BOOK REVIEW

Watchmen

Alan Moore’s depiction of reality and superheroes is defined to this book

Watchmen. Watchmen a 12 issue comics series published between 1986 and 1987 by
D.C Comics it was created by Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons all 12 issues have
been collected in a single volume several times in several editions by now including in
an oversized absolute edition. Watchmen was and continuous to be a commercial and
critical success and has received incredible attention in discussion and analysis
including academic scrutiny, it has been almost universally hailed for its serious and
complex approach to a superhero story for its innovative structure its ambitious depth in
scope, its formal complexity and has a lot of impact on mainstream comics.

Watchmen starts with a violent murder, the investigation of which leads into a
larger web of secrecy and conspiracy also leads the readers into a world very similar to
our own, but including the presence of superheroes we are thrown into a world on the
brink of war where advances in technology have done nothing to stop violence and
hatred between people against this backdrop we are introduced to a cast of characters
who once costumed heroes but have now been outlawed by the US government the
murder of one’s retired superhero sets into action, a series of revelations and decisions
that expose fractured psyches, twisted motives and crippling impotence among other
cheerful insights. Watchmen is soaked in despair and has been in part celebrated often
incorrectly for its grim take, usually bright and colorful and even silly genre, but what
sets it apart from the host of imitators that followed is the astonishing craft on display in
almost every aspect of this comic.

This is a dense and adult work, adult in all sense not just because it features a
graphic violence but also because it grapples with serious themes and ideas as twisting
and as far reaching as the plot of Watchmen is, Watchmen comic is a masterpiece is
less about its plot and more about the act of reading itself in particular reading a comic
book. You have dialogue and monologue and conversation from one scene overlapping
and bleeding in to inform another. It has the best and one of the best work of art of Alan
Moore.

There is a lot one could say about Watchmen and there is a lot out there almost
every page, every chapter, in every aspect of it whether it’s the script or the art or the
design has been pulled apart and dissected and analyzed at length and it will continue
to be so because this is the kind of work that really rewards that kind of study.
 MOVIE REVIEW

The Green Mile

The Green Mile is a term referring to the death row in the Louisiana State
Penintiary. Here, the prisoners who are to be executed are held until it is their time, and
then they walk on a green floor to the electric chair. The movie is told as a flashback
from the perspective of Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) who is in charge of the death row
inmates. His job is to ensure that the prisoners are executed peacefully since people
facing their imminent death can get agitated. To this end, even though the people he's
dealing with have been convicted of horrific crimes, he treats them with dignity and
respect.

The movie picks up pace when a new inmate, Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), is
brought in for the murder of two young white girls. Coffey, a black and lumbering giant,
is not clearly aware of his circumstance, and even though he is innocent there is little
chance that anyone would believe him. But Edgecomb soon discovers that Coffey has
special healing powers and they forge a strong bond. A lot of the movie is spent
exploring the positive bond between Edgecomb and Coffey, contrasted to the negativity
that Percy brings to the proceedings.

Like I said, the movie touches upon many topics, and each of them is worthy of
comment. It illustrates the true nature of the death penalty, showing how cruel and
barbaric it is as well as showing how innocent people can easily be put in positions
where they are executed unjustly. The movie also touches upon the issue of faith and
god. The movie is about compassion---Coffey is a Christ-like figure who dies for
humanity's sins, crucified by people who don't know better. Yet he himself is not
capable of complete forgiveness and a key portion of the plot involves him getting his
revenge. But as I say above, ultimately what ties all of this together is that everyone
seeks to harm someone else, whether justified or not. The parents of the children
Coffey is believed to have killed have venom in their minds against him. Percy and a
maniacal prison inmate seek nothing more than perverse destruction. Even the prison
guards really have one sole purpose: to help kill. Coffey appears to be the only one who
truly seeks to heal, but that is not without exception either and in the end, he too kills
with his love.

The film is powerful and emotional, thanks to brilliant performances by a great cast.
Hanks is solid as ever, but the real credit for the film must go to Duncan, who is able to
deliver a one of the best sympathetic character ever in film.
THE GREEN MILE
WATCHMEN