Reading 2009

Jeffrey Lewis: Watchmen Lecture

American anti-folk singer/songwriter Jeffrey Lewis will host a very special lecture on the virtues of Watchmen the comic book. A comic book artist himself, Lewis is a self-confessed fan of Alan Moore’s classic comic book series having written his university thesis on the symbolism and intricacies hidden within them. Hailed as one of the world’s greatest graphic novels that brims with apocalyptic themes, Lewis’ lecture endeavours to unveil cryptic references and hidden meanings as a means to reflect contemporary anxieties and to critique the superhero concept. Alan Moore's masterpiece of 1980s paranoia and deconstructed superheroes is upheld by many as the world’s greatest graphic novel and Jeff will engage these claims in his own inimitable fashion, using his own senior college thesis written in 1997 as a starting point. The lecture will feature plenty of slides, but Professor Lewis sternly insists that all attendees must have done their homework and read Watchmen at least once in their lives before showing up to class.

 "The [Watchmen] movie... does not even compare to the experience I had at [Jeff's] lecture... Warner Bros should have given [Jeff] a hundred million dollars instead. Where the movie didn't add a single thing to my experience of Watchmen, [the lecture] blew my mind and captured my attention and imagination." - Jason Levian, Floating World

"I thought I knew Watchmen inside out.  Jeffrey... is in a different league.... He had astonishingly detailed insights into the complex symbolism of the book, many of which had never occurred to me...  If you get a chance to see him talk about Watchmen again, I’d urge you to go." - Word Magazine

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