By Raven (and Jaylon) Gregory
It was some nineteen years ago, sixth or seven grade, I stumbled upon Watchmen at my local public library and I have to say the first time I read it I absolutely hated it. It was a drag to read but somehow I made my way through this immense piece of fiction and got to the end not really getting it at all but getting the sense that I indeed did not “get it” which explained the lack of enjoyment at the time.
Some many years passed in which I was introduced to X-Men, Hulk, EC Comics, and indie books of all different flavors and eventually Watchmen found its way back into my hands and upon a second reading I was absolutely blown away and have been in each of the eight subsequent readings over the years.
Fast forward to Friday the 13th 2009, the week after the debut of the Watchmen movie where me and my son (now 12 and about the same age as I was when I discovered Watchmen for myself) went to see the movie (second time for me and first for him and yes I covered his eyes during the sex scene as that’s just what dads do) and I thought it would be cool to interview my son and get his thoughts on the movie, being that even though he is the son of a comic writer he has only recently begun “getting” hard core into comics and had just finished reading Watchmen for his first time three months ago.
I’ve always tried my best not to censor what my son reads. I remember reading Stephen King’s THE STAND in sixth grade, and Robert McCameron and Dean Koontz, as well as discovering EC’s Vault of Horror series as well as other various adult reading literature. So with that in mind it’s rare that, with the exception of my own books which I still find are too violent for him to read, and any adult adult material, that I say no to anything he wants to check out. An example being I only recently forbid him reading THE WALKING DEAD after the now infamous “rape” scene occurred as some things are just not for kids. He still tries to sneak reading it but I’ve gotten pretty good at catching him at it whenever we go to the comic store.
So with all that said, let’s get to it and see what my son Jaylon thought of Watchmen movie and book and how much what he thinks is shared by those of you seeing it for the first, or reading it for the tenth time.
RG: So, Jaylon, what kind of comics and books do you like to read?
JG: Mouse Guard, any Zombie books like World War Z, Hulk, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimatum, Old Man Logan (he really likes that), Batman Hush.
RG: That’s cool. You seem to like a lot of different books. What made you decide to read Watchmen?
JG: Well, my dad offered me a deal where if I read a chapter every day I’d get to play an hour on the Xbox 360 but after I read the first chapter I didn’t really care about playing the game and just really started liking the book.
RG: What did you think of the book when you read it?
JG: I thought that it was pretty good. I liked how it had a normal start. But then got interesting quickly with the mystery of who murdered the Comedian.
RG: When you were reading it, did you have any guesses as to who was behind the death of the Comedian?
JG: No, no clue at all. I thought it was some ex-nemesis of the Comedians’. But then I finished reading and I found out it was one of his friends and I was like oh my gosh the creators of Watchmen were really thinking and that the readers would never see that coming.
RG: So, enough about the graphic novel as we could talk forever about that. What did you think of the movie?
JG: I thought it was pretty good. I liked that it showed Rorschach mask change all the time. But it was boring the first half but the second half I really liked as it had a lot more action, a lot more kicking butt, and you got to find out who killed the Comedian.
RG: What did you think about the revelation that Oz was behind it all? Did you agree with Rorschach or Oz point of view?
JG: I was pretty impressed. If you were a superhero it would take a lot of guts to risk millions of lives to save billions. So I have to say I agree with Oz. But a person is still a person no matter what so I’d have to agree with both of them as killing is wrong no matter what the reason…that no reason is good enough reason to kill anyone.
RG: So of the movie and the graphic novel which did you enjoy more?
JG: Book more…because it was slower and easier to understand it all where as the movie just went right past you.
RG: So movie and book. 1 to 10. How would you rate them?
JG: Book 8.9 and the movie 7.5
RG: So do you think you’ll read the book again? Do you think you’ll watch the movie again as well? Or have you had enough of Watchmen?
JG: I think I might, that’s a positive maybe, that I might read the book again, but I will definitely see the movie again and watch the extra material DVD stuff coming out later this month. The pirate thing.
RG: Well, thanks for talking with us and I think it’s way past time you got your butt in bed. Any last words?
JG: I thought you and me were going to play bang-bang on Resident Evil 5.
RG: Don’t push it.
JG: Go Nite Owl. 
RG: P.S. It was better the second time around. Night, folks.
Best,
Raven Gregory
Editor Zenescope Entertainment
www.zenescope.com
March 16th, 2009 at 10:51 am
I was about 13 or 14 when i read Watchmen the first time, not much older than this kid. I thought it was pretty subversive reading this in class in a Catholic School. I find it ironic though that in your household though, WALKING DEAD got banned because of a rape scene (in 50+ issues), while in the Watchmen COMIC BOOK the Rape Scene is perhaps longer than any action sequence found anywhere in all 12 chapters. Also if you’ve seen the movie, the rape scene was extremely graphic, so why isn’t this banned as well? I’m not a parent so i wouldn’t know about these standards.
March 16th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I have to question some of the standards here too… Cover you kid’s eyes for the sex scene, but the over the top violence in the movie, including the attempted (in the movie) rape, is OK?
I’m also wondering if taking a child to the movie, knowing you fully intend to cover his eyes during the sex scene, is really a movie the kid should be seeing in the first place? There’s also Laurie/Manhattan’s sex scene (tame, but played up a bit more in the movie than in the book), and the infamous big blue cock.
I’m curious to know if Mr. Gregory talked about the sex in the book with his son, and how he distinguishes that from the movie (admittedly, Dan and Laurie’s tryst was surprisingly graphic compared to the comic).
Jaylon does sound like a bright young man, though I have to admit that his “agreeing” with Ozymandias yeeped me out a bit. He definitely shows he’s 12 when he talks about the second half of the movie picking up due to “a lot more kicking butt,” and that might be reason enough to say that Watchmen really isn’t meant for kids that age. “Kicking butt” wasn’t really the point, but a younger child isn’t necessarily going to pick up on that.
Every parent has to make his or her decisions about stuff like this, and I’m just offering up my $.02 in the matter.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I think my biggest deal with the rape scene in WALKING DEAD was that, from what I remember, it was pretty graphic, not so much in what they showed but how it was potrayed, the “attempted” rape scene in Watchmen was handle with more of a Hitchcock style with showing less to show more with the scene playing out quickly when the comedian got his ass beat by masked avenger (I think that’s his name).
As for movies parents take their kids to see, each parent is different. I was brought up a horror junkie from day one. I remember my mom taking me to see Nightmare on Elm Street the Dream Warriors in the third grade and covering my eyes whenever nudity popped up on the screen:)
Jaylon is very much the same way. He digs all things horror related, as well as Pixar, action flicks, and comedies and he understands very well that none of these things are real and that somewhere there is a person writing all this stuff into existence with actors playing the part on screen.
He’s actually working on a zombie novel himself as he’s a huge fan of Max Brooks work.
The opposite end of the spectrum is my eight year old who can’t stand to even see a scary commercial let alone a scary movie.
But yeah, I don’t think he’ll fully get Watchmen for some years to come but I like the fact that he got to see something he read be so faithful translated.
March 17th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
I saw Starship Troopers when I was around the same age, and my eyes didn’t even get covered up during the shower or sex scene despite being with my dad.
Personally, I think if a parent treats a child like an adult with proper guidance, explanations, and help along the way the kid should be fine. Though, I suppose what exactly that would consist of would be a different matter of debate. And this is all me running my mouth without any experience. We’ll see if I can follow my own advice once I get a little hellion of my own.
November 23rd, 2011 at 2:43 pm
My dad cares for me and yes he covered my eyes but why would any dad talk about sex with a 12 year old. ;]