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Watchmen |  | Author: Alan Moore
Creator: Dave Gibbons
Publisher: DC Comics Inc.
Category: Book
Buy New: $48.00
as of 7/30/2010 09:55 MDT details
New (1) Used (10) from $16.95
Seller: kristenr982
Rating:  926 reviews
Sales Rank: 1622944
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3rd printing
Pages: 32
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 6.5 x 0.8
ASIN: B001AEPHB2
Publication Date: January 1, 1987
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Graphic novel chronicles the fall from grace of a group of superheroes plagued by all too human failings. The concept of the super hero is dissected and inverted as strangely realistic characters are stalked by an unknown assassin. Originally published as a 12 issue series in 1986 and 1987, WATCHMEN remains one of DC Comics' most popular graphic novels. Approximately 413 pages.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 926
 Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons July 29, 2010
Cai Yixin Jeremy
Alan Moore, probably the best comic book writer of his generation, has just completed a run on Swamp Thing, a run that probably happened to be one of the lesser-known titles at the time. Pushing the envelope with what was possible in sequential storytelling, he helped bring a smorgasbord of mature themes into the fold, in an effort to produce smarter and more sophisticated comics. But that was just only the beginning of a decade of innovation and pizzazz for the comics industry. Watchmen wasn't the only big thing out of that era.
But it was probably the biggest giant at that time, a monolith of twelve extra-sized comic book issues, complete with prose pieces at the end of every issue save the last. Every page holds an average of 6-7 panels, every one of which packed to the gills with immense detail and excellent facial expressions, and these are panels with an average of three dialogue elements and no less. The prose pieces read like something from a novel, something to be expected from a short story. These issues were, in every sense of the word, great value for money at a time where comics were lower priced than in recent years.
So if anyone has any doubt about Watchmen's appeal, let it be clear: Watchmen is a masterpiece of comic book storytelling. The characters have a sense of lovability, largely due to Alan's excellent knack for creating realistic dialogue. Rorschach's hard-boiled journal is one of the highlights of the entire book, as are the Black Freighter sequences. All of Alan's dialogue fabrication skills come to bear in every section of the book in fact, especially the prose pieces.
It is hard to include prose pieces in comics because no one ever reads comics for beautiful prose. Alan took a huge, bold step in that direction by providing much of the back-story in them. But, boy, did they ever work. The excerpts from Hollis Mason's (the first Nite Owl) book are an example of prose done in exactly the same voice and mentality one would expect from the character and not something that would come from the writer itself. These pieces hold much of the struggles and nuances of superhero life, legacy, death and super-villains included. While much of the material today covers these issues in one way or another, it seemed Watchmen did it first. And if it didn't, arguments could be presented that it did those themes like no other work since. Some claimed that these prose pieces, along with the prolonged extra sequences, were dragging the book down. Wrong. It reads exactly like a graphic novel should read.
The doomsday clock ticks ever closer to nuclear war and Richard Nixon is worried. No one really knows what will happen. But when the ending comes like a freight train, a reread seems inevitable. Simply put, this is the book to read if you are a comic book fan wanting a feast, or someone who just happened to hate comics.
 If Watchmen is not on your list of top ten graphic novels, throw it away. July 6, 2010
Alexander T. Davenport (Dallas)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
At the end of each chapter Watchmen meets and raises its own expectations until the final section, where everything completely falls apart.
Fantastic! May 29, 2010
Everett E. Morris
The graphic novel itself is, I venture to say, better than the movie. Granted, it does follow suit rather nicely. If you like graphic novels, suspense and super heroes, it will blow your mind.
Awsome May 26, 2010
C. Myers
Amazing book, definetly worth buying. If you have never read a graphic novel, this is absolutely the one to start on. If you are a fan of graphic novels and haven't read this, you need to.
 That's it? May 23, 2010
J. Dooley (Baltimore, MD)
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
The premise is interesting: If superheroes were real, what kind of personalities would they have? That is, what kind of neuroses/psychoses/emotional instabilities would trouble them? Unfortunately that premise is not enough to hold the reader's attention over 12 very dense issues. A big problem I had with Watchmen was the making up of excuses the characters deployed to justify their behavior. They are so self-absorbed and obsessed with their troubled pasts that they can't move on. I understand some people are like this, but no effort is made on behalf of the characters by the writer to stop wallowing in self-pity and better themselves.
Another problem I had was the lack of a plot. Something is wrong when you spend more time developing the back story than the present-day plot. No sooner is a character revealed or introduced than we are treated to a gratuitous personal history. Some characters flash back to the SAME EVENT so we can see it from multiple points of view--this would be fine if the event were something worth flashing back to, but it's not.
The entire plot turns on the hysteria of an approaching nuclear war between the USA and USSR. This key development isn't really charted through the novel, only catalyzed by a single development early on and built up by blaring newspaper headlines, screaming television newscasters, and fatalistic grumblings of main characters and strangers alike...but no real development.
Finally, there's too much garbage in the middle of the novel. About two full issues' worth are wasted on a newspaper vendor talking to himself about the impending war and some black kid reading a comic about a pirate. These pages are meant to be "literary" and "insightful," but they are completely irrelevant and a waste of time, as are the literary excerpts of various essays and novels by and about the main characters. Later the disappeared author of the comic is mentioned as being involved in the final plot twist. It's a completely meaningless connection because it has no bearing whatsoever on the final outcome.
Then when it FINALLY starts getting good and the characters face each other in a showdown...IT ENDS. That's it. You are left completely unfulfilled. All the pseudointellectual, existential musings amount to nothing...that is, nothing more sophisticated than what you heard said between two college kids after an Intro to Philosophy course.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 926
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