Superboy

I know there were little hints here and there but the big shocker was something that I don't think most readers, myself included, would have exactly predicted. Maybe you're simply retroactively assuming that the evidence was all there after you finished the book and went back or recalled clues earlier in the book. Granted there was an air of mystery but regardless, the solution just came off as being way too easy.

I don't think that most people wouldn't enjoy the book, it's just that they wouldn't really understand how differently the heroes are depicted compared to previous generations.

mifuneral

No. I'm saying that if you pay attention to the book, the ending ISN'T surprising. I wasn't surprised, at any rate. Or shocked. I didn't know specifically what Ozymandius had in mind, but I at least had a vague approximation of what would happen, and it basically played out the way I predicted.

To me the issue isn't, did you know what was going to happen, as much as........was the ending predictable or just....very well-plotted? And what denotes "well plotted"-- does predictability count against that, or for it? Some things to think about, I guess.

But no, the ending wasn't necessarily surprising. The actual event, the thing with the aliens, could have been predicted. Especially if you paid attention to those little scenes with the writer and the geniuses and whatnot. I think what's more important in The Watchman than the actual things that happened, was how the characters reacted to those events. Or didn't react, as the case may be.

Superboy

Wow, you must have excellent skills of deduction to have predicted that a giant alien mutant was going to be transported to New York City and kill millions with a psychic shockwave.

No, i'm kidding. I can see what you mean though in the general sense - that Viedt was planning to create some off-world menace that would distract everyone from the pitiful fighting amongst humans. I gotcha.

Dr. DVD

Just finished it a few mintues ago. A nice read, but I don't see why some would call it the penultimate comic book story. Thought it was a neat premise and all, and when I heard about Ozymandias' plan, I knew it had to do with the "thing" under the cover on the beach. My only question is how they were able to make it so large?

Alan Moore's work is hardly ever something you can take in with just one reading of a panel, as many things are happening all over the place and one must re-read to catch all that is going on in the plot. In short, Moore's work requires a lot of attention on the part of the reader, not to mention patience as his work is rather dialogue heavy sprawling splash pages are rare.

dadaluholla

I just finished the Watchmen TPB last night for the second time. I forgot how much i loved it. Without a doubt on my all time favorite comic stories.

That pirate/black freighter "story within the story" is brilliant.

Rorschach makes me smile. I look at him and see some pretty flowers. Hurrm.

Breakfast with Girls

Penultimate? What do people say is the "ultimate"?

DJLinus

With the movie looming, someone was bound to bump this thread. Might as well be me.

My copy of Watchmen arrived in the mail from Amazon today and I'll likely start it tonight. I'm really looking forward to reading it, but after years and years of hype, I'm tempering my expectations.

This is my first comic purchase in ages. I used to buy them monthly, but quit in the early 90s (around high school) due to rising prices, not necessarily lack of interest. Until a few years ago, I still checked out the occasional trade paperback/graphic novel from the library, but then I moved to a place with a much less extensive library. But I try to keep up with what's going on with certain characters, to an extent. And I totally geek out for the movie adaptions and the video games.

Who knows - maybe this'll get me back in the game. Not necessarily monthlies (I cannot believe what they charge nowadays; I thought $1.25 was pushing it back in the day!), but there are some storylines in trade form that I'd like to check out.

fujishig

Quick question... why didn't you read Watchmen the first time you were collecting comics? Just curious (I realize that the early 90's were the Image/foil cover/collectible years, so you might have been into that).

DJLinus

I honestly don't have a good answer for that. I remember being curious about it then because of the acclaim, but never checked it out.

Just chalk it up to me being a Marvel fanboy.

You're right about the era, though. Looking back, I foolishly bought a lot thinking they'd skyrocket in value. That's not to say I didn't enjoy reading what I bought (mostly all the titles featuring the Punisher, Spider-man, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, X-Men...uh, Power Pack and the Tick). Between buying all those each month, the cross-overs, the annuals, the one-offs, the special events ("Secret Wars I & II"), the comic adaptions of movies, and the rising prices, it all got to be too expensive for the meager income of a 15 year old.

Meatwad's Ghost

Like DJLinus, I totally missed it when it was first out, since I was an X-Men fan in the early 90's you had to almost buy every X-Title with all the cross-overs.

I got my Watchmen with several other trades at a garage sale a couple years ago. I though it was really good. Not sure I would say the best, but up there.

For DJLinus and anyone else who hasn't read it try to go in it and just read it for fun. Which is more of what it is. It won't be a life changing moment or anything. Just a really fun read.

Navinabob

I have both the comics and the original graphic novel; I love them both. I'm also enjoying the Watchmen Motion comic books, for some reason I can actually pick more of the story and style of the tale better then I have just reading it. Plus, I got my girlfriend to watch it with me this way since she has zero interest in comic books otherwise.

Eric F

Watchmen should be taken in the context of the times (political and otherwise) of when it was written. That in and of itself makes it one of the most important comic books of the mid-late 80's. It changed the way comics were written, and still reverberates through the industry today. That is enough to make Watchmen, along with Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns a must read.

That said, I do not believe either of these books are the "best comic ever written". That award should go Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira. Genius in its exposition (all 2000+ pgs of it), if you can get your hands on the Darkhorse English 6 volume translation you'll be a mighty happy camper. Although most of it is in B&W, it's much superior to the earlier produced all color Marvel edition which is limited in its translation. The movie was completed before the book, so the ideas are actually much more spelled out in the book and it's absolutely brilliant stuff.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I just started reading Absolute Watchmen(just finished chapter 3) and like what's going on so far. I figured I read it before the movie came out since I knew nothing about it. It's a lot better than the stuff I'm reading now(starting at the beginning of DC and Atlas/Marvel and currently up to December 1941).

I also didn't like Akira when I watched it. Don't know what that says about me. I prefer Anpanman instead. Not much of an anime fan.

Eric F

As I said in the previous post, Akira the movie was completed before the long comic book series (manga) series was, and it's really hard to fit 2000+ pages into 2hrs. The movie and the book are very different. You'll be cheating yourself out of something special by not reading the book (The Darkhorse versions in particular).

toddly6666

WATCHEN is a great superhero-related graphic novel, but I think the best superhero-related graphic novel is SQUADRON SUPREME UTOPIA...check that out. And that would make a great movie as well...

ivelostr2

I too recently read this for the first time.
I have been reading/collecting since the mid-eighties, and I remember when this came out, i was 7 and it didnt interest me, then i took a 10 year break from comics toward the nd of High School and the college. Y, the last man got me back into comics a couple years ago, and I started picking up old trades, one of them was watchmen. I knew wiht the movie coming out, I would want to read it before hand.
I agree with alot of what was said, before me here. I enjoyed it, but i think that this may be one of those books that so completely changed things that it is hard to look at it in the right perspective if most of what you know came after.
I will say this, I don't remember the issue, but the one with Dr. M on the Mars, where we see how he experiences time...that is fucking brilliant, I have never seen anything like that. I read a lot articles about quantum physics and atoms, and most of the time I struggle to understand it and conceptualize it, but now, I always think of that.

I also think that reading it right after Y, may have hurt it a little for me, because I was so in love with that book, I think I was comparing and, for me, it doesn't get much better than a lot of the Y, the last man.

fujishig

Are you talking about the collection of the original Squadron Supreme book, the follow-up "Death of a Universe" (which wasn't all that great) or the MAX version of the characters?

I enjoyed the mini series when it first came out, and it was definitely an interesting take on superheroes taking over the world. Years later, long after I had lost the original issues, I got the first printing of the graphic novel (the one with Gruenwald's ashes). But I still don't think it holds a candle to Watchmen.

toddly6666

i'm just talking about this one:



That's awesome that you have the Gruenwald ashes one...This book seems ordinary on the surface, but it's probably the most interesting take on superheroes that I've read so far - and just like Watchmen - nothing is seen as black and white.

The Bus

I've read it many times and it took until the 2nd or 3rd read for me to really appreciate it. I can see how people would think it is overrated. It is not my favorite work though.

El Clerk

Read it loved it.... read V for Vendetta loved it.... read watchmen again and loved it more

Nick Danger

I'm very curious how people react to The Watchmen if they didn't live through the mid-80s. It is very much a product of its time. Just as an example, there has been an upswing of interest in pirates. In the 80s, pirates had last been seen in 1950s British television. If the worst threat you've considered is a suicide bomber, can you really appreciate the level of fear that people lived with every day during the cold war?

drh4

I've been looking for suggestions on the best version of this comic to order. Comments comparing different are at http://www.amazon.com/whats-differen...sin=1401219268 , but I have yet to find full-fledged reviews. Suggestions and reviews that might help me decide are much appreciated. TIA!

fujishig

Depends what you want.

The Absolute is probably the definitive edition, but it is oversized (which might be a turnoff to some) and really expensive.

The normal Hardcover is normal-tpb-sized, and will probably hold up better than the non HC trade and look better on the shelf.

But if you just want to read the story, get the normal tpb... I don't think there's much of a difference, if any, between the various printings.

whotony

I have the Absolute and have looked through the hc at borders.
the Absolute is the best addition, so if thats what you're asking get that.
if you just want to read it get the paperback volume.

toddly6666

I have the regular softcover edition and was just researching buying the Absolute version regardless of the price. I decided not to get because:

1. I read online about how it's a pain in the ass to read (in bed, on the toilet, heavy)

And I have read this book about 4 times and I remember appreciating just being able to take it along with me wherever I went/traveled without it being a pain.

It's like the same situtation as that new Calvin and Hobbes omnibus - it's just heavy as hell and a pain in the ass to read.

Softcovers are the best way to go in any situation.