I’m struggling a little here, because there are so many things to say about the book and its place in history. It is an “important piece of art”(™️), with far more complexity than can be easily expressed. It literally transformed the entire field of comics, and every piece of the genre owes something to it, good or bad. It deserves its reputation as one of the greatest graphic novels of the form, but there are many things about it that are not easy or nice.

It has long been considered unfilmable, not just because of the complexity and harshness of the story, but also because much of its brilliance is inextricably tied to a deep understanding and through deconstruction of comics as an art form. Like his other comic adaptations, Zack Snyder’s take was a shot for shot blocking disaster that completely lacked any inkling of why it was doing what it was doing. Don’t watch it.

But HBO’s new show is kind of amazing, an adaptation that has taken the lens of the book and adapted it to TV and the way media is consumed and informs us today, and has applied that to a modern and culturally relevant story while giving us an unflattering perspective on our ugly history (and consequently, our present), with just enough skewed by the insertion of superheroes that the contrast makes everything even clearer.

I have more to say, but it’s not fully formed yet. I have a few minor quibbles, but the show is a masterwork. It’s hands down one of the finest pieces ever produced for TV, period. Watch it.