A Stronger Loving World (1987)

A Stronger Loving World Review

A Stronger Loving World is the twelfth and final issue in the twelve-issue series Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons.

This issue features a somewhat anti-climactic, rushed conclusion, but a moral conundrum that made for very emotionally investing, complex storytelling. Veidt releases lab creatures that end up killing many people in the city, but under that false alien pretense humanity is united, including all the superpowers in the world. He’s an intriguing, realistic villain that was well contrasted with other characters and his similarities with Dr. Manhattan are well explored here.

Rorschach is against this plan, so he plans to stop it, which results in Manhattan obliterating him. This death was unexpected and truly shocking, especially for how it happened so quickly. It made sense for these two to clash like this and it was a fitting farewell to one of the series’ most unforgettable characters.

There isn’t a supplement at the end of this issue and it ends somewhat disappointingly with the last couple of panels leaving a lot to be desired in terms of memorable imagery, but the beginning with those huge panels of the creature destroying the city and killing people was strikingly dark and gruesome. The illustration work is gorgeous, but the dialogue is excellent and, although somewhat anti-climactic, how everything concluded was grounded in reality and quite sophisticated.

A Stronger Loving World ended the Watchmen series with a bang. It is a flawed issue, but one that features some very memorable panels, an unforgettable moral conundrum at its core and one truly heartbreaking sequence that was shocking to witness.

My Rating – 4.4