In an alternate world where the mere presence of American superheroes changed history, the US won the Vietnam War, Nixon is still president, and the cold war is in full effect.  WATCHMEN begins as a murder-mystery, but soon unfolds into a planet-altering conspiracy. As the resolution comes to a head, the unlikely group of reunited heroes–Rorschach, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias–have to test the limits of their convictions and ask themselves where the true line is between good and evil.

In the mid-eighties, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created WATCHMEN, changing the course of comics’ history and essentially remaking how popular culture perceived the genre. Popularly cited as the point where comics came of age, WATCHMEN’s sophisticated take on superheroes has been universally acclaimed for its psychological depth and realism.

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

Watchmen is another graphic novel that’s been on my list of must reads for quite some time. I watched the film back when it first came out and found it entertaining, but my hopes for the source material were much higher.

And it lived up to my expectations. If the characters in the film were flawed and egotistical, this is dialled up in the graphic novel. They were all in their own way deeply troubled, and dark in nature. Each had ideals, though these had been lost along the way. These cast shadows over the tone, only eclipsed by the menacing threat of nuclear war that hangs over the entire narrative.

The art style is perfect for the tone of the story, moody and dark. It paints a picture of a world living in fear of annihilation, a reflection of the tensions that existed at the time. There is nothing light or “enjoyable” in a traditional sense about Watchmen, but it’s grittiness makes for a fantastic journey.

My rating: