Seen one mutant, seen 'em all

I hope this doesn't make me a racist, but I just can't tell mutants apart. Doesn't matter if one has holes in its face and another is a blue giant and another has pointed ears and a snub nose—they all look the same to me. And as I move from frame to frame in the graphic novel I'm trying to wade through, I can't remember whether it was the Comedian who died or Rorschach or who. So I have to keep backing up through the pages to the beginning.

"Watchmen" was on a best-100-books-ever-written list, so I thought I should read it, but I seem to have lost some kid instinct for this stuff—if I ever had it. Deepest I ever got into comics was a couple of forbidden Archies. It's really hard to figure out who's talking, and who's thinking, and what frame comes after what frame. Plus, the plot is gruesome! The whole exercise is a little more strenuous than I expected. However, I'm convinced there's some value in mastering this strange genre, though I'm not sure what.