WATCHING THE DETECTIVES: More good responses to my Watchmen piece.

Superhero comics as the literature of ethics, a.k.a. stuff I almost entirely ignored! (Partly because I was more into the murder-mystery/existential questions than the superhero/ethical ones. But this post makes like a dozen really good points.) Snippet: “I’ve reread five issues so far and I’m more convinced than ever: Watchmen is not a story about ‘what superheroes would really be like.’ It’s a story about Cold War America.”

But wait! there’s more! UO follows up with another really toothsome post, including this yes-yes-YES moment: “Along that line, isn’t it past time to stop discussing Watchmen as a work of hyper-realism?” Hyper-realism is both overrated and impossible to recognize. And oh wow do I wish I’d considered the Jewish angle. Must ponder further, in the Ponder Patch.

Oh and as long as we’re linking to Unqualified Offerings on comics, there’s bonus growliciousness here. I agree wholeheartedly–I cannot, cannot, cannot! deal with stories where the ethical questions are dodged in the precise way UO details: “If you’re going to write war stories, have the [deleted b/c no blasphemin’ on the blog] balls to acknowledge that killing people is what the participants in a war do.” Oh man, is this one of my personal rant ignition switches. Fortunately, UO has done my ranting for me.