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Editorial Review:
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
Customer Reviews:
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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0 
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Loses It Allure with Age & Multiple Readings 
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... more info
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Who Reads the Watchmen? 
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... more info
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One of Great Ones 
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
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A Graphic Giant...
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...
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