Rating: 
Summary: Welcome to Dullsville!
Review: How pretentious! "Let's do a serious take on superheroes!" Puh-leeze. Alan Moore. Frank Miller. Who cares about these so-called geniuses redefining the genre? It's still all about a bunch of grown-up people running around in tights. Why would anybody WANT to take this baloney seriously? The day that Mr. Moore is able to write a decent Luke Cage, Power Man story is the day that I'll recognize him as a capable scribe.
Rating: 
Summary: Deeper yet.....
Review: This book has intricate plotting, clever visual ironies and atypically mature themes of ageing and disillusion. More than this, it is also a deep and subtle telling of man's search for morality in a morally grey world.Is there really a hero? The principal character, Rorschach, inspires revulsion rather than empathy. His motives are the best: evil brings suffering and must be punished. To his psychiatrist he sets out a pithy statement of his world view: in this brutal, unthinking world, the only evil comes from man, and the only order comes from what man himself can impose. This insight has made him self-appointed judge, jury and violent executioner, simultaneously outlaw and lawmaker, a sociopathic bringer of order and light ("prometheus") - and death. Is there really a villain? For the apparent villain (nameless for this review) has, strangely, the same moral intent: he (or she...) also wants the best for his fellow man, wants order and peace. His vision is higher: it is not individuals, but the world he wishes to save, not merely the good but everyone. Less obviously sociopathic than Rorschach, his means to this end are more dangerous, and more potentially successful. The lesser heros - and the reader - are finally called on to make this moral judgement: if you could save the world by it, would you commit mass murder? Is there a god? The catalyst for this altered history is a scientist, who dies and brings himself back from the dead. His control of matter is absolute; and so is his disdain for mankind. A supreme being who refrains from setting moral standards, from intervening in human affairs even as they plummet to disaster. But this god too has his duties, and is ultimately obliged to decide between between the hero and villain, to rule their actions either black or white. The reason for the open questions is that this book deals with the real world, real people, real moral choices, where nothing is black or white but merely the best of the worst of choices. This book merits reading and re-reading. After the first and the second time, try a third asking this question: which character would I feel comfortable being? Or, least uncomfortable....
Rating:
Summary: glorious and dark
Review: dense. if reflexivity stands on its own as a valid reason to be fascinated with something, this is the one and only. i started reading this when it was new ('85?) and i still discover new levels, details, nuances everytime i read it. it will stand the test of time as a work of art. also, it is an interesting comment on the state of the world in the mid-eighties. highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: There is no better comic book. Ever.
Review: Incredibly epic in scope and masterful in its use of different types of prose throughtout the graphic novel. Comic books always seem to get short shrift in the pantheon of literature, but this one deserves better. Besides, Dave Gibbons' art is workmanlike at best, which is just fine because the narrative is so superb.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely stunning
Review: Alan Moore's reworking of the superhero mythos is nothing short of breathtaking, The story is captivating and each tightly scripted panel is itself a work of art. Perhaps the best of its type.
Rating:
Summary: A post-modern deconstruction of superhero comics
Review: Alan Moore really understands superheroes. Better than the people who normally write the comics. From the idealistic patriotism of the 1950's to the disillusionment of the sixties and seventies, even environmentalism and changing attitudes towards nuclear Power, Alan Moore is charting the history of Western society through its comics. As time goes by, cynicism shows the heroes in their true colours. Rorschach's extreme right wing views and paranoia, and the comedian whose entire life is one tasteless joke.
Rating:
Summary: Scorcese, Mozart, Picasso... and Moore!
Review: No other book, in fact no movie, song or painting either, has struck me as being ART in a way that "Watchmen" has. I thought comics was for nerds until I read it. Dunno how to put it... I just love this book and when I die I want it in my coffin when they bury me.
Rating:
Summary: great
Review: its great...one of the best works of fiction ever in my opinion...amazing and breath-taking
Rating:
Summary: THE ENDING IS UNFORGETTABLE!!!
Review: The ending is unforgettable and will always leave you thinking. You are left to wonder if that would really work and you are probably thinking yes, that would work. The characters are very likeable and the artwork is appropriate for the storyline. Alan Moore is like a God among comic fans everywhere and in this story he proves why. The book is well worth the hefty 27$ canadian price tag. The story is addictive and really evokes emotions from the readers. The basic storyline is the Comedian, a former superhero, getting killed. This leads to an investigation by Rorschash while the other heros just figure it was just a robbery. It is actually a plan made from the beginning by one of the most unsuspecting characters you could think of but at the end you realize it all makes sense. A masterpiece, Watchmen is THE comic book to get!!!
Rating:
Summary: Timeless Art
Review: Watchmen is a book I first picked up in the summer of 1987. I had seen earlier issues on the stands and passed them over, probably due to the utter lack of familiarity i had with the characters(Veidt, Rorshach, Comedian) and also to the odd covers which require a reading of the stories inside to understand. But issue 11's cover, a flower-filled teardrop, stood out to me somehow,stimulating my craving for something unique. I bought it, not knowing that this would begin an 11-year love affair I've had with the book. the story sucked me in like a vortex. I gobbled up the other issues, backtracking through the storyline, eventually buying the trade paper back version. There's nothing else remotely close to this book out there. I never get tired of reading it, the storyline is complex and intense, the characters are multi-dimensional, the art is extraordinarily customized to Moore's style of storytelling, and the various plotlines converge and diverge with an intricacy and a timing that inspires awe. This is one work that transcends its medium while qualifying as true art. The characters are unforgettable--Veidt is possibly the greatest superhero(or villain) comics has seen; Rorshach is the greatest sociopath ever seen in comics, with Comedian a close second. Dr. Manhattan's progressive detachment helps frame the major storyline but coalesces into many of the minor subplots and defines him as one of the most profoundly tragic figures ever put in print. This work represents a fully realized world with amazingly developed characters and a stunning story packaged into an utterly artistic vehicle in only twelve issues, standing as a seamless, timeless accomplishment. Contains awesome, thought-provoking writing laced with nuance after nuance, resulting in a multi-faceted, multi dimensional jewel of a comic book. I envy anyone who picks it up for the first time.
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