Which version of watchmen should i buy

As it runs out, there are no less than half a dozen ways to read Watchmen these days, so we don't blame some readers for feeling a bit confused. In addition, we've provided a short roundup of all the major Watchmen merchandise planned for the coming months, including the numerous companion books and action figures. We can only hope that this guide encourages a few more lazy readers to head to the bookstore and finally give Watchmen a look.

It's about time. Have you read Watchmen? YES NO. Was this article informative? One of the volumes is even mirrored, so that the first page is almost identical to the last, the second page to the second last, and so on.

That most readers don't even notice this is even more remarkable. That means that Moore used an extremely stylized technique so well that it didn't interfere with the story at all.

But therein lies the difficulty: if a reader isn't looking for it, they will probably have no idea what makes this books so original and so remarkable.

This especially true if they don't know the tropes Moore is subverting, or the allusive history he calls upon to contextualize his ideas. While many readers enjoy the book purely on its artistic merit, the strength of the writing, and the well-paced plot, others disregard the work when they are unable to recognize what makes it revolutionary.

One might as well try to read Paradise Lost with no knowledge of the Bible, or watch Looney Toons without a familiarity with 's pop culture. It is not a perfect work, but there is no such thing.

Moore's lead heroine is unremarkable, which Moore himself has lamented. He did not feel entirely comfortable writing women at that point in his career, and the character was forced on him by the higher ups.

Luckily, she's not bad enough to ruin the work, and only stands out because she lacks the depth of his other characters. His politics sometimes run to the anarchic, but often this is just a satire of violence and hubris.

Moore gives no easy answers in his grand reimagining. His interlocking stories present many thoughts, and many points of view. In the end, it is up to the reader to decide for himself who was right or wrong--as if anyone truly could be. Moore never insults the intelligence of his readers, and so creates a work with more depth than anyone is likely to plumb even after numerous readings.

Likewise, he does not want you to 'hold on for the ride', but expects that you will engage and question and try to come to terms with his work, yourself. No one is necessarily the hero or villain, and many people find themselves cowed and unsure of such an ambiguous world, just as we do with the real world.

Watchmen is not instructional, nor is it simply a romp. This book, like all great books, is a journey that you and the author share. The work is meant to connect us to the real world, and not to let us escape from it. This is Moore's greatest subversion of the superhero genre, and does even more than Milton to "justify the ways of God to man", for many men delude themselves to godhood, yet even these gods cannot escape their fundamental humanity.

My Suggested Readings in Comics View all 47 comments. I didn't read this until last year. I saw the film about six months later. I'm a new convert still radiant with that 'just converted' glow. Along with the Sandman graphic novels this is my favourite work in the medium Zenith and Preacher get honourable mentions.

Watchmen wins over all of the other candidates in ambition. This is a work of vast ambition. It doesn't deliver on every level, it isn't perfect, but it contains so much that succeeds, and comes so close to fulfilling its promises that I didn't read this until last year. It doesn't deliver on every level, it isn't perfect, but it contains so much that succeeds, and comes so close to fulfilling its promises that it would be churlish to mention any failings.

Alan Moore is a great writer. He's not a great writer for comics, he's a great writer period, who happens to have made the graphic novel his medium. Watchmen is at times literary, funny, erudite, tragic, exciting, intriguing This is a deconstruction of the superhero, an examination of the overlap between man and Superman, a recognition that we're none of us capable of handling the responsibility that comes hand in hand with power, and that talent, or strength, whether human or superhuman do not somehow erase or overcome the moral and mental frailties that are a part of the human condition.

The plot sprawls, it's convoluted, it spans generations and a large cast. What keeps it together are the deeply personal stories on various scales. Its scope was what kept it from the big screen for so long, and in truth the movie whilst good fun and well done, I thought is just a 2D projection of this complex multi-dimensional work.

That same complexity is stopping me from doing it justice in this short review. Rather than try I'm just going to back off the grandiose praise and return to the punchline: This is a fun read. It's exciting. It's as deep as that hole Alice fell down, but you never notice you're falling.

Pick it up. Read it with pride. If someone sneers at you for reading a comic-book It's nice and fat! Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter prizes View all 32 comments.

View all 17 comments. Maybe I didn't have enough experience with all the actual garbage out there and couldn't yet appreciate Moore's genius. Now, after slogging through his masterpiece with more than a few comics under my belt, I feel confident when I say that I don't like this all that much. The art is horrible and almost every panel is crammed with words.

Most of them me Coronavirus Review I originally thought that Watchmen didn't initially impress me because it was the first graphic novel I'd read as an adult. Most of them meaningless ramblings that sound like something your drunk uncle spouts at the family reunion when he's trying to sound deep and thoughtful. Everyone else heads back to the kitchen to get more potato salad, leaving Uncle Alan with whatever poor nephew he's cornered to be harrassed with reminisces of back in the day and observations on why the world has gone to shit.

But worse than the panels of art packed with wordy musings are the straight-up book pages. Page after page of a bio about the 'comic' that the kid at the newsstand is reading? Why is there a backstory about the writer of a fake pirate comic that is being read inside another comic? Then 3 pages on some guy Dan? Moore is bordering on abusive with this sort of thing. Some of it was mildly interesting, however, none of it ultimately pushed the plot forward.

I didn't mind the stuff about Sally Jupiter but it could have been cut in half. I didn't need all of that nonsense. The last pages pick up the pace a little.

Which means that it's almost as interesting as any decent comic you pick up today. Not a good one. A decent one. And the conclusion is so unbelievably underwhelming. It had been so many years since I'd read it that I couldn't quite remember how it all went down, so there was still an element of surprise. 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. Oct 07, Sean Barrs rated it it was amazing Shelves: comic-graphic-novel , 5-star-reads. Morality is a fickle bitch. This is, simply put, iconic. I think there is a strong reason for it. It made me question morality on a scale rarely seen in fiction.

Indeed, when considering the characters it is incredibly hard to consider any of them truly good or truly bad. They are simply people who are convinced that they are right.

Take Rorschach, he follows the law to the very letter, but nev Morality is a fickle bitch. He works outside the law to bring the law in a strange sort of way. Then is he not worthy of the justice he administers? Does he go too far? Is he, too, not worthy of punishment? These are hard questions to answer because there are no real answers. There is simply opinion and debate; it all depends on how you view the world. One thing remains certain though, the characters in here are so devastatingly flawed.

On the other hand, you have Ozymandias who looks at the big picture. He sees the world for what it is, and tries to plan accordingly. Except, unlike Rorschach he attempts to tackle the bigger problems.

To many, he is simply the villain. In reality he is as obscurely heroic as Rorschach and just as morally grey.

Who has the right to sacrifice life? Who has the right to dictate people and make such a monumental decision? Well, nobody really. Who can question his results? His methods are clearly debatable, though it was the only route open to him. There is simply no quantifiable right or wrong in this world; there is only neutrality and hypocrisy. This is where the self-actualised Comedian comes in. Unlike Rorschach, he is fully aware of his faults and corruptness.

Unlike Ozymandias, he perceived that the world has no hope. So, what does he do? He embraces himself and indulges in his own overbearing personality. He knows what he is, and what he reflects, so he relishes in his own nature. So, why not enjoy it? There are so many conflicting and self-defeating morals in here. Never before have I read something in which so many people have been wrong, but at the same time so absolutely right.

He is something else entirely. He could have changed everything. His power was practically limitless, but he barely lifted a finger until the last possible moment. And the pointing of that finger was an action that was both terrible and completely necessary. The answer became clear as to the question of his inaction: why should he bother with man? Rorschach saw it too, but he still tried to salvage the remnants of society through brutalising the brutalisers.

Dr Manhattan, however, was simply too complex and too important to waste his time on the common man. He came through in the end though, surprisingly. Well, kind of. Parts of this felt too intricate to put into words.

This is a complete subversion of the entire genre and a full questioning of the flawed, and hypocritical, nature of humankind. It is a piece of work that will, simply put, never be forgotten by those that have experienced its mortifying splendour. So I ask you this: what comic book should I read next? Can any other comic really compare to this? View all 19 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. So if you want to see Watchmen as the director intended it and are willing to jettison some of what made the comic so unique, this minute cut is the way to go. The larger question, then, is whether or not you should watch any version of Watchmen. Modestly reviewed 64 percent fresh from Rotten Tomatoes; 56 from Metascore upon release, the choice to keep the film in an alternate version of the s — one in which Nixon served five terms and the blue-skinned Dr.

Manhattan helped the United States win the Vietnam War a matter of weeks after entering it — may have limited its appeal. The opening sequence — featuring a cameo by the McLaughlin Group explaining the stakes of our imagined past and then a montage of tableaus featuring costumed heroes showing how we moved from the s to the present — condenses 40 years of fake history into 10 minutes of screen time, capably laying out the emotional mood of the picture.

As the montage draws to a close, we see an angry mob turn its rage on an electronics store. They want cops, not masks, their slogans denouncing vigilantes.

A Molotov cocktail crashes through the glass and then explodes back into the crowd, immolating the protestors. I like to think of it instead as a slightly different gloss on the same set of facts. So what are main difference between different versions? Is there any additional materials in them or is this just a marketing ploy? Deluxe Edition. Now, DC collects this series in the popular Deluxe Edition format. International Edition. Absolute edition ;.

Standard Softcover TPB. This collection has been in print more or less constantly since DC first collected the series in the late '80s. It's cheap and it's readily available, and that's all most readers need to hear.

Standard Hardcover. In the same week that DC reprinted the Absolute Edition, they also issued a new hardcover in the standard trim size. Presumably, DC hopes to appeal to that segment of the audience that wants a sturdy hardcover edition of Watchmen but doesn't want to fork over the dough for the Absolute Edition. In terms of content, this hardcover falls more in line with the paperback. It has the newer color job, and lacks the copious extras of the Absolute Edition. The pg version-the first link provided-contains extra material written by other writers and editors plus some stuff from Dave Gibbons.

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.