Watchmen Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, & John Higgins
This graphic novel has been on my list for a while, and the recent success of the TV adaptation was justification enough to finally dive in. In addition, I've been working through a WHALE of another book for a while so a comic was a welcome diversion. One issue I've had with superhero stories for a long time was that, by and large, heroes were fighting to maintain the status quo. Despite the fact that the status quo is something which clearly does NOT work for a large majority of individuals. How often do the Avengers use their power to feed the starving, or eradicate suffering? While by and large, supervillains do not garner significant sympathy; at least they're fighting for something different? I don't know if I communicated this idea clearly, but this FANTASTIC work does an excellent job tackling this issue. The way the story and narrative structure is constructed is a pure source of beauty. There are so many weird diversions and subplots and obscure foreshadowings taking place in every panel. It can feel overwhelming but once you get used to the style, I think it's so engrossing. The wonderful artwork and coloring just adds to this phenomena, and you're left with a masterpiece. It's really good. Like really, really good. Oof it's so good.