Queer Comic Book Characters: Normalization Through Marginalization in Watchmen (Oct 6th) 2 of 3

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave GibbonsWhile these posts are part of a celebration of LGBT History Month, Watchmen‘s problems go beyond just sexual minorities, and I’ll also be covering gender and racial minorities in this part.

As a great story, Watchmen must be able to reach across all types of people and become a universal story. A universal story is enjoyable no matter who you are and no matter if you physically or emotionally resemble the characters. Watchmen, however, falls short from being a universal story as Alan Moore and David Gibbons normalize women, racial minorities, and sexual minorities through marginalization.

Moore notes that he wanted control over his own characters for Watchmen so he could destroy or kill them without blighting the beloved DC Universe. This is important because Moore’s making a mockery of the perfect superhero, who has no flaws, by making his heroes murder and rape victims, become alcoholics, go crazy, etc., and he gives only one of them actual superpowers. Most of them are no stronger, faster, etc. than you or I. This meta text is credited with moving superhero comics into darker realms of human experience than they’d ever been before. Moore and Gibbons craftly uses the backdrop of the Cold War and millennial panic to show how everyone, regardless of superpowers, gender, race, or sexual orientation, is affected by life. Continue reading “Queer Comic Book Characters: Normalization Through Marginalization in Watchmen (Oct 6th) 2 of 3”