell a story in a way that no novel ever could. It doesn’t make one type of literature superior or inferior to another; it simply means that the method in which comics are moved forward is entirely unique to that medium.

**an outpouring of spoilery venom after the jump**

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OK, I admit, I’m a comic book newbie. I haven’t been reading them very long and all but a handful of the ones I have read have been older classics. But you know what, more and more people are going to be getting into comics in the near future, and most of them will convert thanks to the upcoming Watchmen film. So, in an effort to blog about what I’m currently reading as well as maybe help a fellow neophyte out, I’m introducing my own mini-feature: Classics Corner. Each entry will be about an established classic in the medium: its historic importance, how well it’s held up, and just plain how good it is. Some will be more spoiler-ish than others, but all of them will feature at least basic plot discussion and analysis. And what better place to start than the graphic novel that is universally regarded as a masterpiece and has been (and, from the looks of it, will continue to be) a gateway for many into comic books?

Watchmen is a 12 issue miniseries from comics god Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons that depicts a realistic world that must contend with real masked men. It’s an expansion of an idea that Moore first toyed with on the seminal (and woefully out-of-print) Miracleman, and it ends up being a nice foil for his first great graphic novel, V For Vendetta. V posed socio-political questions, while Watchmen is more of a personal, psychological profile. It realizes that anyone who would put on a costume and mask to pummel thugs is inherently insane, not heroic. Over the course of its 12 issues, the book evolves from a whodunit about a killer possibly targeting former masked heroes into a commentary on the thin line between vigilantism and crime and how a hero’s quest to save others can ultimately turn him into the world’s biggest threat. It manages to be twisted, deep, thought provoking, suspenseful, thrilling, darkly funny, and tragic, often at the same time.

**potential minor spoilers and more after the jump**

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