What to Read After Watchmen > Genres > Historical
Historical Comics
300 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley
Recognizable for the popular film adaptation by Zack Snyder, 300 fictionalizes the battle of Thermopylae in which 300 Spartans held a mountain pass position against an infinite army of King Xerxes of Persia. While far from historically accurate, this work captures the brutality and emotion of the spirit of the story, and is highly praised for its bold art and visceral effect.
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Beowulf by Gareth Hinds
This mixed-media adaptation of the Old English heroic epic in which the eponymous hero defeats the beast Grendel, then later, his mother as she avenges her monstrous son. Publisher’s Weekly remarks on the work’s “angular perspectives and unusual color palettes” which develop an “almost overwhelming sense of menace”. A story otherwise inaccessible to many readers for barriers of language and interpretation, this graphic novel brings the classic to a much wider audience.
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From Hell by Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell and Pete Mullins
An extensively researched retelling of the Whitechapel murders committed by the man we remember as Jack the Ripper, From Hell is sure to draw the reader in with both its beguiling crime narrative as well as Moore’s rich, symbolic, highly-crafted storytelling. The new edition contains copious footnotes and annotations regarding Moore’s representation and conclusions surrounding the facts, and the characterization and realistic dialogue make From Hell a work fans commonly rank alongside Watchmen as his best.
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Maus by Art Spiegelman
Three works - Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, and Maus - are commonly held up as definitive proof of the value of graphic novels to literature, culture and education, with Spiegelman’s Maus being favored among traditional readers. A deeply personal narrative about the author’s relationship with his Polish father, which frames his father’s retelling of his experience during the holocaust. The story is harrowing, with emotional depth and detail equal to any recognized WWII work, and significantly intensified by the glimpse of present-day survivors and their children. Winner of a Pulitzer Prize Special Award in 1992, Maus is a critical text among all graphic novels.
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