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WATCHMEN: ABSOLUTE EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK

Alan Moore, | 464 pages | 13 Dec 2011 | DC Comics | 9781401207137 | English | New York, NY, United States : Absolute Edition by : | : Books

Members Reviews Popularity Average rating Mentions 1, 18 10, 4. This Hugo Award-winning graphic novel chronicles the fall from grace of a group of super-heroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the super-hero is dissected as the heroes are stalked by an unknown assassin. Recently added by Jaime29 , Alsuamat , leovvieira , De. Selby , seoulessinsociety , hotgandalf , jesswillko , sterober , Thander. Dark Books for Winter Reading No current Talk conversations about this book. JonArnold Jun 12, Starting in the s or so, superheroes were known to be out there. LibraryCin Dec 22, Fanatically, obsessively plotted and structured. Snakeshands Jul 30, It took me well over a year to finish this book. Contains Watchmen by Alan Moore. Watchmen 1 by Alan Moore indirect. Watchmen 2 by Alan Moore indirect. Watchmen 3 by Alan Moore indirect. Watchmen 7 by Alan Moore indirect. Watchmen 5 by Alan Moore indirect. Watchmen 6 by Alan Moore indirect. Watchmen 9 by Alan Moore indirect. Watchmen 10 by Alan Moore indirect. Watchmen 12 by Alan Moore indirect. Watchmen 8 by Alan Moore indirect. Watchmen 11 by Alan Moore indirect. Watchmen 4 by Alan Moore indirect. You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data. Watchmen Absolute Edition. Edward Morgan Blake The Comedian. Jon Osterman Doctor Manhattan. Adrian Veidt Ozymandias. Walter Kovacs . Richard M. The Comedian Edward Morgan Blake. Doctor Manhattan Jon Osterman. Nite Owl Daniel Dreiberg. Ozymandias Adrian Veidt. Rorschach Walter Kovacs. Malcolm Long doctor. Henry Kissenger. Cold War. Award Favourite Reprint Collection, Rorschach's Journal. October 12th, Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. I leave it entirely in your hands. Some consider Absolute Watchmen to be a notably different work from Watchmen. We won't under-value merchandise or mark the item as a gift on customs forms. Doing that is against U. Please let me know if you have any problems before leaving feedback. I want only satisfied customers! If you have any questions, please contact me. Thank you and good luck on your bidding. Skip to main content. Email to friends Share on Facebook - opens in a new window or tab Share on Twitter - opens in a new window or tab Share on Pinterest - opens in a new window or tab. Add to Watchlist. People who viewed this item also viewed. Picture Information. Have one to sell? Sell now - Have one to sell? Get the item you ordered or get your money back. Learn more - eBay Money Back Guarantee - opens in new window or tab. Seller information cosmiccomics- lasvegas Contact seller. Visit store. See other items More See all. Item Information Condition:. Sign in to check out Check out as guest. The item you've selected was not added to your cart. Add to Watchlist Unwatch. Watch list is full. Longtime member. This amount is subject to change until you make payment. For additional information, see the Global Shipping Program terms and conditions - opens in a new window or tab. Item location:. Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Ships to:. United States and many other countries See details. For additional information, see the Global Shipping Program terms and conditions - opens in a new window or tab This amount includes applicable customs duties, taxes, brokerage and other fees. Estimated between Thu. Product Details. Inspired by Your Browsing History. Batgirl Vol. and Brenden Fletcher. The Wild Storm Vol. . : Gates of Gotham Deluxe Edition. and Kyle Higgins. Flashpoint: The 10th Anniversary Omnibus. . : Ending Battle. Batman: Detective Comics Vol. Adventures of Superman by George Perez. George Perez. Deathstroke R. Christopher Priest. Absolute Batman Year One. . Joshua Williamson. Green Lanterns Vol. Watchmen (Absolute Edition) - AbeBooks - Alan Moore:

A hit HBO original series, Watchmen, the groundbreaking series from award-winning author Alan Moore, presents a world where the mere presence of American superheroes changed history—the U. Considered the greatest graphic novel in the history of the medium, the Hugo Award- winning story chronicles the fall from grace of a group of superheroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the is dissected as an unknown assassin stalks the erstwhile heroes. Alan Moore is perhaps the most acclaimed writer in the graphic story medium, having garnered countless awards for works such as Watchmen, , and . When you buy a book, we donate a book. Sign in. Dec 13, ISBN Add to Cart. Also available from:. Hardcover —. About Watchmen: Absolute Edition A hit HBO original series, Watchmen, the groundbreaking series from award-winning author Alan Moore, presents a world where the mere presence of American superheroes changed history—the U. Also by Alan Moore. About Alan Moore Alan Moore is perhaps the most acclaimed writer in the graphic story medium, having garnered countless awards for works such as Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing and Miracleman. Product Details. Inspired by Your Browsing History. Batgirl Vol. Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher. The Wild Storm Vol. Warren Ellis. Batman: Gates of Gotham Deluxe Edition. Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher. The Wild Storm Vol. Warren Ellis. Batman: Gates of Gotham Deluxe Edition. Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins. Flashpoint: The 10th Anniversary Omnibus. Ben Templesmith. Superman: Ending Battle. Batman: Detective Comics Vol. Adventures of Superman by George Perez. George Perez. Deathstroke R. Christopher Priest. Absolute Batman Year One. Frank Miller. Joshua Williamson. Green Lanterns Vol. Aquaman Vol. Vol. Scott Lobdell. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world and Moore depicts its darkest corners. Watchmen is the greatest display of Alan Moore's gift for juxtaposition. Employing parallel storytelling, often through a kid reading an old swashbuckler , Moore manipulates the emotional pitch of Watchmen. A great deal of time is devoted to the common man on one specific street corner. It seems, at times, almost like a waste, distracting from the murder-mystery plot. The relevancy of one street corner, of the lives of a handful of New Yorkers, becomes tragically clear in the final two issues. Much like D. Thomas' novel, The White Hotel , Watchmen illuminates the ordinary lives of a few so that we can understand the tragedy that strikes the millions of others just like them. As much as the story of Watchmen shaped the future of comics, Dave Gibbons' art altered the way people viewed the graphic medium. Gibbons isn't afraid to leave central characters off-panel or focus on an object in the foreground, making the speaking characters visually obsolete. There's little action in Watchmen , a story that runs more than pages, so Gibbons uses cinematic tricks to keep our focus through pages upon pages of dialogue. My favorite is a short scene between Nite-Owl and Silk Spectre, where the two are pushed to the edges of the panel and we watch their conversation unfold in the mirror behind them. Gibbons' art is the perfect compliment to Moore's words. It's hard to imagine Watchmen with different partners. Learn more about IGN Comics' rating system. Much smarter folks than myself have provided in-depth analysis of Watchmen over the years. I won't even try and plunge into the depths of this major work. Suffice to say it's quite a dense read and not the kind of book you pick up for a fun time. This is my fifth or sixth reading of Watchmen and I've found that each time I read through this book, I discover something new. Now with the Absolute edition, I've gained an even greater sense of Moore's story. This is a masterpiece. One that has inspired just about every writer since its release. Absolute Watchmen Review - IGN

And yet That was it? I don't think it has aged well. Yes, people can be awful. But there's no one in this story who wasn't gross or pathetic. That's not any more realistic than a story that has only sunshine and unicorn farts. People are not as bad as all this. But beyond this unrealistically gloomy look at humanity, my main issue with the comic was just simple boredom. Not much actually happens that would support this book being so long. Ok, now before anyone gets their panties in a twist, this is just my experience reading rereading this book. That doesn't mean I think anyone who loves this is silly or stupid. It just wasn't my cuppa. Original Review view spoiler [ Ok, first let me say that I have never read a graphic novel. I apologize in advance to all those who will be offended when I make this next statement. I thought it would be a nice easy read that I could finish in a few hours. What can I say, I figured it was just an adult version of some comic book. Boy, was I wrong. This thing took me days to finish! It was an in-depth, gritty, dark, mostly sad look at an alternate world a lot like ours. The "superheroes" were just dysfunctional guys and gals running around in tights. None of them seemed very heroic when it came down to it, and the only one of them with actual superpowers didn't care about anything at all. I still don't know if I like it, and it certainly wasn't enjoyable to read. Most of the time it made me feel slightly nauseous, but I think that was what the writer and artist were going for. I am, however, glad that I read it. It was different and I can see why this thing has been talked about so much for all of these years. I think it stands the test of time as something unique. View all comments. Mar 16, Will Byrnes rated it it was amazing Shelves: all-time-favorites-fiction. I reread this in anticipation of seeing the film in Rorschach Watchmen is one of the all-time great graphic novels. Someone is killing the costumed adventurers and the very dark Rorschach, our guiding Virgil into this Inferno, is trying to get to the bottom of it. Moore has constructed an alternate history, one in which Nixon remains president for a third term, one in which the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan continues on in to Pakistan and threatens nuclear war with the USA. These are not exactly the nicest superheroes. Rorschach is a psycho, a bloody vigilante, fierce, damaged, with a need for vengeance that often exceeds what is absolutely necessary. The Comedian is a nihilist who has committed an unspeakable crime against one of the other superheroes, as well as plenty of crimes against the non-hero community. Doctor Manhattan, the only character with super powers, and boy o boy what super powers, may not even care about the survivability of humanity any more. Billy Crudup as Doctor Manhattan - from the film So what is this all about? One central concern is action versus inaction. Faced with a world approaching the brink of nuclear annihilation, is it better to act or not act? If one is to act, how far can one go to save the earth? Acting in the service of larger causes has implications. Is murder in the service of country ok? If it is ok in war, how about in preventing war? The Comedian Is Moore a fan of the right-wing or a critic? My take is the latter. On the surface we hear Rorschach droning on about the moral depravity of the city a la Travis Bickel, while practicing his own form of depravity on any who get in his way. The right-wing, rabble-rousing newspaper in the book certainly has plenty of parallels in our world. I do not think he was flattering in his view of them. Moore was writing in response, I believe, to Thatcherism, when creatures like Maggie and Reagan were seen as heroes by their fans, to the detriment of most of us. I read that Moore set Watchmen in an alternate reality so as not to turn off Reaganistas. Who is watching the leaders? And who is watching the watchers? Nite Owl - from the book and as portrayed by Patrick Wilson in the film If these are the heroes we get, who needs heroes? Unlike the dominantly rose-tinted superheroes of the past, the Watchmen heroes are far past flawed. What actually do these characters value? Doc Manhattan struggles even with the notion of valuing the continuation of the human race. The Comedian thinks that life is a big, bloody joke, G. Gordon Liddy with a special outfit, and Rorschach sees filth everywhere. Unlike most superhero tales, this one lacks a super-villain. So the heroes have to deal with less simplistic challenges. It takes more to be a superhero than merely the ability to beat up the baddie. They have to use their brains, figure things out, struggle with very difficult moral choices. One annoyance here was that I felt the females in the story tend to serve as plot devices for the development of the male characters rather than as fully realized characters in their own right. Silk Spectre - pen and ink, and Carly Gugino in the film Watchmen is part Batman, part noir detective story, part cold war crisis of nerves. It represented a sea change in the presentation of graphic heroes, from a more innocent time in which good was good and bad was bad, for the most part, to one in which the distinctions are much less clear. Watchmen resonates on many levels and remains, on re-reading, a powerful tale. Review re-posted October in anticipation of the upcoming HBO re-boot - This will not be a re-make of the film, but uses the graphic novel as a starting point, branching far from the original material. Should be interesting. View all 23 comments. Aug 11, Schmacko rated it it was ok. I can understand why this is considered a holy tome in the field of graphic novels. Imagination abounds, and I am thoroughly impressed. I get frustrated because my graphic-novel friends keep foisting these things on me. They love me, they see me as very imaginative and very supportive of their creativity, but they cannot seem to get why I go cold at graphic novels. This one was thrust upon me, because I was affected by the movie The Dark Knight. I got emotionally engaged. I felt hopeless with Batman. I got a knot in my stomach when that horrible, unspeakable thing happened two-thirds of the way through the film. I want more — I want to laugh and cry and cheer and feel despair. I want a core of true human story. Gadgets and colors and costumes and superpowers don't make me weep or shout or ponder or giggle or sigh. Well, they make me sigh - with frustrationa nd boredom. I know I sound angry at these things. And yet, my graphic-novel friends still press these books in my hand, hoping to unlock my wonder and amazement. I am not above the magical, mystical, and fantastic I love Harry Potter , but there has to be more than just gadgetry and explosions. There has to be honesty and the courage to plumb the human experience. In Harry Potter, I rallied behind Mrs. Weasley's maternal drive. I loved Harry's indignance at cruelty. I thought Hermione's concern for elves was sweet, and complicated who know they wanted to be slaves. Chabon succeeded at making me feel, and so did Rowling. Watchmen did not. Watchmen is about two generations of heroes. One was human — using costumes, strength, and cunning. The next was led bys a superhuman, Dr. Manhattan — they were both human and somewhat superhuman. Then a law was passed making their work illegal, and they went underground. Oh - for the people who know and love Watchmen - I felt bad for how Dr. And I understood why Laurie got infuriated. The thrill of Laurie and Dan becoming superheroes again was honest and wonderful. None of the long-winded, theoretical discussion about whether humanity was worth saving had any emotional pull to me. In all pages, I had four honest emotional reactions. They leave me cold. Graphic novels are mostly cool. View all 54 comments. Jul 23, Nicole Prestin rated it did not like it Shelves: graphic-novels. I realize that what I'm about to say is as close as you can get to comic book blasphemy, but I think that 1 Alan Moore is the most overrated comic book writer ever and 2 this graphic novel is overblown, pretentious and most unforgivable of all, boring. To be fair, I'm somewhat of a snob when it comes to my reading habits. First and foremost, I want to be entertained. If the story happens to be deep, thought provoking or groundbreaking as well, that's icing on the cake. And the bottom line is th I realize that what I'm about to say is as close as you can get to comic book blasphemy, but I think that 1 Alan Moore is the most overrated comic book writer ever and 2 this graphic novel is overblown, pretentious and most unforgivable of all, boring. And the bottom line is that this book simply did not entertain me. It was too busy trying to be Deep and Meaningful and Teach Us A Lesson to actually do anything as lowbrow as make compelling characters the reader can identify with and have them do interesting and entertaining things. While I love characters who are sucky human beings in small doses, stories where damn near everyone sucks like this one get on my nerves. I don't like reading stories filled with a bunch of irredeemable emo asshats who do shitty things to each other and to humanity in general , and where the the themes of the story are pounded into your face with the delicacy of a sledgehammer. So clearly not my cup of tea, but I'm obviously in the minority on this one. View all 55 comments. Jul 30, Fabian rated it really liked it Recommends it for: People turned off by graphic novels but with an open mind. Not a fan of the graphic novel but this epic actually moved me. It tells of the human drama, the DNA that is passed down generations, the hopelessness of modernity, and which side we'll choose when the apocalypse is neigh. Can the past be altogether discarded so that one can live a "normal" life--whether its Superhero or Human? This menagerie of misfits Nite Owl, Dr. Manhattan, the Comedian, Ozymindas, Silk Spectre Also, the match-cuts are cinematic in a work that is, ironically, dubbed "unfilmable. Let us hope the film comes close to matching its genius. View all 6 comments. Feb 07, Felicia rated it it was amazing Shelves: faves , graphic-novels. Hmm, what to say. So anyhoo I read this and I can summarize this way: The Movie did a great summary of the plot while formulating a story that missed the subtext of the graphic novel entirely. I enjoyed both, but after reading the graphic novel, it's almost sad how the impression you tak Hmm, what to say. I enjoyed both, but after reading the graphic novel, it's almost sad how the impression you take away from the movie is nothing of what Alan Moore was trying to say about the world, society or these characters. So interesting. View all 12 comments. Dec 17, Always Pouting rated it it was amazing. So I've been super busy trying to figure out my life now that I've graduated and it's terrible and I've literally read nothing in weeks but I actually ended up taking a day to read this because someone lent it to me. My boyfriend was saying that it was ridiculous that I hadn't read this yet and insisted I finish and even though now I'm like behind on this online class that I've been taking it was totally worth it. Usually I write like some kind of synopsis but not sure how to go about that here. I would rather just say how I felt and babble about how good this ended up being so instead of like trying to summarize I'm just going to go through it which for anyone who tries to avoid spoilers means you should probably stop reading from here. Anyway I really did like the artwork for this and I'm not an avid reader of graphic novels though so that might not really mean much as an opinion. What was really good was the writing though and the way things all came together through the story, like the research center featured near the news stand coming back to being important to the climax. The writing was really good and I just really loved the depressing gloomy tone of things. Especially that second comic in the comic with the pirates. Oh man when that dude goes home and thinks he's killing the pirates but it's his wife like damn, I saw it coming but it was still so heavy. Also the way everything in the comic book unfolded so that it was foreshadowing as well as highlighting the main plot line a well. And aw man why is Rorschach's life so terrible, just seeing his childhood made me upset, and when he goes back to the apartment and is about to say something to the landlady and see's her kids oh jesus I was just like WHY. Him in general though, even though he's abrasive as a person he's such a great character, like in jail he tells the other prisoner, "i'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me" that made me freak out. I was pretty upset that Dr. Manhattan fried him there at the end. Speaking of which the whole ending makes me so angry, because like why does one person get to decide unilaterally what to do. I get that things were spiraling out of control but I still don't believe that the answer was to kill millions of people and pin it on aliens, and I sure as hell don't see why the whole world shouldn't know what happen. It doesn't mean that things would go back to devolving, if anything hatred can be just as uniting and I'm sure everyone's anger could have come in between the impending war. I know at the end his journal is there and they might find it but I just find it highly unsatisfactory that it hinges on something so uncertain. I don't think anyone should have all the say on how things progress, no matter how intelligent. And also for someone who is supposed to be the most intelligent man on earth his morality is pretty childish as well as his idolization of people like Alexander the great. Also last comment, the whole handling of the rape situation between Sally Jupiter and Eddie was really interesting I thought. Relationships do tend to be much less clear cut and dry in real life and it was nice seeing that unfold in the story. It kind of made me think of how people can have a hard time understanding rape in a consensual relationship like a marriage but how context can really change things and how things aren't always as clear cut as being wrong and right necessarily for the person who is raped. Anyway definitely one of the best things I've read regardless of how angry I am about how things end. View all 26 comments. What's this? Unpopular opinion time? Most of my friends and most of Goodreads love this book. I did not. I read for pleasure. I don't care if reading makes me smart. I don't care if reading makes me pretty. I just want that escape into other worlds. If I went to this world-I would die from boredom. I actually like the darker books so I thought this one would sweep me up into the fandom of it. But, alas, it just made me sleep quite well last night. I didn't even know there was a movie ma What's this? I didn't even know there was a movie made from it until someone mentioned it while I was reading it. My hubby would probably like the movie so we may try that at some point. But I ain't in no hurry. Oh, and for the trolls that I'm sure I will attract with this review. Because everyone has their own opinion. Go write yours. View all 77 comments. Mar 04, karen rated it really liked it Shelves: dysto-teque , youre-a-graphic-novel. Alan Moore is the greatest graphic novelist of all time. He has created a world where superheroes are not typical superheroes like super-man, spider-man et al. Each superhero has a unique philosophical perspective. And he has created superheroes who were either in deep complex psychological crisis or are going through one, and they are not perfect who always save the day in the end. View all 22 comments. Jan 14, Lyn rated it it was amazing. A clever joke, wound up inside a parody, and all surrounded and blanketed by a cool story. Three cheers for Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons for this deservedly popular and critically acclaimed, genre defining, wildly influential graphic novel. First published in , this has come to be a benchmark of what kind of powerful fiction can be accomplished in this medium. Describing an alternate history where Richard Nixon has been president for multiple terms, the United States won the Vietnam W Brilliant. Describing an alternate history where Richard Nixon has been president for multiple terms, the United States won the Vietnam War, and superheroes guard the streets and watch over us against the bad guys. But who watches the watchmen? The original heroes are all retired or dead and the second generation are banned, but then one of the originals is murdered and we are drawn into a world turned upside down and where the feelings and motivations of our heroes are explored and dissected. Vidal talked about how Hollywood creates for us a new mythology, wherein our psychological needs for heroics are formalized and produced. Here, by creating a new group of heroes in an alternate universe, Moore describes for us, and defines for us in the periphery, how we need heroes as myth. The various characters and personages are drawn and captured and put together from an amalgam of classic detectives and heroes. Just as in any pantheon of ethnic deities, here does Moore enact for us, in none too subtle form, how we have gods amongst us and they are of our creating. Like the gods of Egypt and of the Norse, Greek, etc etc we as a modern culture have drawn for ourselves heroes to incorporate and define what we want. There are super strong heroes, geniuses, fighters, those who take the battle to the bad guys and win. Highly recommended. View all 4 comments. This acclaimed and groundbreaking graphic novel by Alan Moore story and Dave Gibbons artwork opens with a body plummeting out of a skyscraper window. The year is , the place is New York and we enter a universe similar to our own but altered. Richard Nixon is still president, serving his fifth term, Vietnam being a big success! Many years earlier a group of colourful masked became popula This acclaimed and groundbreaking graphic novel by Alan Moore story and Dave Gibbons artwork opens with a body plummeting out of a skyscraper window. Many years earlier a group of colourful masked avengers became popular with the public as they fought back against the rising tide of crime that the police were failing to control. This later group, now retired, is made up of The Comedian - a violent, right wing adventurer, Rorschach - a lonely, damaged vigilante, Doc Manhattan - a godlike superhero, whose body was reassembled following a nuclear accident, the Silk Spectre - aka Laurie Juspeczyk a principled and respected crime fighter, Ozymandias - a super intelligent and super rich hero and finally Nite Owl - a brilliant, costumed inventor. The body splatted on the pavement was that of The Comedian. Why was he murdered? Is someone targeting the Watchmen? The disparate group of ageing heros investigate and begin to unearth a vast and incredible conspiracy. I loved the scope and variety of this graphic novel - sometimes challenging, sometimes thought provoking, often funny and always imaginative. I read it very slowly over hundreds of coffee breaks, finding that although Watchmen had the depth of a novel, this was a good way to appreciate the artwork and themes - and a good way to read alongside standard novels. View all 61 comments. Mar 25, Brad rated it it was amazing Shelves: graphic-novel , political , to-read-again , the-best , sci-fi , dystopian. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I've been in many discussions over the years -- some in classes I was teaching, some over pints in the bar, and still others late at night with people I love -- about what Alan Moore was trying to say with Watchmen , discussions about the meaning of his graphic novel, and I am convinced that the meaning is not what most people think. Most people I have talked to look at Veidt's mini-Armageddon to bring peace as inherently evil -- and the most monstrous act in a book of monstrous acts. Veidt's act I've been in many discussions over the years -- some in classes I was teaching, some over pints in the bar, and still others late at night with people I love -- about what Alan Moore was trying to say with Watchmen , discussions about the meaning of his graphic novel, and I am convinced that the meaning is not what most people think. Veidt's act trumps The Comedian's attempted rape of Silk Spectre and the murder of his child in the womb; it trumps Rorschach's punishment of the child killer, his torture of "innocent" informants, and the brutality he delivers unto anyone he happens to see committing a "crime," petty or otherwise; it trumps Dr. Manhattan's personal engagement in the Vietnam War; Veidt's action even seems to trump the not-so-petty criminal activities we see perpetrated by peripheral "criminals" throughout Watchmen. On the surface, we tend to condemn Veidt's action because of its scale. It's cold and precise and sterile and necessarily takes the lives of "millions of innocent people. Our great monsters are Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, but we somehow find it in our hearts and minds to forgive Truman's nuclear attacks on Japan because they "saved millions of lives," as a young Walter Kovacs aka Rorschach writes in an essay about his absent father, defending Nuclear War and the Truman doctrine, albeit at an early age. And if we can forgive Truman's attack I recognize that some people cannot forgive that attack, but many, many can , why not forgive Veidt? If we can forgive one, we must forgive the other. Sure Veidt killed more people, but he saved more too, and created a utopia out of the chaos. This discrepancy in our accepted opinions is not lost on Alan Moore; in fact, it is at the core of Watchmen. We see it being played out in dialogue and action by characters from The Comedian to Rorschach, from Ozymandias to Dr. Manhattan, and even in the supporting folk who populate Moore's distopian future. When faced with this discrepancy and pressed to discover why Veidt's actions continue to rile us, it doesn't take long to uncover a deeper root for our disdain: our need for individuality and Veidt's destruction of the freedom to make our own mistakes. This realization of our anger at Veidt and why his action is "evil" quickly becomes the accepted meaning of Moore's story: that derailing humanity's ability to choose is the greatest wrong anyone can commit the secular see this as a fundamental attack on our freedom, while the religious see this as our fundamental gift from God, but they tend to add anger at Veidt for playing God , and that Veidt's utopia will fail because the power of the individual is too great -- it always overcomes. I disagree. I don't think Moore considers Veidt's act evil so much as misguided. I am not convinced that Moore believes in good and evil at all. Throughout Watchmen we are led to see one man as the man who "gets it," and that figure is not Rorschach. Rorschach is a guide, nothing more. Rorschach acts as an Horatio figure, guiding us through the narrative, telling us what to pay attention to, whom to believe, what to see: mostly he is trying to get us to see The Comedian. If the story is anyone's it is The Comedian's. The Comedian is the man who gets it , and what the amoral Comedian gets is that morality is a construct designed to help us avoid despairing at what Moore believes is the truth: humanity is violent and base; it is ignoble; it is doomed to repeat and repeat and repeat its violence because that is what humanity does best -- violence -- and everything else is playacting. Thus, Veidt's mini-Armageddon is futile, not because of our noble individuality, not because of the strength of our human spirit, but because of the strength of our animal instincts. All those lives were wasted to create a utopia that simply couldn't be. And Rorschach's journal, slipped through the door of the paper and ready to be printed, is the detonation cap. Watchmen may be the most hopeless popular book printed in the last fifty years, and the most truthful. I am continually shocked by its popularity even if only as a cult phenomenon , but then maybe it is only popular through a quirk of misunderstanding. Then again, it could be popular because people understand it better than they're willing to admit. View all 11 comments. Jul 22, Swaroop Kanti rated it it was amazing Shelves: favourites. It would be a stronger world, a stronger loving world, to die in. In a world filled with many mindless and senseless graphic novels and comics, Watchmen is an intelligent and thought-provoking creation, much much more than just entertainment. A masterpiece, which does not really require a review. View 2 comments. Oct 02, Michael Finocchiaro rated it it was amazing Shelves: englishth-c , favorites , graphic-novels , superhero. One of the greatest standalone comics which led to one of the greatest screen adaptations of a superhero story, Watchmen is an extraordinarily fun ride. I love the 30s atmosphere and the compelling characters. The artwork is great and the story is orignal - one of the great comic classics! Need to re-read this one regularly as Alan Moore really created a graphic novel of lasting genius. View all 3 comments. Aaron's been telling me for a long time that I should read a select few of his favorite comic books. And I haven't been avoiding them. But when I'm looking around the house for something to read, I forget to wander over to the comics section. So finally he just made a stack of books for me, and I started with Watchmen. When does Laurie shut up? But I said it wasn't that I wasn't enjoying it--well, I wasn't enjoying it, but I was appreciating it. And that's my final verdict, I guess. But in terms of pure individual reaction? Well, it was kind of like when I finally saw The French Connection. There's all this build up about The French Connection and what a great car chase it has and how influential it was and how it marked the birth of a new type of movie anti-hero who inhabited a realistic moral grey zone, blah, blah, blah. And then when you finally see it, you've seen so many subsequent films that were influenced by it that the original seems old hat. So, my reaction to Watchmen was colored by the fact that I have only been exposed to comic books in a post- Watchmen world. I didn't read comics when I was young. Everything I know about comics I've learned from Aaron Matthew Polk, and he's a huge Watchmen fan, so I had already absorbed the Watchmen worldview without ever having read the book. Of course, it's good to have read it so I have a better chance of participating in or at least following along with comic geek conversations. Now I, too, can speculate on casting should a Watchmen movie ever get the green light, and I, too, can bemoan the eventual script's lack of fidelity to the source material, and I, too, can complain when they screw up the CGI on Doc Manhattan. There should be some sort of merit badge that the girlfriends of geeks can earn--just like in the Girl Scouts, when you get a badge for selling a certain number of cookies, or the stickers and certificates earned by people who give a lot of blood, or the chips they give recovering alcoholics for a certain period of sobriety. I have earned my one comic book badge. It's like being a puny-colored belt of some kind in karate. The point is, I appreciated the book, sort of in the same way that I might appreciate a text I was assigned to read for a class. I mean, I get Great Expectations , but I'm not going to read it again. Who is crazier: Miss Havisham or Rorshach? View all 15 comments. Feb 11, Dan Schwent rated it it was amazing Shelves: , comics , comics. With the world on the brink of nuclear annihilation, the Comedian is found dead and the super heroes that knew him go looking for the killer. They might not like what secrets they unearth I first read this when I was around 20 and was blown away. Now, untold decades later, I decided to finally give it a reread. It held up. On the surface, Watchmen is a murder mystery and it works fine on that level. Rorschach, the view point character, enlists Nite Owl, his old partner, and they shake the tree With the world on the brink of nuclear annihilation, the Comedian is found dead and the super heroes that knew him go looking for the killer. Rorschach, the view point character, enlists Nite Owl, his old partner, and they shake the tree and see what falls out, which happens to be something much more than a murder. Beneath the surface, it's an examination of super heroes: what makes them put on costumes and fight crime, why would they waste their time on petty crimes when they could do something greater, and would a godlike being really care about humanity's day to day affairs. On that level, I think it goes above and beyond. Dave Gibbons' art is somewhat understated and the subdued color palette makes it more so but I think both lend to the story's mood. The super heroes in this world have gone to seed and the sun rarely shines anymore. Everyone is pretty much running out the clock until nuclear armageddon. All that being said, the man knows his way around a nine panel grid. His use of perspective is excellent and he knows what to focus on. The pacing in Watchmen is masterful. Twelve issues was the perfect length for the tale, no padding, no rushing. The characters departed quite a bit from their Charlton roots. It was a blessing in disguise that Alan Moore couldn't use the Charlton characters and had to go with analogues. He was able to take them much farther. The story was believable and the dark tone served the story. It wasn't dark just to be dark like a lot of books that came later. Even though this wasn't my first trip through the meat grinder, I felt the suspense building as I went. The last three installments flew by and part of me hoped it would end differently this time. Once in a while, it's good to be reminded that before Alan Moore hated everything about comics, he was actually pretty good at writing them. Now I'm not going to pretend I didn't have any problems with this. I actually think the threat in the end of the movie made more logical sense that how it went down here. I'm also not sure how necessary some of the metafictional extras were, though I did like the Black Freighter sequences more this time around. While it gets a lot of grief for the dark turn comics took in the late s and early s, Watchmen stands the test of time and remains one of the best. Five out of five stars. View all 10 comments. May 16, Tom Ewing rated it did not like it. Modern comics events seem to demand endless lead-ins and spin-offs, and sadly Doomsday Clock, from the blockbuster team of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, is no exception to this trend. For a start, it's not even by Geoff Johns - how big a clue do you need that DC see 'Watchmen' as simply a cash-in? The storyline has been farmed out to a British writer-artist team who are giv Modern comics events seem to demand endless lead-ins and spin-offs, and sadly Doomsday Clock, from the blockbuster team of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, is no exception to this trend. The storyline has been farmed out to a British writer-artist team who are given the task of introducing us to the universe which will "collide" with the DCU in this winter's mega-event. It's an important job and one which might have been suited to a special issue or even an annual-length story, but no - DC had to drag things out to 12 long issues - for comparison purposes, the Death Of Hawkman in which Hawkman dies was only alotted 6 issues. Watchmen includes several issues focusing on characters who don't even survive to take part in Doomsday Clock! And don't get me started on the sequences set on yet ANOTHER part of the DC multiverse, where pirates still rule the waves - yes, it's a cool concept for an alternate Earth, but an editor should definitely have stepped in and asked for a bit of clarity. In general the editorial reins are rather lightly held on Watchmen - for all the criticism Mr DiDio has received for interference, it's a certainty he wouldn't have made the basic mistakes here. If this DCU veteran couldn't follow it, what hope does a new reader have? Also at no point is the membership of the Watchmen clearly delineated, and the team never really come together to solve the threat - an attempt at a clever bait and switch which goes sadly wrong in the hands of this inexperienced creative team. The threat itself is handled marginally better, though aside from a couple of cool spreads the stiff artwork can hardly stand comparison to previous DC events like Blackest Night and Forever Evil which set the highest standards for realism in superhero action. A little more variation in page layout wouldn't have hurt! The story is along the lines of Identity Crisis a comic those curious about Watchmen should investigate for a REAL universe-shaking interrogation of the superhero form - it's strictly for adults, though. A hero lies dead and his fellow crime-fighters have to investigate - but might one of their own be responsible? Quicken the pace and introduce some more action and you might have a tense storyline here, but instead the writer is too busy showing off all the backstory he's worked out for this universe, and there's a LOT of backstory. If I wanted pages of prose I would read a novelisation. All this background simply obscures the story beats: the creators could learn a lot from modern storytelling in my opinion. Apparently the writer has already vowed never to work with DC again, and frankly it feels like they've dodged a bullet. I can't imagine they were queueing up to work with him after this. So overall Watchmen is a dud, with no recognisable DCU heroes appearing, and fans of Doomsday Clock should probably save their money for some of the awesome variant covers I expect to be announced. The squid monster at the end is very cool, though once again a pretentious storytelling decision to cut to AFTER the fight against it lets the comic down. And there is one character who stands out from the rest - a badass hero called Rorschach who is absolutely driven to hunt down evil with zero, and I mean zero, compromise. He gets some extremely cool scenes and if he shows up in Doomsday Clock - which looks unlikely but keep your fingers crossed - expect Johns and Frank to crush it. In the right hands this guy could be a serious breakout star. But on the whole this is a rip-off and yet another slap in the face to fans. It's so different in style and substance from what we expect from an epic DCU story in that it's almost impossible to see how it's going to connect to Doomsday Clock. In Johns We Trust - but this is his toughest job yet. Also includes a timeline of the events in the story. None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with YOU. You're locked up in here with ME. I read Watchmen for the first time in Watchmen was a pioneer work that in past decades, when comic books were only avalaible in specialized comic book stores, Watchmen was avalaible in regular book stores, featuring in the Time Magazine Top of the best books ever written. My favorite character in Watchmen is Rorschach. Never compromise. Moreover, showing how the super-heroes could impact in the real world, changing it from its original timeline. Everything begins with a murder. This includes some character sketches early pencils and such. There is also an intro i believe with dedications to his loved ones written by Gibbons. IF this is the edition I once owned with the same cover the intro is actually pretty cool. Gibbons gives some background on how the project came about and the umm lets call them special quirks Moore has when it comes to writing style. Also how the stress and demand the book required affected him during the project. An epic of a story where almost every page is 12 panels!? I am unaware of any work of the same caliber coming close to that kind of hand cramping gusto. I cannot remember if Alan Moore provided any extra introduction or epilogue in this ed. The story and art are essentially the same in all editions it would seem. Most of them have the same page count of The differences are really in bindings it seems. The rest vary in weight and prize due to the quality of covers. Thickness,extra book case,slips,etc. More pages equals newer with more ppl gushing over the book no doubt. The comments do not mention any difference in printing,paper,or color application. So all are most likely the newer remastered coloring. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Home Questions Tags Users Unanswered. What are the difference between the different Graphic Novel editions of Watchmen? Ask Question. Asked 5 years, 3 months ago. Active 3 years, 5 months ago. Viewed 19k times. Gallifreyan Victor Salazar Victor Salazar 9, 7 7 gold badges 49 49 silver badges 79 79 bronze badges. Very good question. Active Oldest Votes. Valorum Valorum k gold badges silver badges bronze badges. Wad Cheber stands with Monica Watchmen famously uses a 9-panel grid, not 12 panels. What he said.

Watchmen: Absolute Edition by Alan Moore: | : Books

While Gibbons' art has always translated Moore's emotional sentiment, the re-mastered colors make this all the more powerful. The final issue begins with six one-panel pages, which were shocking even back in Now, on a bigger scale and with adjusted colors, the six silent pages are explosive. The story builds to this moment and more so than in previous printings, this climactic scene reverberates with power. Moore's tale of a world without heroes is eerily relevant to today's America. Set in , eight years after costumed vigilantes were outlawed, Watchmen is part murder mystery, part political drama. When America's only regulated super-being, the god-like Dr. Manhattan, decides to leave Earth, Russia begins a series of bold moves that could lead to nuclear proliferation. While the world at large is facing crisis, someone has begun killing the retired costumed heroes of America. A few of the old guard begin an investigation, one that leads to a shocking revelation and an unexpected finale. In Watchmen , Moore shows us a world that has gone completely mad. Not only is the escalation of Cold War hostilities and the idea of nuclear annihilation insane, but the characters driving this tale are all touched with madness. Nixon, the perfect mixture of power and paranoia, has managed to remain President through the '80s. Everyone's favorite hero, Rorschach, is a violent, delusional sociopath. Even the pragmatic Dr. Manhattan cannot escape the manic nature of the human condition. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world and Moore depicts its darkest corners. Watchmen is the greatest display of Alan Moore's gift for juxtaposition. Employing parallel storytelling, often through a kid reading an old swashbuckler comic book, Moore manipulates the emotional pitch of Watchmen. A great deal of time is devoted to the common man on one specific street corner. It seems, at times, almost like a waste, distracting from the murder-mystery plot. The relevancy of one street corner, of the lives of a handful of New Yorkers, becomes tragically clear in the final two issues. Much like D. Thomas' novel, The White Hotel , Watchmen illuminates the ordinary lives of a few so that we can understand the tragedy that strikes the millions of others just like them. As much as the story of Watchmen shaped the future of comics, Dave Gibbons' art altered the way people viewed the graphic medium. Gibbons isn't afraid to leave central characters off-panel or focus on an object in the foreground, making the speaking characters visually obsolete. There's little action in Watchmen , a story that runs more than pages, so Gibbons uses cinematic tricks to keep our focus through pages upon pages of dialogue. My favorite is a short scene between Nite-Owl and Silk Spectre, where the two are pushed to the edges of the panel and we watch their conversation unfold in the mirror behind them. Gibbons' art is the perfect compliment to Moore's words. It's hard to imagine Watchmen with different partners. Learn more about IGN Comics' rating system. Much smarter folks than myself have provided in-depth analysis of Watchmen over the years. I won't even try and plunge into the depths of this major work. Flashpoint: The 10th Anniversary Omnibus. Ben Templesmith. Superman: Ending Battle. Batman: Detective Comics Vol. Adventures of Superman by George Perez. George Perez. Deathstroke R. Christopher Priest. Absolute Batman Year One. Frank Miller. Joshua Williamson. Green Lanterns Vol. Aquaman Vol. Teen Titans Vol. Scott Lobdell. Kingdom Of The Wicked. Ian Edginton. and Tony Bedard. Batman and Robin Vol. Peter J. William Messner-Loebs. Nightwing Vol. by Vol. Dwayne McDuffie. Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. Absolute Flashpoint. : Origin Deluxe Edition. Young Justice Book Five. Django Unchained. Quentin Tarantino. Modesty Blaise: Bad Suki. https://files8.webydo.com/9585912/UploadedFiles/C5B9305F-3C22-5492-F5C2-FE87007600B2.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4644424/normal_601f7999838a1.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4642233/normal_60214f4d5ac80.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9588666/UploadedFiles/F0C84CF5-5255-D4DB-CACB-6C0229FFE104.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4644478/normal_601f05b35aca6.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9590098/UploadedFiles/11F2B6E1-8E0A-E1F5-0AEB-BF9805984ED5.pdf