Watchmen

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Summary: Think comic books are for kids? Read this...
Review: Those who thought comics were kid stuff have to look at this, this is what super heroes would be if they existed is just a start. Saying that this is just a comic is like saying the Beatles are just a rock band.

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Summary: Consume...
Review: If I could give it a sixth star, I would.

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Summary: Quis custiodiet ipsos custodes. (Who watches the watchmen?)
Review: It took me two tries to read this book. My friend Justin who deserves an honorable menstion turned me on to Alan Moore with the movie from hell. So after that I immediately picked up Moore's masterpeice and started reading. I was fourteen at the time and I was confused about how the book would have a chapter of story then go on to give an article from the stories universe. Later on my fifteenth birthday I recived my own copy of Watchmen. With a years worth of comic knowledge I started to read again. This time I found the story intigueing and the characters deep. The artwork is fantastic and the story has some twists that you won't exspect. It has gory, violent content and I wouldn't suggest giving to a younger reader. Besides they probably wouldn't understand it. All in all, get this book even if it confuses you at first put it down for a while and than read it again I garentee you'll understand it the second or third time around.

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Summary: Great Book Even if you Don't Read Comics
Review: If you like sci fi tv shows, movies and or books, you will love this intricate comic EVEN if you do not normally read comics.

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Summary: A must for readers of any sort.
Review: I'm not going to explain the intricate details of Watchmen but I will sum up my thoughts simply by saying that this is a *must*. Whether someone is into comics or not, this book is simply amazing. It is philosophical, tragic, romantic, depressing, humorous, enlightening, and mysterious..to say the least.

To be honest, I had my doubts about it because of the appearingly aged 1985 comic art and because of how some events came together, but when you finished reading a chapter, everything became somewhat clear.

When I closed this book, my brain just sent a loud "WOW" through my body. Whether you are into comics are not, get this. Immediately. Watchmen was an experience that I wish came more often in comics.

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Summary: The best written comic ever!
Review: If you have ever asked yourself "What if super heroes were real," then you should read this. The book follows two groups of super heroes. One is the original group who retired long ago, and the second group are their predecesors who were forced to retire early by the government. The second group is in their middle ages, but they might still be active if not for the government. A series of masked vigilante murders brings the second group out of retirement to find the killer. Also You'll love the character Rorshack. If someone tried to be Batman, then this is who they would be. So go read it, and if you do read it, then you will want to read it from front to back in one shot. However, that's kinda hard; because it is long. It does gets slow in some spots,but it is worth the read. It's not just a good comic book, but it's a good book to read. Anyone who has ever tried to reshape a comic universe is just following in Moore's footsteps. After you read it, you will be sad that there will never be an additional part of the story. why? Alan Moore emphaticly expressed that there will never be a sequel to the Watchmen.

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Summary: Densely plotted wonder triumphs over its dated subject
Review: This incredibly layered maxi-series (originally released monthly) caught on the new wave of pop-culture in which cultural icons were only fit to be destroyed. For a generation of comics fans who couldn't stand to hear "truth, justice and the American way" one more time, "Watchmen" gave us the travails of two generations of costumed vigilantes long after they were broken by their experiences. Among these is the Comedian, a smiling sadist whose calling card (the smiley button) becomes the series' icon. Unlike most heroes forced into retirement by age, restrictive legislation and a society less tolerant of costumed white males, the Comedian goes to work for the police state. The story begins with the Comedian's mysterious murder (mysterious because his identity was supposedly secret), and examines its effects on the remaining heroes - most of whom are out of commission. The Comedian's death provides both a mystery and a useful device for the surviving heroes to examine where their lives and their world went wrong. (In the world of "Watchmen", advances in American technology allow for a world that can be safer and cleaner, but isn't; the advent of the superhero allows for a world that is safer and more respectful of the law, but doesn't; America's monopoly on superpower should make it more secure, instead, Nixon is still president when the novel begins, and the USSR and the US are set to go to war again). Among the heroes is "Ozymandias", a genius who patterns himself after Alexander the Great; "Night-Owl" who relies on his own gadgetry and his knowledge of birds to fight crime; "Dr. Manhattan", a scientist altered by a nuclear experiment into a super-powered god for whom walls of time (and clothing) mean nothing; and darkest of all, Rorschach, a vigilante of few words whose mask conceals a reservoir fueled by violence.
Moore and Gibbons' story patterns these heroes on movie stars. Promising in their youth, when crime is simple and most of the crooks went bad simply to get in on the heroes' action, the first generation quickly turns to seed, and then turns on each other with their memoirs. Life is hardly better for the arch-criminals, including an evil magician slowly dying of a cancer and loneliness.

"Watchmen" is a huge story - it was the story of the late 1980's (before the success of "Ninja Turtles" fueled a run on independent comics). There was talk of a movie, and fans debated who should be cast. In the end, it was for naught - the guys who scripted "Lord of the Rings" would have had their hands full trying to turn this complex story into a script. "Watchmen" cuts across timelines to revisit many of the same moments again and again, creating multiple subplots that skew these moments in different ways (one key moment is the meeting between the Comedian and Lori Jupiter, the daughter of a former fellow hero. We relive that instant both before and after learning of how the Comedian had raped Lori's mother). "Watchmen" though dark, has a hidden bright side. Because the past, present and future are all the same to Dr. Manhattan, he sees no point to trying to prevent an inevitable nuclear holocaust, yet even he is ultimately won over by the random miracles in which life is created and survived (there's got to be some reason why life manages to mature from a microscopic egg with everything going against it, and if we can't find out what that reason is, it's still worth protecting.)

Nowadays, it's fun to read because it's so obviously 1980's - its obsession with Vietnam (we didn't lose), Nixon, confrontation with the soviets and the end of western civilization make it less a story than a Time-Life infomercial. Also, while revolutionary at the time, the deconstruction of heroes and heroism is hardly reason to be shocked today. (The series debuted amid the "Iran-Contra" scandal, as well as after a surfeit of scandals among "televangelists", which eroded whatever popular trust in established figures Americans preserved after Watergate). Ours is the generation of anti-heroes, Keyzer Soze, Clinton, Bush, Columbus and political correctness, Clint Eastwood in "Unforgiven" - we're much to smart to root for a bunch of old white males in masks.

Still, "Watchmen" is intricate and compelling. You could probably read it in one sitting, though I prefer to space it out over a month - you're less likely to skim over its many intricacies.

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Summary: Storytelling at its finest
Review: I've known about Watchmen since I was a kid when it first came out and all the comic store clerks wherever I went would rave about it. I only got around to reading it recently probably at a time when I could really appreciate it. The key to the success and popularity of this book is definitely Alan Moore's storytelling skill. This book takes quite a few chapters to get into but everything from the very beginning comes together in an almost artistic way for a spectacular if not disturbing ending. Moore describes in detail the characterizations of what would cause someone to become this unlikely thing known as a costumed hero as well as everyone else's likely reaction to it. This book easily emphasizes the critical effect story can have over comics with just fancy artwork and grandiose superhero poses. I am not easily impressed or swayed by others opinions but this story is well worth the ample praise people have lavished on it over the years.

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Summary: re: Comic Books at its best
Review: I was too young when the Watchmen first came out and since it was a title about super-heroes whom I had not known anything about I played it safe and stuck with familiar superheroes (Superman, Batman). Eight years later, I am reading the reviews on Amazon, the Watchmen is a hit and is one of the best stories ever written in the comics genre. I buy it, I read it, I love it. The story is about the sordid life of superheroes out of the costume. Alan Moore takes the superheroes from their awe-inspiring heights and crashed them into the earth in order to show the humble, dismal and twisted side of their life and personality that never shows through. I am happy that I waited eight years before I read this because if I had read it earlier I wouldn't have enjoyed it or understood it. The stories are very complex and unlike any other super-hero stories. It is difficult to tell whether these are actually heroes are not, one of them is a sociopath (Rorschach, my favorite), another a

being of almost cosmic capacity (Dr. Manhattan), etc. Sure there are exciting escapades and fisticuffs but the story is dark and alomst apocalyptic in some levels (check out the ending). Anyways, long story short (for the Watchmen, it is a long story) pick up this book even if you don't like comics, you won't be disappointed. It is a great read by anyone's standards.

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Summary: Wonderful - comics as modern literature.
Review: What can I say that hasn't been said in the last 15+ years about this? As a bit of background, this book was originally going to feature the Charlton Comics Company heroes (Blue Beetle, The Question, Captain Atom) but when DC Comics bought the rights to these characters, they decided that they really didn't want Alan Moore to tinker with and kill them off. So if you are familiar with those characters, it's easy to connect the dots to "who's who" in middle age here.

In both the panels and the normal text interludes, Moore "re-imagines" how costumed vigilantes would have behaved and how the world would react to them. It's refreshing and startling that this really hadn't been done to a great degree before. Unlike most of the "grim and gritty" writing of the mid-to-late 80's this book stands up to (nearly requires) repeat readings over time. In risk of saying too much, if you don't already have it, PLEASE do yourself a favor and buy it if you love or used to love comics.