Jedeye Sniv
Banned
I didn't find it all that amazing when I read it. I just feel the story concept would have occurred anyway along with the almost post modern take on Super Heroes (Garth Ennis would have still developed his work in the same way even without The Watchmen). I'm not saying it's bad just that it's not all its cracked up to be.
The worst (and this isn't Moores fault in anyway just like it isn't Frank Miller's) is how it led to the whole oh I'm not reading a comic, it's a graphic novel elitism that started to spring up by people embarrassed to admit they read comics.
I also can't stand the whole Moore isn't doing this therefore it's "evil." I mean someone else writing with someone's character and setup is so common in the comic industry and all creative industries. Makes me wonder what the reaction will be if the Nolan Batman series continues.
I disagree with you about Watchmen as it is both a great story and a masterful use of the medium. But i agree 100% about 'graphic novels', I hate the term, it's so snobby. Got words and pictures and little balloons? It's a fucking comic, get over yourself. I will literally berate my friends for using the term, it sounds so pathetic. Watchmen is as much of a comic as Peanuts as Fun Home as Youngblood. It's a medium.
Also, I don't think people see BW as 'evil' so much as trite and unnecessary. It's like doing a prequel to Citizen Kane, a film where all you need to know about the character's past is in the text itself. There is nothing about Watchmen that needs prequelising. It is its own prequel.