Monday 30 June 2008

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Chapter VII

Moore moves his focus to a pair of character in this chapter, as Dan Dreiberg and Laurie Juspeczyk -- a.k.a. the second Nite Owl and the second Silk Spectre -- chat, bond, hit it off, nearly have sex, resurrect their superhero IDs, accidentally rescue people from a burning building, manage to have sex (it's the excitement of the costumes and the superheroics, you see), and possibly come to a fairly shocking decision...

Once again Moore leaves the other character's storylines in the background, focussing on just two members of the (actually nonexistent) group of superheroes that the book's main plot revolves around. It's mainly about Dan's memories, though there are no flashbacks here: it's as much about how two old acquaintances become re-acquainted. It seems a difficult chapter to find much to say about. It's not treading water or marking time, but nor are there bold gestures or big action sequences -- well, apart from the tenement building rescue, which is somewhat exciting, but also has a share of laughs (importantly, not at the heroes or their abilities, but rather at things like Nite Owl having a coffee machine on board), or many significant plot points... beyond those I already outlined, anyway.

Moore slides a few of his chess pieces around, reveals that Dan is impotent while Nite Owl is not (this seems bordering on a cliché, though Watchmen was probably ahead of the curve on that and it's just 20 years later that it looks old hat), and sets up where things are probably heading next. And next is...

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