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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 823.914 EAN: 9780930289232 ISBN: 0930289234 Label: DC Comics Manufacturer: DC Comics Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 416 Publication Date: April 01, 1995 Publisher: DC Comics Release Date: April 01, 1995 Studio: DC Comics Editorial Review: Amazon.com: Has any comic been as acclaimed as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen? Possibly only Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, but Watchmen remains the critics' favorite. 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 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 gather praise since. The story concerns a group called the Crimebusters and a plot to kill and discredit them. Moore's characterization 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 finepace of the writing and its humanity mean that Watchmen more than stands up--it keeps its crown as the best the genre has yet produced. --Mark Thwaite Product Description: Has any comic been as acclaimed as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen? Possibly only Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, but Watchmen remains the critics' favorite. 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 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 gather praise since.The story concerns a group called the Crimebusters and a plot to kill and discredit them. Moore's characterization 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 finepace of the writing and its humanity mean that Watchmen more than stands up--it keeps its crown as the best the genre has yet produced. --MarkThwaite Average Rating:
 Rating:  - There's a reason it's a classic...Watchmen is an immensely dark and philosophical tale that feels like a window into a parallel universe. The writing and visuals jointly convey the characters' complex humanity while exploring them with brutal reality. Watchmen is rich with questions of psychology and existential philosophy, and works as the definitive deconstruction of its genre. I find that the quality of a piece of literature can be judged by its re-readability and what each subsequent experience offers. There exist ... Read More Rating: - Best of the BestThis was the first comic I have ever read, and has left me wanting to read more. Great writting as well as artwork. If your a comic book fan this is a must read. Rating: - High ArtWatchmen places readers in a living breathing world in which "Masked Adventurers" (vigilantes that most closely resemble Batman as they have no super powers) are sometimes accepted and sometimes rebuked in a dark American reality. There is an exception this description of the book--Dr. Manhattan. He is all powerful, a superhero who could destroy Batman, Superman, and the Hulk with a single thought and yet may be the weakest super hero of them all. Despite his scientific brilliance and absolute ... Read More Rating: - Mind Blowing!Watchmen may get overlook in terms of literature due to perception of view of being a comic book but it's so much more than that. Watchmen deals with touchy subjects such as political science, history, philosophy, psychology, and so much more. The characters are so deep and structured it's tough to put the book down. No other comic book has such developed lives of characters in only 12 issues. Rating:  - BrilliantWhile this isn't my absolute favorite graphic novel, it isn't even my favorite Alan Moore piece. I have a healthy respect for this piece because it is the most celebrated graphic novel of all time. The fact that it's the only graphic novel on Time Magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Novels since 1923 should speak for itself, because this piece has layers on top of layers of meaning and really shows what "comics" can really be. |
