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.

The brainchild of writer Alan Moore ("Swamp Thing," "V for Vendetta," "From Hell") and artist Dave Gibbons ("Rogue Trooper," "Doctor Who," "Green Lantern"), "Watchmen" was originally published by DC Comics in twelve issues in 1986-87. Moore and Gibbons won the Best Writer/Artist combination award at the 1987 Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards ceremony. The central story in "Watchmen" is quite simple: apparently someone is killing off or discrediting the former Crimebusters. The remaining members end up coming together to discover the who and the why behind it all, and the payoff to the mystery is most satisfactory. But what makes "Watchmen" so special is the breadth and depth of both the characters and their respective subplots: Dr. Manhattan dealing with his responsibility to humanity given his god-like powers; Nite Owl having trouble leaving his secret identity behind; Rorschach being examined by a psychiatrist. Each chapter offers a specific focus on one of the characters, yet advances the overall narrative.

Beyond that the intricate narrative, Moore and Gibbons offer two additional levels to the story. First, each chapter is followed by a "non-comic" section that develops more of the backstories, such as numerous excerpts from Hollis Mason's autobiography "Under the Hood" or Professor Mitlon Glass' "Dr. Manhattan: Super-Powers and the Superpowers," an interview with Adrian Veidt, or reports from the police files of Walter Joseph Kovacs. Second, almost every issue has scenes from "Tales of the Black Freighter," a comic-book being read by a kid near a newsstand, which offers an allegorical perspective on the main plot line.

"Watchmen" certainly nudged the comics industry in the right direction towards greater sophistication and intelligence, although a full appreciation of its significance is always going to be lost on the bean counters. The Book Club Edition of "Watchmen" offers the teaser: "He's America's ultimate weapon . . . and he's about to desert to Mars." As a representation of the work as a whole that description is simply stupid, especially since it is followed by a glowing recommendation by Harlan Ellison that concludes "anyone who misses this milestone event in the genre of the fantastic is a myopic dope." If you ever spent time reading and enjoying any superhero comic book, you will appreciate what you find in "Watchmen."


A deserved classic   July 3, 2002
 177 out of 208 found this review helpful

If you've ever read anything with the title "Comics aren't just for kids anymore", you've probably heard about Watchmen. So, is it really that good?

Oh god, yes.

It's hard to review the collection without resorting to cliches -- and I'll employ one now. It gets better everytime I read it. I see new layers and depth.

"God exists. And he's an American." Most superhero comics take place in a world almost the same as our own. But surely, people running around in tights, people with god-like powers would make an impact. In Watchmen, they do. America won Vietnam -- thanks to a god-like hero. Electric cars exist. Classic comic books got cancelled when the real superheroes came along. Oh, and Richard Nixon is still president into the 1980s. (Too bad about those dead reporters, isn't it?)
This is series a big ideas, human characters and personal moments. It looks at retired heroes (thanks to 1970s anti-superhero legislation) who investigate the death of one of their own. The book also features flashbacks, autobiography excerpts, comic book interludes and more.

Truly engrossing writing by Alan Moore and art by Dave Gibbons.
Oh, and comics aren't just for kids anymore. (g)


P E R F E C T !   October 8, 2005
 137 out of 142 found this review helpful

I first read Watchmen issue by issue when it came out back in the mid 80s. In the past 20 years, I have read it more times than I can count and have purchased the trade paperback numerous times. I have lent it out, given it as a gift, and just plain worn it out.

So why buy the Absolute Edition?

Because it is the most gorgeous presentation of the story to date. First off, it's BIG. This edition reminds me of the sheer pleasure I once had as a kid reading oversized editions. Remember the giant-sized reprints of first editions or that humongous "Superman vs. Spider-Man?" It isn't quite that big and unwieldy, but it's big and Dave Gibbons' beautiful artwork and genious panel to panel drama is so much more enjoyable in this format. The panel backgrounds, as any fan knows, are filled with clues and details that are richer than has ever been done before or since in the medium. The backgrounds are so much more enjoyable at this size.

But the real star of this new edition is the amazing John Higgins. John Higgins is the colorist. The comic book medium has always placed the most limitations on the colorist who has had to deal with the realities of the printing process, sacrificing in every panel, trying to make dramatic and reproducible choices.

With this edition, Higgins has been able to do what was not possible when the original series was presented. The colors here are absolutely beautiful to behold. The original color schemes and the drama they invoked are here, but far smoother and more intense.

One of the most popular aspects of the story is the internal comic drama "Tales of the Black Freighter," a pirate comic that comments on the larger story. John Higgins colors these panels in the old school process of the golden age, using those old printing limitations to his advantage and making the Black Freighter panels a nostalgic delight while advancing the story in a new way. Bravo, Mr. Higgins! You have proven your worth and demonstrated why Watchmen is a graphic novel by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins. It was a delight to see your name on the spine where it has belonged all along.

This Absolute Edition of Watchmen is the most glorious version of this brilliant work. This is the ultimate proof that sequential art stories can be legitimate literature.

The book also offers wonderful material illustrating the fleshing out of the story all those years ago and how the storytellers began with the old Charleton characters only to evolve them into new characters with more depth and dimension than their inspirations.

There are also several pages of script. Anyone who has ever seen a comic book script will be amazed by the density of Alan Moore describing a single panel. One feels like quite the insider to read these pages. Each panel description reads as if an impossibly picky art collector were writing a detailed letter to Dave Gibbons to commission a painting and told him everything he wanted in a great empassioned gush. And Mr. Gibbons delivered time after time, giving far more than even Moore had asked. Wow! This is how it's done, ladies and gentlemen.

This is the greatest version of the greatest story ever told in the history of this beautiful, yet underrated medium. A must for any collector. A must for any lover of great art. A must for any lover of great storytelling.


simply about this edition   October 14, 2005
 53 out of 56 found this review helpful

If you don't already know, the other reviews will fill you in on the Watchmen's story and it's significance to the comic medium. I'm here to tell you about this edition of the book, which is basically an oversized version of the long out of print Graphitti Designs hardcover version complete with all of that edition's exclusive extras (which is fantastic since that out of print volume goes for major bucks on Ebay when it does rarely surface). Until now, that Graphitti Designs edition was the one to own...This tops it due to it's oversized pages and superior quality printing.

Want to see how this story was originally about about Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, and the Question (along with other Charlton characters) and how it changed to what it is? There is a very indepth look at the original proposal included here.

Want to see early Gibbon's art? it's here. How about rarely seen teaser strips published long before the first issue? Again included. Alan Moore's script samples? You got it.

Bottom line, I can't think of anything that could possibly be done or included that would make a superior edition to this.


Love, love will tear Us apart, Again   October 1, 2005
 33 out of 47 found this review helpful

"Whoever fights Monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a Monster."---Friedrich Nietzsche

"Quis Custodiet ipsos Custodes?"---Ancient Roman phrase, translates to "Who Watches the Watchmen?"

Hobbes, centuries ago, wrote that a life lived among Men "in the State of Nature is nasty, brutish, and short".

Hobbes was optimistic.

Man is a beast, born red in tooth and claw in the bosom of blood-soaked Nature, and as a beast he is bound to slaughter his fellow. In the forest primeval, that meant with teeth and claws; then spear and sword, catapult and blackpowder rifle.

And so we tread fearfully upon the stage of the Present: the Curtain is raised, the stagelights turned up, the audience restless, shifting and murming and coughing out in the Dark. The first act of this play---"Watchmen"---will literally be a highdive to the pavement, performed, most appropriately, by a player known as The Comedian.

It's a real showstopper.

It is the Present: October 12th, 1985. Nixon is still in the White House, a white-hot popular four-termer and still as paranoid crazy as a hungry sewer rat; Man is still red in tooth and claw. And he still hungers for the blood of his fellow; but this time, he fights with nuclear-tipped ICBMs. The Doomsday clock stands at 5 to Midnight, and the Hour is far later than we think.

At its core, it is a very simple tale, as the best tales usually are: it is a murder mystery.

The calculating subversive brilliance of Alan Moore's legendary "Watchmen" is that it takes the notion of the superhero---masked avenger of Justice and the American Way---and inverts it.

Case in point here: what is the use of a costumed crime-fighter, dedicated to protecting Man against thugs and robbers and supervillains, when Mankind itself is on the chopping block? What's the good of a cape, a mask, and a stealthy Owlship---or all the money and acumen in the world---when the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are about to ride out, led by nuclear missiles arcing up over the poles?

And to make things a little stranger: why now, after all these years, and when Humanity is on the verge of extinction, is someone murdering the old crimefighters?

And so we begin, with an entry from Rorschach's diary as that most troubled and cannily paranoid of crimefighters puzzles his way into he mystery of who would have beaten the life out of the Comedian, then flung him through his plate glass apartment window to do a belly flop on the hardtop hundreds of feet below. That thread weaves its way through the lives of Watchmen's heroes, old and new, flitting back and forth between the seemingly more innocent Golden Age and back again into the Darker present.

And maybe that's why "Watchmen" serves up such a shock: it delivers us into a mythology and a world already created. There is a backstory here, just as established and confident by its lights as that of Batman, Superman, or Spider-Man, yet seamier, more rueful, more flawed. Infinitely human.

Initially we are on the outside looking in: into a world where the elderly crimefighters and their young successors have lost their government sanction and move into early retirement, where the brutal, anarchic knot-tops rule the streets while pundits chatter nervously about Nuclear Brinksmanship, a twilight world of regret and loss and nostalgia, where the old Night-Owl rents a pre-war apartment over his auto-garage while his former arch-nemesis Moloch the Magician rots from cancer a few blocks away.

We don't stay outside long. Moore is a genius when it comes to pacing: we arc in deep and long on Watchmen's central characters as they come to terms with their own demons and the central mystery of the story. Rorschach, mind whirling behind its living mask; the new Night-Owl Dan Dreiberg, awash in a paunchy middle-age but compelled by events to something more.

Or Laurie Juspeczyk, the new Silk Spectre, increasingly unhappy with her lover Dr. Manhattan (less human by the day and reeling from a vicious PR attack) and fearful of turning into her vain and lonely mother. And finally Adrian Veidt, the vaunted superhero Ozymandias and now globe-trotting billionaire and business tycoon, the "smartest man in the world".

"Watchmen" is a wry concoction of its times, insanely idiosyncratic, though it is not hard to imagine it conjured up today in our own troubled age: there is the looming threat of nuclear annihilation, mankind poised on the brink of apocalypse, menaced by the two tribes of the USA and the USSR, each on the verge.

There is the notion of superhero as plaything of his times, with the exception of the 'freak' Doctor Manhattan, girded for war by an eager Pentagon, more superweapon than superhero.

And there is the omnipresent question central to those who man the lonely ramparts of civilization against savagery, illustrated by the juxtaposition of the pulpily gory "Tales of the Black Freighter", with its desperate, inventive, deeply moral hero transformed into a beast by the hellscape through which he must venture to save his imperiled family---an echo of the "Quis Custodiet" implied by the title.

This is rich, heady, deliciously vorpal stuff, beautifully mounted with rich trappings and sumptuous depth of plot and character. Though I guessed the author behind the mystery early on---it's really a question of asking 'who gains?'---the question Moore is fascinated with---that of, what will save us from ourselves?---and the answer he comes up with, and the means by which he illustrates this little dilemma, are so mesmerizing, so gorgeous, such a feast of malice and high adventure and nostalgia and regret, that "Watchmen" deserves its rightful place in the pantheon of great art.

JSG