Watchmen (International Edition) - Softcover

Moore, Alan

4.38

557,564 ratings by Goodreads

9781401222666: Watchmen (International Edition)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1401222668 ISBN 13: 9781401222666

Publisher: DC Comics, 2008

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Written by Alan Moore Art and cover by Dave Gibbons DC Comics presents this special edition of the WATCHMEN TP, complete with re-colored cover art by artist extraordinaire Dave Gibbons. Created especially for the international market, this edition is also available to retailers in the U.S. and Canada exclusively through Diamond. One of the most influential graphic novels of all time and a perennial bestseller, WATCHMEN has only grown in stature since its original publication. Along with the new cover, this volume features the high-quality, recolored pages from WATCHMEN: THE ABSOLUTE EDITION, restored by WildStorm FX and original series colorist John Higgins. It all begins with the paranoid delusions of a half-insane hero called Rorschach. But is Rorschach really insane or has he in fact uncovered a plot to murder super-heroes and, even worse, millions of innocent civilians? On the run from the law, Rorschach reunites with his former teammates in a desperate attempt to save the world and their lives, but what they uncover will shock them to their very core and change the face of the planet! Following two generations of masked superheroes from the close of World War II to the icy shadow of the Cold War comes this groundbreaking comic story - the story of The Watchmen. Retailers: Please see this month's Previews order form for information on the WATCHMEN FLOOR DISPLAY. On sale December 3 � 334 pg, FC, $19.99 US

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Review:

Has any comic been as lauded as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen? Possibly only Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns but Watchmen remains the critics' favourite. 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 recently 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 garner praise since.

The story concerns a group called the Crimebusters and a plot to kill and discredit them. Moore's characterisation 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 fine pace of the writing and its humanity mean that Watchmen more than stands up--it retains its crown as the best the genre has yet produced. --Mark Thwaite

Review:

"A work of ruthless psychological realism, it's a landmark in the graphic novel medium. It would be a masterpiece in any."
-TIME, TIME MAGAZINE's 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present --Time Magazine

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