Watchmen | 
 enlarge | Author: Alan Moore
Creator: Dave Gibbons
Publisher: DC Comics
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
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Rating:  651 reviews
Sales Rank: 31
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0930289234
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5941
EAN: 9780930289232
ASIN: 0930289234
Publication Date: April 1, 1995
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Amazon.com Review
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
Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 646 more reviews...
 Loses It Allure with Age & Multiple Readings January 4, 2009
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Okay, I realize that w/out Alan Moore, the road for a genius such as Neil Gaiman would have been more difficult. No doubt Moore helped pave the way for those who would take comic books to greater heights, exploring the medium's potential to its fullest.
I'm not sure TIME MAGAZINE put THE best "graphic novel" on its list of Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century. Without a doubt, the collected volumes of Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN would be more worthy of inclusion...same for Art Spiegelman's MAUS.
I've read all three (WATCHMEN, entire SANDMAN series & MAUS) an equal number of times. With SANDMAN and MAUS, I always discover something newly unknown and magical with each repeated reading. With WATCHMEN I tend to see more of its warts & flaws with each reading.
Gaiman and Spiegelman have an ear for poetic prose and dialogue. By comparison, though dense and laden with many words, Moore's style of writing is often so verbose, as though a lack of brevity will equal a profound statement. It doesn't. Often less is more...and this is a lesson that Moore, even after all these years, has yet to master.
Finally, when dealing with writers such as Neil Gaiman or Art Spiegleman (and there are dozens of others whom I could mention, but felt it simpler to limit comparisons to these two accomplished writers in comics), one feels that they often bring out the nightmarish and horrific in order to shine a light on what is, essentially, the better angels within humanity.
And both writers DO enter into dark & disturbing terrain.
By contrast, one gets the feeling that Moore sometimes pontificates on the importance of humanity as a cheap vehicle to go full guns into his disturbing mind and world. Acts of grace...when they occur in Moore's work...seem to exist only to remind his readers that the world is not entirely one of no god, no hope, no future. However, if given his way, I get the feeling that Moore would happily skip the better angels of humanity and would dwell entirely in the abyss.
After having lived with WATCHMEN for over twenty years, it is a flawed, bloated and pompous work...more an exercise in histrionics rather than a work that sheds anything new on humans (be they costumed, with super-powers, or otherwise). It does not hold up nearly as well as the works of Gaiman or Spiegleman. TIME magazine picked the wrong token graphic novel to include in its 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.
When I read MAUS, I wish that I had Spiegleman's knack for pathos and natural dialogue. When I read Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN (or just about any of Gaiman's work), I wish that I had Gaiman's extensive knowledge of myth, archtypes, religions, symbols and literature (as well as his eloquence in both narrative and dialogue). When I read Alan Moore (whether it's WATCHMEN or V FOR VENDETTA or LOST GIRLS)...I pretty much find myself forever grateful that I'm not Alan Moore.
I don't mind that Moore tackles disturbing topics. More than anything, I resent when Moore...with all the people skills of a misanthrope...exploits tender human situations (which, in Moore's hands, feel completely void of any sincerity/empathy) for the sole purpose of making his bleak, nihilsitic vision all the more potent.
We get it, Alan...the world is a place where there be dragons. It's why you seldom leaves you small town in England (and will do your research through books rather than ever visit the settings with which he writes with the false authority of a self-appointed expert). Fine, Alan. Just leave the goodness and grace of humans out of your tomes. Humanity and grace serve a higher purpose than the way you exploit them...as a vessel to merely offer a dichotomy/diversion to the demons that drive you.
What's written above would also apply to Frank Miller...
Gaiman/Spiegleman and Moore/Miller...one may as well say "the sacred and the profane."
 Who Reads the Watchmen? January 4, 2009
A Band of Heroes that Portray the Essence of Mankind
Well, I enjoyed reading the Watchmen so much that I'm writing about it a second time. Mostly due to my dimwitted need to type fast. I typed so fast that I managed to turn a typo into a flipping keystroke that led me to the first page of this website, and thus, deleted all that I had written for th
e past two hours. But that is neither here nor there.
The Watchmen is a spoof off an array of iconic superheroes, taking place in a world that is more of a dystopia because of the champions. These heroes are a band of special persons who are granted immunity from the law. They are the Watchmen.
According to their time line, the US constantly shoves the Soviet Union diplomatically. For the time being it seems as though the Cold War will have an American victory after her victory in Vietnam. The war in Vietnam was won because of the Watchmen's involvement under the leadership of a living deity, Dr. Manhattan.
But after the war, the Watchmen gradually disbanded and it is only after the murder of the Comedian, do they reunite. The first man to start meeting with members again is Rorschach. He is a bitter man who has suffered the dysfunctional childhood of being son of a prostitute. All his grievances and hardships molded a man of relentless brutality and strive for justice. Such a hero is the byproduct of a society gone to sin. He is conservatively stubborn, extremely vicious, and all sorts of ugly. The epitome of what an innocent boy may become after a life of struggle. He is also the only man who truly wishes to avenge his one-time ally, the Comedian.
The Comedian is a would-be rapist and cold-blooded killer. For years he served his country in war and took whatever spoils he desired. He is the bizarro version of Captain America. Instead of justice, he represents dominance. He is all that is evil with man and is very deserving of his fate for he can never live in a world devoid of war and chaos. It is more of a lover for him than the Vietnamese he knocked-up during the war. Still, he is a brother in arms, but Rorschark cannot avenge such a man without help.
It takes an impotent coward and a sassy redhead to spring Rorschach from prison, after the supposed murderer framed Rorschach. Nite Owl was once a Watchman, but his hero days have been inactive for so long that he has fattened into a simple coward that can barely keep it up in the presence of a beautiful woman. He is a symbol of man's cowardly impotence. Both figuratively and literally. But after a daring rescue of civilians in a fire, and then later Rorschach's liberation from prison, Nite Owl begins to represent mankind's hope.
The beautiful woman previously mentioned is Silk Spectra. She is a witty temptress who acts as the object of both Nite Owl and Dr. Manhattan's affection. Streaming along with her beauty, she is also very independent and strong. Though she lusts for passion as well. She is the essence of womanhood, both beautiful and merciless.
After Rorschach's escape, the three come reunite with Dr. Manhattan to find the killer. Though Dr. Manhattan is more an angelic creature than he is human. Suffering from and accidental physics experiment, Dr. Manhattan can manipulate matter and energy to whatever he pleases. He was the reason for such a victorious Cold War, but he could never fully control his emotions. After a past lover was diagnosed with cancer, Dr. Manhattan was blamed for the cause. He exiled himself to the desolate Martian landscape, which allowed the Soviets to take back their superpower status and thus invade Afghanistan. The third world war was imminent. Dr. Manhattan barely knew how to stop it, though he knew the outcome. He can foresee the future, but he cannot stop it. He is both omnipotent and ignorant of all things. The being that man worships, but can never become. God exists, and he's American.
The villain of this epic turns out to be Ozymandias, former member of the Watchmen, and considered to be the smartest man alive. It was he who murdered the Comedian in order to proceed with his master plan. The plan to stave off World War III. It was his brilliance that united the world under cohabitation. It was also his cold-hearted nature that allowed him to make sacrifices for this new world order. His lust for knowledge of things true led him to the solution. Murdering millions in order to trick the populous of an alien threat would end the Cold War in preparation of a galactic war that would never come. Ozymandias does this with his vast knowledge and his massive fortune gained from a series of enterprises that sold-out his life of crime fighting to manufacturing action figures. He is all that represents greed and self-envy. The hero that is corrupt and the villain with good intentions.
In the end, the heroes went along with this grand scheme to unite the world under a peaceful rule. All but Rorschach. Like the Comedian, he did not want to live in this world. And he could not bare the thought of allowing his friend's death to be in vain. Because of this, Dr. Manhattan vaporized the masked hero and left planet earth with his sense of omnipotent superiority. This is both a tragic and legendary tale. So much is dedicated to the theme of world peace. But then it asks at what price and throws the reader into a tale-spin of inner-debate on both morals and principles. Definitely a great read and I highly recommend getting the original story before the movie comes out. Who knows how they will change the story. Hopefully they won't butcher it too much, especially since Frank Miller is directing it. He's proven to be a great director for his works in Sin City, 300, and The Spirit. Still, no one ever knows. Hollywood has a tendency of making heroes corrupt, despite their good intentions.
 One of Great Ones January 4, 2009
One of the first graphic novels a person should read if they are trying them out. A must read for everyone really. Great story and tormented characters
A Graphic Giant... December 31, 2008
This is an awesome book. It is one of those books that lives up to the hype. Believe all the great things you have heard about this comic. Read it before the movie comes out... Don't let your first taste of the Watchmen come second hand from Hollywood...
A Comic Book Masterpiece December 31, 2008
** This review contains minor spoilers. **
In Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's "Watchmen," there is a character called the Comedian who resembles the Joker from "The Dark Knight" in his gleeful contempt for humanity. And he was one of the good guys.
Somewhere in the multiverse, in a realm where superheroes exist, the Keene Act of 1977 outlawed "masked vigilantes," with the exception of those who worked for the United States government. Edward Blake, a.k.a. The Comedian, continued under federal contract, committing atrocities in the Vietnam War, until one day in 1985 he was thrown out his New York City apartment window. One of his few remaining admirers, a jaded rogue known only as Rorschach (once described by Moore as a study in a real-world Batman - the end result is, unfortunately, "a nutcase") becomes convinced that someone is targeting costumed adventurers and sets out to warn his ex-comrades. Things get even shadier after the Comedian's funeral (attended by such notables as the Dan Drieberg, once the Nite Owl II; Doctor Manhattan; Laurie Juspeczyk the second Silk Spectre; and Adrian Veidt, previously called Ozymandias) when godlike superhuman Doctor Manhattan is publicly accused of giving a several of his former associates cancer and subsequently exiles himself to Mars. Once hailed as America's ultimate weapon ("The superman exists and he's American!"), his departure emboldens the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan and plunge the nuclear powers into political instability.
As World War III lurks on the horizon, an ominous conspiracy becomes increasingly apparent, as Veidt is attacked in his office building, Rorschach is framed for murder, and rumors arise of a mysterious island where scientists and avant-garde artists labor together on . . . something. "Watchmen" is best described as a multilayered superhero mystery written as postmodernist metafiction - that is, "writing about writing," or making the artificiality of the art apparent to the reader. As one retired hero (Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl) recalls in his memoir: "For me, it all started in 1938, the year when they invented the super-hero. I was too old for comic books when the first issue of ACTION COMICS came out, or at least too old to read them in public . . . There was a lot of stuff in that first issue. There were detective yarns and stories about magicians whose names I can't remember, but from the moment I set eyes on it I had eyes only for the Superman story." Pastiche is also evident in the snippets of magazine interviews, newspaper articles, and book excerpts that precede each chapter and frame the costumed adventurers of this alternate 1980s in their greater social context. Mason's nostalgic recollections of Superman's cheery can-do moral absolutism later become a moment of sadness, almost, as the contrast to the chaos of the present is increasingly apparent. A dark supernatural pirate story called "The Black Freighter" that recurs throughout "Watchmen" as a comic in a comic reflects the current mood far more accurately. Its crazed protagonist kills his wife in her bed in a deluded attempt to save her from murderous buccaneers, not unlike the "Watchmen" villain, who "saves" the world by slaughtering half of New York City.
Not surprisingly, "Watchmen" is, above all, an attempt to deconstruct the superhero myth. But overall, it is humanity that drives "Watchmen": humanity at its best and at its worst. I read Boccaccio's "The Decameron" and found myself amused at how little our nature has changed since the fourteenth century (our capacity for crude humor certainly seems thoroughly undiminished). But today (and in the 1980s) there is a new paradox: that of technology, which has given us superhuman powers to both move the earth and to destroy it. "All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance," as T.S. Eliot once said. Exemplifying this is Doctor Manhattan, accidental post-human entity created, as many superheroes such as Spiderman have been, by chance exposure to something out of a laboratory. Now add that the emerging postmodernist worldview - which is inherently nebulous, unstable, and even nihilistic - and what is the result? That, I believe, is what "Watchmen" really explores.
In short: "Watchmen" a visually striking, superbly-written graphic novel, but definitely not breezy reading. Moore and Gibbons may have built their story on a genre that has historically centered on good triumphing over evil, but their updated vision has none of Superman's rose-tinted valiance. Because the real world is rarely so pretty.
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