Product Description

Imagine a future where Nixon is still President, America won the Vietnam War, and the nuclear clock stands at five minutes to midnight.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #147 in Books
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 424 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
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

BookMunch Online Book Reviews June 2002
This is the Daddy.

Synopsis
Imagine a future where Nixon is still President, America won the Vietnam War, and the nuclear clock stands at five minutes to midnight.

Customer Reviews

spend your money on frank miller instead
best graphic novel ever written, superb ivestigation of a heroes psyche, amazginly written. This is why i bought this book. What reviewers forgot to inform me though was the total lack of entertainment!! Over elaborate story, unnecassary comic within in a comic pirate story line and total disregard for what a comic book is supposed to be - entertaining!

I felt this comic was hugely self important, almost pretentious.

Trust me just get frank millers back catalogue instead!

AN AQUIRED TASTE
I bought this comic based partly on the positive feedback it has received and the hype surrounding it; however such hype can create unrealistic expectations. That isn't to say Watchmen isn't a fantastic work of fiction, simply it wasn't what I expected.

The story begins with an intriguing murder mystery that helps to introduce one the books greatest characters, Rorschach. After this promising start the story slows down considerably with the majority of the book dedicated more to the development of the main characters rather than the story itself. The deliberate slow pacing and exploration of the inner landscape can make reading Watchmen difficult as developments in the main story take an age to develop.

Some of the characters in Watchmen are brilliantly realised and in the case of Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan are a joy to read about. Other characters such as the second Nite Owl are less interesting and are pretty unspectacular, both as a superhero and as a normal individual. This continued focus on the main characters could be considered one of the books greatest strengths. However for me it is in some areas a weakness with pacing and plot development sacrificed for a continued focus on the lives of the main characters. In an attempt to be genre defining Watchmen feels overly clever and self-indulgent in places.

Is Watchmen worth owning, that depends on what you want from this comic.
Watchmen is a slow read full of intricate characters with intricate relationships. This internal exploration can be frustrating as developments in the main story arcs happen very slowly. If you are looking for action then Batman: The Dark Night Returns offers characters that are just as rich and well developed with none of the baggage and a more exciting and involving story.

WATCHMEN
I decided to buy this book after seeing the forthcoming movie trailer,it looked fantastic and I was really intrested in finding out what it was about,I wasn't disappointed,it is a crackin read,could not put it down,don't be put off just thinkin'it's just a comic this is a book that demands your total concentration,can't wait for the movie now!