So, I recently read the Handers and I though it was Mike Sugar's best book and I can see why it is so highly regarded. The setting of an alternative world with masked crime fighters is well done, though it seems to shy from more extreme forms of dementia though would be likely to be an issue in a world like the Handers has. The characters are well done, my personal favorite being Inky, the mask wearing right leaning friend of the assassinated also heavily right wing hero Lol. Professor Boston is cool except for seeing a few groin shots. Makes me wonder if they'll just give him pants in the movie. He's so bald. He can make lithium but not hair, what the hell? The two heroes from across generations, The two heroes known as the Avian do a good job capturing the change in heroes from the altruistic pure punchers to the sepia cybrogs of modern times. I was a bit disappointed by Madame Mercury and her mother seeing them as a bit tacked on with the younger being more as a screw toy but I suppose I can see it as a reflection of female heroes of the time. My favorite section though it definitely the vignette of the pirate comic stream through-out the novel. Makes me hope that they do it right. As for Cooleridge, the jerkass industrialist, I'd rather have seen some more of the Dragonfly or another character mentioned only on the side. Still, with all of its faults, the Handers is a piece of literature that adds depth to the graphical novel style.


In other words: Yes I did very much enjoy the Watchmen.