10 Great Comics You Didn't Understand The First Time

Despite having once been perceived as a juvenile artform, comics are nevertheless exactly that: an artform. And like all art, it is based upon layers. Text gives way to subtext which gives way to symbolism and themes, ultimately relaying the underlying message that the writer was trying to impart with their story.

However, because lots of readers are ready to take comics at their face value, a lot of this hard work and artistry is left unappreciated upon first view. It can sometimes take multiple read-throughs before the inherent message of a comic to finally be understood.

And with comic book culture quickly being integrated into the wider zeitgeist, the consequences of not taking the time to close read them can be pretty disastrous. Consider the fact that Zack Snyder clearly didn't understand that Watchmen was supposed to be a deconstruction of the superhero genre. Or that the Death of Superman was a publicity stunt to sell comics and not supposed to be taken seriously. Or that Jimmy Olsen is kind of an important part of the Superman mythos. Or that Batman doesn't kill, ever.

Don't be Zack Snyder. Take the time to understand the material.

Most people don't understand Watchmen the first time they read it and think it's a dark and gritty superhero drama about the Cold War. The second time they read it, people might pick up on the strong pro-liberal tone and open vilification of the story's supposed heroes. But it is only with context, and usually a third read-through, that people finally understand just what Alan Moore's magnum opus was all about.

In 1983, DC Comics bought the rights to a number of characters from Charlton Comics, most of which had been created and used as a mouthpiece by Steve Ditko and his staunch, Randian views. Moore, an avowed liberal, wanted to use the characters to tell a scathing story subverting Ditko's ideology and the concept of superheroes as a whole. DC was supportive of the idea, but wanted to use their new intellectual property in their main continuity.

So Moore simply transposed the characters into new forms. The patriotic Captain Atom became the detached and unfeeling Dr. Manhattan. The righteous Question became the deranged and obsessive Rorschach. The optimistic Blue Beetle become the depressed and submissive Nite-Owl. With his semi-original creations in tow, Moore crafted a story that not only upended Ditko's Objectivist philosophy, but framed superheroes as a whole as juvenile power fantasies that led to apathy and toxic beliefs based on cultural hero worship.