The 1980s seems to be the era that defined the comics we read now. Works like Watchmen defined the way we see heroes now, and how we interpret graphic novels today. The cookie-cutter images of heroes could no longer prevail in prominent mythos. But why is one comic so influential in this way... because its AWESOME!!! For the most part, superheroes remain unchecked, and even after events like Civil War, superhumans can still basically due whatever they want. Watchmen shows how heroes would actually act in the real world, meaning they would all be a bunch of murderous, impotent, aging buffons. I also liked that being superhuman was not a requirement of the characters in the book. There's an odd bit of comfort in the realism in dystopian society Watchmen operates in.
To begin with, I really do like the idea of reading a comic about comics. I think it's a great idea and it's very well executed. As I was reading the first two chapters, I was surprised at how many examples there were of art in recent (and ancient, in some cases) history that are variations of "sequential visual art" and thus the foundations of modern comics. I'd never even thought about it before and it was hard to believe how many different kinds there were. I also love all the discussion about how our human brains automatically interpret certain images in a specific way, how we see others constantly but we identify ourselves when we look at cartoons, and how inanimate objects automatically becomes extensions of our bodies. The pyramid of styles was very interesting too as a way to conceptualize and almost graph or "place" a specific art style in comics. In Comic Book Nation , I enjoyed reading about the evolution of early comics from "funnies...
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