The Watchmen problem

Colin Smith, one of our smartest comics bloggers, has been thinking about why it is that a quarter century after their publication, both Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns are still the first superhero comics you think of when trying to convert a civilian to comics:

Watchman and The Dark Knight Returns. The first step in converting the heathen was always obvious and straightforward once the bliss-was-it-in-that-dawn year of 1986 had been and gone. But the problem was always, always, what next? What other comparably excellent super-people gospels were there, what other beguiling and compelling examples of the fantastical comicbook tradition to be thumped into the wavering novice’s hand in order to seal the proselytisation?

A quarter of a century has passed and the problem persists.

Colin states the question in his first post on the subject as follows:

If the duopoly are still so greatly admired even as the briefly cheering circumstances which accompanied their first appearance at the time are long forgotten, it would seem that both comics have an appeal which transcends any one generation and any specific historical context. Given that few would defend either book as being a flawless expression of genius, and given the quality of a great deal of what’s followed in their wake, what is it that lends these comics their considerable reputation?

Then sets out to answer it in his next three posts on “Why The Commonly-Held Comic-Book Canon Is Absolutely Correct”. He makes a good case for justifiying their place at the top of the superhero canon and I’m not going to argue against it, but I do want to argue that there’s more than just their inherent qualities that got them to the top and more importantly, kept them there.

Because there is a bit of luck there as well, especially in the case of The Dark Knight Returns. Which is a good Frank Miller superhero story, but not obviously better than e.g. his work on Daredevil: Born Again or even Ronin. As with Shakespeare yesterday, Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns look more important, more special because they’ve been set adrift from their context. Because they’ve have been continuously in print for a quarter century, they’ve become important, while those comics which appeared at the same time and were just as good or better (e.g. American Flagg!), but which for some reason or another didn’t and so never had the chance to gain the same reputation.