This Hugo Award-winning graphic novel chronicles the fall from grace of a group of super-heroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the super-hero is dissected as the heroes are stalked by an unknown assassin. One of the most influential graphic novels of all time and a perennial bestseller, WATCHMEN has been studied on college campuses across the nation and is considered a gateway title, leading readers to other graphic novels such as V FOR VENDETTA, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and THE SANDMAN series.
Has any comic been as acclaimed as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen? Possibly only Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, but Watchmen remains the critics' favorite. Why? Because Moore is a better writer, and Watchmen a more complex and dark and literate creation than Miller's fantastic, subversive take on the Batman myth. Moore, renowned for many other of the genre's finest creations (Saga of the Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta, and From Hell, with Eddie Campbell) first put out Watchmen in 12 issues for DC in 1986-87. It won a comic award at the time (the 1987 Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards for Best Writer/Artist combination) and has continued to gather praise since.
The story concerns a group called the Crimebusters and a plot to kill and discredit them. Moore's characterization is as sophisticated as any novel's. Importantly the costumes do not get in the way of the storytelling; rather they allow Moore to investigate issues of power and control--indeed it was Watchmen, and to a lesser extent Dark Knight, that propelled the comic genre forward, making "adult" comics a reality. The artwork of Gibbons (best known for 2000AD's Rogue Trooper and DC's Green Lantern) is very fine too, echoing Moore's paranoid mood perfectly throughout. Packed with symbolism, some of the overlying themes (arms control, nuclear threat, vigilantes) have dated but the intelligent social and political commentary, the structure of the story itself, its intertextuality (chapters appended with excerpts from other "works" and "studies" on Moore's characters, or with excerpts from another comic book being read by a child within the story), the finepace of the writing and its humanity mean that Watchmen more than stands up--it keeps its crown as the best the genre has yet produced. --Mark Thwaite
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An amazing book:
Hands down, one of the best graphic novels I've read, right up there with Sandman and Dark Knight Returns. More than just a superhero novel, it goes in depth into the underlying mentality that motivated these people to wear a costume and fight crime, and how that mentality comes back to bite them in the end. I highly recommend this.
We ALL should watch the WATCHMEN:
ok, I'll admit - the main reason why I got interested in the book was because of the teaser trailer that came out before The Dark Knight (which by the way was AWESOME!!!). I had never heard of Watchmen before and all I kept reading was, "most celebrated graphic novel of all time", so that added to the intrigue. Who were these characters? Why had I NEVER before seen any merch, Saturday morning toons, ice cream truck popsicles even!?! I had to find out. I started looking it up online. First it began with... more info
A Unique Experience:
What would happen if small-time vigilantism and all its collateral damage went universal all at once? Would those vigilantes approve of the ultimate conclusion to the code they practiced ineffectively, until now; would the people they protect? The complex character histories provide the clues to these answers which the rather abrupt ending completes. The slightly goofy mad scientist elements aside, this story highlights some interesting ethical conflicts and shows their effects upon a diverse set of... more info
