Dahee Yu Yu itibaren Kot Kabir Nau, Пакистан itibaren Kot Kabir Nau, Пакистан

** spoiler alert ** Read it years ago in college. Wasn't very impressed then. However, reading it now and knowing the literary context, I can appreciate how ground-breaking it was. Previously, without knowing context, I just saw it as another 'superhero angst' book without realizing it was THE superhero angst book that the others owed a debt to. I have a weakness for archetypes. After reading it again before seeing the movie, it was fun to go back through and see all of the times Rorschach shows up in panels 'in disguise', like at the funeral. (You can even see him checking his 'mailbox' in the background of one scene.) I still think it was too long and the pirate story unnecessary, BUT the pirate sections are where Rorschach gets the most background scene-time, so I think it's thrown in there as a red-herring to distract you from the background action. (Yes, I know that's a spoiler, but only a minor one for mid-book, so :P) There are also other subtle things like the happy face blood spatter also shows up on Comedian's first (yellow) costume during the rape scene about where the button is in the later costume, as well as splattering on the same spot on the button in Vietnam when he gets his scar. Saw the movie today and one image they had in the movie that SHOULD have been in the book was at the end at [someone's:] death, his blood splatter left a ... pattern in the snow. It would have been a very iconic image in the comic, but it's not there.

I thought this book was a very classic romance novel. Almost like Romeo and Juliet just more modern. A boy and a girl meet, fall in love and her parents take her away from him...classic, right? Yes. Great book for teens and up.