I've been reading a lot about the new Watchmen movie adaptation, and nearly every article I've seen mentions that the Alan Moore-penned graphic novel it was based on was included on Time's List of the 100 Best English-Language Novels of the 20th Century.

Frankly, I'm not surprised. Anyone who's seen Time's list knows that Watchmen is exactly the kind of thing Time loves: it's gloomy, it's self-consciously arty, and it was written by a white dude. Sure, Time includes a small percentage of token female and/or minority writers, but the vast majority of books on their list are bleak reflections on human suffering written by white guys with very little hands-on experience with the subject.

Books not featured on this list include, but are not limited to:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery
The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath
Dune, by Frank Herbert
Nine Coaches Waiting, by Mary Stewart
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

See what I mean? Watchmen might fit right in with the Time list, but that doesn't automatically make it the greatest English-language graphic novel of the 20th century. It just means it's the kind of story that appeals to a couple of Time staffers who would rather feature two Saul Bellow novels on their "Best of" list than include a book like Dune, much less something like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Labels: lists, Magazines, Oh, whatever.