How Watchmen’s Superheroes Helped America Face up to its Past

I’ve always hated superhero stories. Caped crusaders, urban crime, heroes, villains, gadgets, superpowers, blah blah blah. The Dark Knight was kind of cool, since it was filmed in Pittsburgh, where I live. But, still. YAWN.

Until HBO’s Watchmen. I watched the pilot episode last summer, which included a devastating recreation of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and I was hooked. Watchmen stars Regina King as Angela Abar/Sister Night, an African American vigilante who unravels a mystery about the traumatic historical events, including the Tulsa Race Massacre, that have…