Tried reading 'Watchmen' issue by issue, then all at once, and I was totally wrong about which way hits harder | Comic Book Fans - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals
Tried reading 'Watchmen' issue by issue, then all at once, and I was totally wrong about which way hits harder
I had always read my comics one issue at a time like most people, but a friend in Austin dared me to sit down and read all 12 issues of Watchmen in one weekend. Reading it straight through made the little time jumps and repeating symbols click in a way they never did monthly, and I actually felt the story instead of just following it. So did reading it all at once ruin single issues for anybody else, or am I just being dramatic?
Your weekend read sounds like it changed how you see the whole story, and that makes sense to me now. I used to swear by single issues, since the month between each one let the mystery of Rorschach's journal and the Comedian's smiley face pin sit with me. Then I finally read all 12 back to back and caught how that smiley face shows up on the floor, on Mars, even in the blood. The bits of the past that jump around stop feeling random when they are only hours apart instead of weeks. So yeah, monthly reading is not ruined for me, but I get why the full run hits different.