Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, is a neo-noir graphic novel that deals with complex issues of moral ambiguity and authority. Published as a twelve-part comic through 1986 and 1987, it has since come to redefine the genre of comics through...

In comics, it’s never hard to find a good villain to go with every hero: Superman has Lex, Batman has the Joker, and Space Ghost has Zorak. In fact, it’s difficult to find a classic comic in which there is not a clear protagonist and antagonist....

“Brave New World”, “The Day of the Triffids” and “Watchmen” all use their dystopian worlds to engage in moral discussion, critically assessing the morals that the world deems to be ‘correct’. In the face of destruction, the characters in the...

In the graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, a more realistic depiction of the superhero figure is achieved by allowing genres to be imbedded separately within the thoroughly developed identities of Rorschach, the Comedian, and...

In his essay "Self-Reliance," Ralph Waldo Emerson often radiates an arrogant and self-important tone, writing, for example, “A great man is coming to eat at my house. I do not wish to please him; I wish that he should wish to please me.” Although...

In the graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the theme of morality comes into question through the actions of the various vigilante heroes. This is most clearly seen through the character Rorschach. From the very beginning of the...

Despite it being a superhero story, within the graphic novel Watchmen there is no clear assertion of who is to be considered a hero and who is to be considered a villain. Rather, there is a spectrum of morally grey characters, and what is deemed a...

In Alan Moore’s Watchmen, character Nite Owl is surrounded by the intense personas of his fellow costumed vigilantes. He does not handle situations in either Rorschach’s or Manhattan’s opposing fashions, but has a simple ideology in his viewing of...

Problems faced by characters in literature often repeat themselves, and when these characters decide to solve these standard problems, their actions are often more similar than they first appear. This idea is evident when comparing the actions...

Dystopian governments often work hard to erase identity through specific social constructs; they work to force the people they govern into a “cookie-cutter” mold. In literature, this molding is often fought by a person within the society, and that...

George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ is an allegorical fairy tale which is profound in its condemnations of totalitarian regimes. The novel explores the concepts of propaganda, totalitarianism and tyranny impacting on the oppressed society with the use...

A Marxist reading of the graphic novel V for Vendetta reveals much about how to understand and interpret this graphic novel, particularly through the character of Evey. On two levels, a Marxist reading helps illuminate both the struggles of the...

The comic The Killing Joke is written by Alan Moore and drawn by Brian Bolland. It portrayed the events happened between the two rivals: Joker and Batman. When Joker broke out of jail again, he bought an amusement park to fulfil his sick desire of...