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Erin Britton28 March 2009
These days it seems like just about everyone is watching the Watchmen but, way back in the dim and distant 1980s, way before the special effects bonanza movie, the collectible trading cards and the ultra realistic action figures, there was Alan Moore's groundbreaking comics series. Illustrated by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen represents a seminal moment in the history of comics, a moment when comics ceased being solely a fantasy world created for the pleasure of children and instead took on a far more realistic, adult feel. Set in an alternative future where Nixon is in his third term as President of the United States and where America won the Vietnam War, Watchmen begins with the murder of Edward Blake, also known as the Comedian. The Comedian had been a member of a group of crime fighters known as the Watchmen, a group that included Ozymandias, the smartest man on Earth, the super powered Doctor Manhattan, the Nite Owl, the Silk Spectre and the disturbed Rorschach. Although initially impressed, the public had quickly turned against the Watchmen's vigilante style of justice and so the government had outlawed masked crime fighters. While the Comedian and Doctor Manhattan continued to work for the government and Rorschach continued his independent vigilante activities, the rest of the Watchmen slipped back quitely into civilian life. When the police fail to find any leads as to the identity of the Comedian's murderer, Rorschach investigates and comes to believe that there is a plot afoot to murder all of the former Watchmen. Setting out to warn his former colleagues, Rorschach finds himself framed for murder while an attempt is made to assassinate Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan leaves the Earth for Mars after being accused of causing the cancer that has plagued some of his old friends and former enemies. Realising that Rorschach was right about the death of the Comedian, Nite Owl and the Silk Spectre set out to spring him from jail and track down the murderer before any more of the Watchmen die. Alan Moore's Watchmen is a truly amazing comics series, collected here in graphic novel format, featuring perhaps the best and most involved story in the history of the medium as well as masterful art by Dave Gibbons and some wonderful extra material such as Hollis Mason's autobiography "Under the Hood" and the comic-within-a-comic "Tales of the Black Freighter". One of very few graphic novels to regularly be included in "Must Read" lists, Watchmen is a quite exceptional piece of literature and should be read and enjoyed by everyone.
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Amazon
Has any comic been as lauded as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen? Possibly only Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns but Watchmen remains the critics' favourite. 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 recently 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 garner praise since.
The story concerns a group called the Crimebusters and a plot to kill and discredit them. Moore's characterisation 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 fine pace of the writing and its humanity mean that Watchmen more than stands up--it retains its crown as the best the genre has yet produced. --Mark Thwaite
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Amazon
Rorschach, a half-psychotic vigilante must convince his ex team-mates, now middle-aged and retired, that he has uncovered a plot to murder the remaining superheroes - along with millions of innocent civilians. Even reunited, will the remnants of the 'Watchmen' be enough to avert a global apocalypse?
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Play
Watchmen redefined superhero conventions and re-introduced comics to an adult audience with a gripping labyrinthine piece of comic art. Rorschach a half-psychotic vigilante must convince his ex team-mates now middle-aged and retired that he has uncovered a plot to murder the remaining superheroes - along with millions of innocent civilians...Even reunited will the remnants of the 'Watchmen' be enough to avert a global apocalypse? With a powerful storyline masterfully told by comics supremo Alan Moore and beautifully rendered artwork by the talented Dave Gibbons - this is the one that started the graphic novel revolution and is definitely not one to miss!
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BookDepository
Watchmen : Paperback : Titan Books Ltd : 9781852860240 : 1852860243 : 01 Oct 1987 : Rorschach, a half-psychotic vigilante must convince his ex team-mates, now middle-aged and retired, that he has uncovered a plot to murder the remaining superheroes - along with millions of innocent civilians. Even reunited, will the remnants of the 'Watchmen' be enough to avert a global apocalypse?
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ASDA
Rorschach a half-psychotic vigilante must convince his ex team-mates now middle-aged and retired that he has uncovered a plot to murder the remaining superheroes - along with millions of innocent civilians. Even reunited will the remnants of the 'Watchmen' be enough to avert a global apocalypse?
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Pickabook
Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Alan Moore (Illus)
Watchmen
£N/A
Watchmen
£21.31
The Complete MAUS
£13.43
