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Watchmen

By Gibbons, Dave

Publishers Summary:
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

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ISBN
978-1-40121-926-0
Publisher
DC Comics


REVIEWS

Library Journal

Reviewed on March 23, 2009

In 1985, as the Americans and the Russkies approach nuclear Armageddon, a trio of former masked vigilantes regroup in order to solve the seemingly unrelated murders of other ex-members living anonymously in retirement years after the government outlawed them. What they ultimately discover would avert World War III but still cost millions of lives. This is dark, disturbing stuff that presents heavy moral questions. The hardcover is more durable, but if the price is too steep, there's a more affordable paperback edition ($19.95. ISBN 978-0-9302-8923-2). Whichever you opt for, buy a couple; you'll need them. For all public and academic libraries. Copyright 2009 Media Source Inc. Copyright 2009 Media Source Inc. ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

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