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 enlarge | Author: Alan Moore
Creator: Dave Gibbons
Publisher: DC Comics
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $10.00 (50%)
New (68) Used (38) Collectible (1) from $8.49
Rating:  582 reviews
Sales Rank: 43
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0930289234
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5941
EAN: 9780930289232
ASIN: 0930289234
Publication Date: April 1, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new from a factory sealed case. Check our rating! Guaranteed!
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| Customer Reviews:
 Favorite Purchase Yet. October 6, 2008
The novel was in top condition, and arrived two days before the estimate date. Very reasonable price for such a good graphic novel.
What are you waiting for? Buy this compilation already. October 6, 2008
Not much I can say about this that hasn't been said more eloquently by others. Watchmen changed the comic book industry.
If you read it when it came out and have the pristine copies bagged, boarded and boxed, then go get a copy of the graphic novel so you can reread. If you've never read, then shame on you, go read it now.
Don't forget the movie is scheduled (if the legal issues get worked out) to come out next year. Beat the rush an order your copy now.
In the Shadow of Manhattan October 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Don't call me a comic book! I am one of Time magazines top 100 "novels". And I won a Hugo. So there!
Indeed. This 1985 graphic novel by comic book great Alan Moore is one of the most impressionable pieces of literature that I've read in years.
Is Watchmen some comic book about superheroes? Wait! Who you callin' "comic book!?" And we'd prefer "costumed adventurers" instead of superheroes please...with the exception of one character in the book. The difference between superhero and costumed adventurer here is the difference between super-powers and plain old bravery and smarts. And just plain old bravery and smarts can't protect you from a bullet or a stronger man (or woman).
So when one of the approximately five still practicing costumed adventurers is murdered, Rorschach, a tough, ink-blot mask wearing anti-hero makes it his business to find the killer and warn the other adventurers of a villain potentially bent on getting rid of the remaining "masks".
I mentioned earlier "an exception" to the costumed versus super-powered adventurers...that exception is Dr. Manhattan. The question is not what can Dr. Manhattan do that's so special; the question is, what can't he do? So with a guy like Manhattan on your side...whether it's literally "your" side or say "your county's" side, ya can't lose, right?
But what if Dr. Manhattan decided to skip town for a while? Yeah. Exactly. You guessed it. Like if Tiger Woods left golf for a season due to injury...who'd watch golf anymore? Who'd watch the Watchmen?
Alan Moore tells a sensational tale here and Dave Gibbons brings the words to life. This novel is a must...not just for comic book and graphic novels fans, but for fans of Truth, Justice and the American Way! Add this to your cart.
Side note: Speaking of bringing the words to life....It's no secret that Zack Snyder (300) plans to bring Watchmen to the big screen in 2009. Can't wait!
The Legends are true... Watchmen Rocks! October 3, 2008
As I always am when it comes to popular culture, I was skeptical to the idea of enjoying Watchmen when I first heard about it. I am a filmmaker and was recently in awe of the trailer for the upcoming movie in 2009. I plan on seeing this movie, but I couldn't see it without reading the graphic novel first. That's just wrong.
So I bought a copy, still thinking that it wasn't going to be as great as everyone said it was. Well... within the first chapter, I was completely hooked. Alan Moore has a way of crafting his work that works flawlessly within a comic book atmosphere. And David Gibbon's art has never been better.
Watchmen takes place in an alternate 1985, where vigilantes are a common part of society. However, they have all but completely disappeared, some retired, some with other jobs. But two remain, Rorsach and The Comedian. Upon the murder of the Comedian, Rorsach takes it upon himself to find the murderer, and ultimately answer the infamous question, "Who Watches the Watchmen?"
The story almost looks upon comics books and superheroes in a satirical way, underlined with a deathly serious message. This masterpiece holds its own against almost any other modern competitor, and should definitely be something you read soon!
Happy reading!
 Well executed but pretentious and pointless October 3, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Obviously, Watchmen was a landmark achievement. The narrative complexity, the "realism" and the more-thoughtful-than-average consideration of what superheroes would do to the world were they to really exist all make Watchmen shine.
But if you peel away all of the glamor and try and figure out what the work is really about, what it really says, you'll be disappointed. The self-destructive nature of man that sets the stage for the whole drama, as expressed by the imminent apocalypse, may have been convincing in 1985 but after the fall of the Soviet Union, it's hard to buy in to. History sure seems to have sided with the United States. The nuclear stand-off ended peacefully. Perhaps Moore is mocking those who thought that there could be no peaceful resolution. Given his other views and works (re conspiracy theories, cia secret missions) it seems he really bought into it. I'm sorry for him that he didn't have a chance to say, "I told you so."
As a student of physics, the made-up science stuff always makes me cringe and Dr Manhattan was no exception. When I understood that Moore introduced Dr Manhattan as a way to ask the question, "What would a truly SUPER hero do to global politics?" I was more forgiving. When I realized that all he wanted to say was that all political entities should always have exactly equal powers, my stomach started to turn again.
Dramatically, though, I think that the total suspension of the physical laws of nature for Dr Manhattan while everyone else was bound to all that and more (psychic shock wave??? come on!) made for a fundamentally unbelieavable story. A bit of suspended disbelief is expected but having two sets of rules for the universe simultaneously operating and affecting one and other??? Of course, he has artistic license but then again, I have the ability to stop caring about the story when it becomes too ridiculous.
SPOILER WARNING
So, was Ozymandias right? Why would a momentary external threat erase millenia of conflict between people? Ozymandias' plan was supposedly going to end all conflict including the simple inter-personal street conflicts taking place on the street. He is presented as "the smartest man in the world" and then has this infantile naive idea of how to solve the worlds' problems a la the gordian knot. No justification is given for how one small catastrophe could so easily change human nature. And yet, Ozymandias and Dr Manhattan, the characters that have been presented as being wiser than all others think that it would work. If Moore meant to mock everyone in his universe, then I agree. But if he really buys into this drivel, and it seems that he does, the ideas that he is presenting are SO childish and ridiculous, they are insulting to be exposed to.
The beginning of Watchmen showed great promise. Fascinating characters, a sort of puzzle--piecing together all of the heroes' pasts, some intelligence, fun references, detailed images. But the story gets more and more ridiculous and when Moore starts to actually reveal what the real story is, the reader is hit with a two-headed attack: [1] he has had to go through so many suspensions of disbelief that he doesn't really care anymore and [2] the "real story" is so patently absurd that the reader wishes he hadn't discovered it.
One might claim that I "didn't get it." I just think that ultimately, there isn't much in it to get. And what there is is either obvious or obviously stupid. Maybe I should re-read it. Frankly, I regret having read it once.
If you're interested in the issues broached in Watchmen, about superheros in the real world and don't want to feel insulted and bored by the end of the work, don't waste your time with this drivel. Just watch "The Dark Knight." (If you must waste as much time as it took me to read this book, watch it a few times. And maybe throw in "Batman Begins" as well.) Nolan obviously was influenced by Watchmen but created a much finer, more intelligent and less painful-to-experience work of art.
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