Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Golden Plunger Awards (46 page)

Scientists believe that the study of nanotechnology will eventually lead to nanofactories, microscopic production farms that could even create
new
nanofactories. Clearly, this is going to be a big little business. And it will bring about major changes in the structure of everything from your personal computer to the global economy.

In 1999, ESPN asked its viewers to name the top-10 rivalries in sports. Here’s what they said:

Often relegated to the depths of sub-literature, comic books enjoyed a renaissance in the mid-1980s. Cheaper and more efficient printing processes raised the quality of the paper that comic books were printed on. A mini “British Invasion” of talented artists redefined the art form. Independent presses began to grow in the industry, and more mature storylines helped both to retain grown-up collectors as well as to attract new readers.

For the most part, the backbone of comic books remained superheroes, and superheroes have always been larger-than-life figures fighting for truth and justice in landscapes far removed from the reality of American life. Whether they lived in imaginary settings like Metropolis or Gotham City or in actual places like New York, superheroes didn’t participate in real-world events. They didn’t fight in wars, stop assassinations of world leaders, or prevent millions from starving in third-world countries. The real world was just a backdrop for epic battles fought against archenemies and super villains.

Watchmen
, a comic book series that debuted in 1986, changed that. The brainchild of Brits Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons,
Watchmen
turned all of the previous conventions on their ear. Moore had already made a name for himself in comics by writing
the acclaimed series
Saga of the Swamp Thing
, as well as a famous 1985
Superman
story called “For the Man Who Has Everything,” in which Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman come to celebrate Superman’s birthday, only to find him under the control of a monstrous alien. Gibbons was a talented artist who had drawn several comics series in the United Kingdom before being hired in America to draw
Green Lantern
.

In the mid-1980s, DC Comics bought the properties of Charlton, a defunct publisher that had produced superhero comics like
Captain Atom
and
The Peacemaker
in the 1940s. DC Comics hired Moore and Gibbons to relaunch those Charlton characters for a modern audience, but Moore envisioned a story far beyond the scope of what DC wanted. Instead, Moore and Gibbons created
Watchmen,
a monthly series that spanned 12 comic-book issues and was based loosely on the Charlton characters. For them, the pages of
Watchmen
became a canvas on which to mix the troubles of the real world with the optimism of superheroes.

That’s not to say that
Watchmen
was entirely realistic. In its pages, Richard Nixon is still president in 1985, the United States won the Vietnam War, and the world has a nuclear doomsday clock that’s sitting at five minutes to midnight. Superheroes exist in this world, too, but they’ve mostly gone into hiding. The very first superheroes, masked adventurers from the 1940s who banded together as the Minutemen, had enjoyed decades of adoration from the public for their exploits. But their successors are not so lucky. Times have changed, and now the public is suspicious of people who hide behind masks.

Worse still, a killer is hunting America’s retired superheroes.

The story opens with a narrative from the journal of the superhero Rorschach, a demented and violent psychopath with a twisted hatred toward almost all of humanity (although he claims to protect it). The Comedian, a former superhero whose brutal methods and tactics have earned him a place working for the government, is dead. Although the Comedian’s death appears to the police to
be an isolated homicide, Rorschach believes it’s a case of someone hunting down heroes.

Rorschach begins his investigation by checking in on the retired superheroes who, in the 1960s, had formed a group named the Crimebusters. He finds . . .

As Rorschach continues his investigation into the Comedian’s death, other events begin to unfold. Laurie realizes how unhappy she is and leaves Dr. Manhattan. And people who have worked with Dr. Manhattan for years are diagnosed with cancer. Both of these events cause Dr. Manhattan to leave Earth, shifting the power balance in the world. The Soviet Union then threatens to invade Afghanistan, and the world comes to the brink of war. Death continues to loom—not only over the heads of the former Crimebusters, but also for the Minutemen. As the plot unfolds, Rorschach teams up with Dreiberg and Juspeczyk and begins to learn the truth. Someone has engineered these events in a drastic bid to bring peace to the world, even if it means destroying millions of lives in the process.

The heart of the series is Rorschach. A crazy conspiracy theorist
who hates just about everyone, he still anchors the story with his insights into the minds of others and his intense thoughts, all conveyed through his journal.

In September 2007, England’s BBC launched
Comics Britannica,
a series of interviews with
Watchmen
’s creators. In the interview, Moore revealed his motives behind creating the
Watchmen
story:

For a comic book about superheroes,
Watchmen
is noticeably short on abilities beyond those of mortal men. In fact, all of the masked adventurers, except Dr. Manhattan, fight with just their hearts, minds, and fists.The real superpowers, just as in the actual world, are the frontrunners in the arms race. The United States struggles to keep up with its main enemy, the Soviet Union, and the world deals with the issues of poverty, warfare, and nationalism as well as the social upheavals of civil rights, feminism, and gay culture.

Watchmen
asked what separated costumed heroes from ordinary people and showed that neither was far removed from the other. Even more, it tore down many of the traditions comics had been based on (like clear-cut battles between good guys and bad guys) and built something new in its place. It was unique in other ways, too:

Today,
Watchmen
remains current and important, despite its Cold War backdrop and dated technology (a long-out-of-date computer system provides the final clue to solving the murder mystery). It represented a change in the way comics were created and the kinds of stories they told and brought a whole new genre—the graphic novel—into the mainstream.

Based on his father’s stories, Spiegelman shows a harrowing and terrifying account of the Nazi invasion of Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto, and World War II concentration camps. But there’s a twist: Jewish people are portrayed as mice, the Nazis as cats.

Corrigan is neither a child nor a genius, but an overweight, depressed man who tracks down (and is ultimately disappointed by) his long-lost father. Along the way, he finds redemption and belonging when he meets a sister he never knew he had.

Microchips

When a pet goes missing, the worry is tough to take. Microchips offer a relief for that worry. According to the American Microchip Advisory Council for Animals, more than 11 million household pets and horses have been chipped in the United States. Chipping programs began in the early 1970s, when the chips were placed on tags clipped to the animal’s ear. Microchipping started in the 1980s, when technological advancements produced chips small enough to implant in the animals.

Most people don’t complain about this use of microchips and even find it a comfort to know that their lost pets can be easily found. When animal control or a shelter picks up a stray animal, the animal is scanned for a chip. When the scanner reads the chip, the pet is identified and reunited with its owner.