I must announce that I have become a full-fledged comic-book nerd by accomplishing an important rite of passage, and lived to exhiliratingly tell the tale. That achievement must be recorded here, if nowhere else, as a sort of badge to be sewed onto my comic book boy scout vest.

Ten minutes ago I finished Alan Moore's Watchmen.

And with that, I am officially a comic book nerd. I'm sold out. I will put "attend ComiCon" in my life's list and save money for it. I will attempt my hand at writing my own comic book. I will wait in line for the opening of its adaptation, set to be directed by none other than the director of Requiem for a Dream, Darren Aronofsky. I might just even buy the soundtrack.

Suffice to say, I loved it. It was complex, it was thrilling, it was intelligent, it was multi-layered, it was amazing. For a superhero comic? Absolutely.

I don't want to ultimately praise it for its dark and somber tone, but more for its thoroughness and clarity brought about by its darkness. C.S. Lewis commented in The Screwtape Letters that being human, the only thing he could write effectively about was the dark side of humanity. And, in much the same way, Moore does a exemplary job of doing just that.

This is, of course, a "what-if?" kind of story, exploring the possibilities of human reaction towards the caped crusader in the campy suit. What happens in a world where the crusader exists? What would it be like if these characters were fully fleshed out and far from the popular, comfortable archetypes we've come to adore? Worse, how would we react to an actual Superman? How would the world react? How would history be different?

I read Moore's previous work "V for Vendetta" and I was blown away by that as well, but it seems as if Watchmen was his crown jewel. Like George Orwell, he is fond of grand socio-political epics and examining the tiny humans that are involved in its struggles. His works are utopian or anti-utopian in nature, but unlike Orwell, there are "happy endings" to his stories.

Not to say that in a light way at all. Achieving these endings is a struggle in itself, as these superheroes do not battle asteroids coming to destroy earth, and witness a finial sunset as their reward. No, these characters battled to keep humanity itself from deserving to be hit with asteroids. They deserved a better ending, and Moore gave them that. (Not that there are asteroids in Vendetta or Watchmen).

And in the end, there is retribution, justification, satisfaction for both the characters and the readers, but not in the usual sense of comic fiction.