Abstract
This article tries out the literary theory of possible worlds in graphic narratives through the example of Watchmen. It shows that it is a powerful tool to explain how the basic form of the comic, articulating a diegetic sequence with coexisting panels, can build reference to different worlds and give the reader access to worlds that are symbolically, logically or ontologically different from the actual world. Joining together different fictional worlds, intertwining many narratives, and actualizing a passage of the superhero from fiction to reality, Watchmen is at the same time an alternative history, a parody and a metafiction. Far from being a cerebral experience, the intense circulation between worlds builds immersion in fiction and, in the case of this particular comic book, leads pragmatically to a critique of the superhero figure and the political order it is attached to.
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Notes
Watchmen is initially a twelve-issue comic book series, published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form (Gibbons and Moore 1987). It was created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colourist John Higgins.
Obviously, this idea plays with, and shows at the same time, the transfictionality of superhero characters. There is “transfictionality” when two texts (movies, comic books, etc.) or more, by the same author or not, refer to the same fiction, through the revival of a character, of the same fictional universe, through the sequel or continuation of a story; for example: the first sequel of Don Quijote, W. S. Baring-Gould's Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, etc. (Saint-Gelais 2011).
As it happens in the comic genre, the superheroes unified in a team which took the name of “Crimebusters”, after another generation called “the Minutemen”.
Kripke (1980, esp. pp. 40–49).
Salanskis (2007).
Lavocat (2010).
Ryan (1991).
Groensteen (1999, p. 13 sqq).
See John Buscema’s advice in Lee and Buscema (1978).
All these paraphernalia can be seen on pages 5 and 8 of the first chapter; page 2, a photo shows the Comedian shaking hands with President Ford. From now on, the references to the graphic novel will be given as follow: I, 5, or IV, 16, the Roman number referring to the chapter, the Arabic one to the page of the chapter, each being numbered by Gibbons at the bottom right. This pagination is therefore the same in all editions.
Doležel (2010).
The travel metaphor is also used by Salanskis (2007).
Following Ryan, I use the notion of possible worlds in a large sense.
Moore (2000).
Groensteen (1999, p. 21 sqq).
The pictures may contradict the story told by a character. To understand all the means graphic narratives have for presenting minds in action, see Mikkonen (2008). Mikkonen demonstrates how comics “stimulate the viewer’s engagement with the minds of characters by recourse to a wide range of verbal modes of narration in a dynamic relation with images that show minds in action” (p. 302).
For further details, see Pasquier and Thouret (2006).
Lavocat (2010, p. 29).
Again, Mikkonen (2008) tends to support this proposition.
There is multireference (or « polyréférentialité ») when a fiction refers to, or defines, more than one possible world. For instance, allegory is very much characterised by multireference; the Roman de la Rose refers to: a garden promenade, a love quest, the Bible, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which are fictional worlds, and also to the actual world. Lavocat (2010, pp. 26–31).
The Nite Owl is the superhero identity Hollis Mason gave himself in the fourties; after Mason retired, Dan Dreiberg, one of the main characters of the graphic novel, took the same superhero character, becoming thus the second Nite Owl. See next paragraph.
Gabilliet (2005, pp. 53–69).
His costume as a superhero is inspired by the great conqueror and he puts it back on at the end of the story; there are plenty textual and pictural references to Alexander’s history.
Paik’s interpretation (2010, Chap. 1 “Utopia achieved. The Case of Watchmen”, pp. 23–69) is completely opposite to mine; he argues that the plan is bound to succeed, since even The Comedian believes in it. But the monster is too ridiculous and too far from Gibbons imagery not to be ironic; moreover it directly contradicts Moore’s political discourse as we will see further down.
Citton (2010, “Introduction. ‘Doux pouvoir’ et scénarisation”).
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Thouret, C. Traveling possible words in graphic narratives: The example of Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons). Neohelicon 40, 461–474 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-013-0205-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-013-0205-x