>>108917561I was I think 13-14 when I first read it, and my first takeaway was predictably edgy and shallow, thinking "dude, that's right, superheroes are GAY and UNREALISTIC!!!". This kicked off a phase for me in which I thought I was super smart and special for not liking superhero comics and reading stuff that was edgier, mostly Vertigo stuff. It's ironic that I considered it such high art without really paying attention to the characterization, the storytelling, and not even the art. I can honestly say that a huge part of the reason I considered it such a masterpiece is simply because other people told me it was.
I also didn't know shit about comics history, especially not DC, so I missed a lot of the elements that I now find some of the most interesting, those being how it weaves in a lot of real comics history and references to things like legacies to create its own very unique universe.
Equally retarded was a little after All-Star Superman and the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon came out, I did the complete opposite and panned the comic as edgy, pretentious garbage, and thought I was super smart and special for hating Watchmen and anything that tried to be deeper or more realistic whatsoever.
I eventually finally grew up a little and as I came to understand the actual artistic merit of the story and art more, as well as get a deeper understanding of comics history and the context that the original comic came out in, I finally was able to parse what the comic was about and now once again appreciate it as a masterpiece that is not as much critical of superheroes as it is of our own world and why superheroes are perhaps too good for it. It feels less like it's making an argument or an indictment, and more like it's simply showing us an interpretation and asking us to make our own conclusions.
