Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore, drawn by Dave Gibbons and colored by John Higgins, published by DC Comics from 1986 to 1987. Set in an alternate 1985 in which costumed vigilantes have existed since the 1940s and have altered the course of real historical events, the story follows a group of retired and active heroes who uncover a conspiracy after one of their own, a government-sponsored operative, is murdered. Built around a strict nine-panel grid and interspersed with fictional documents, excerpts and a comic-within-the-comic, it deconstructs the conventions of the superhero genre it draws on. Watchmen is the only graphic novel to appear on Time magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923, and its critical and commercial success is widely credited with helping establish the graphic novel as a literary form taken seriously by bookstores and critics alike.
Facts
Classification
Original Language AwardEisner Award for Best Limited Series 2 Release Year FAQs
Are the Watchmen characters based on older superheroes?
Not exactly. They were created to resemble the Charlton Comics heroes that DC had acquired.
They echo older heroes but are new creations. Alan Moore first proposed the story using superheroes that DC Comics had acquired from Charlton Comics in 1983, in a proposal titled Who Killed the Peacemaker. DC managing editor Dick Giordano liked the idea but opposed using the Charlton characters, because DC intended to fold them into its mainstream superhero universe through the Crisis on Infinite Earths event. Giordano persuaded Moore to continue with new characters that simply resembled the Charlton heroes. Moore later said that if he wrote the substitutes well enough, they would bring back a generic superhero familiarity for the reader.
Connections
Associated With
Created By
Source Watchmen (Wikipedia)
In Medium
Source Watchmen (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Original Language
Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.
Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationWatchmen, Description, original languageQuote, Watchmen, Description, original language
Watchmen is the only graphic novel to appear on Time magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923, and its critical and commercial success is widely credited with helping establish the graphic novel as a literary form taken seriously by bookstores and critics alike.
2. Watchmen (Wikidata)
Wikidata P166: Eisner Award for Best Limited SeriesQuote, Wikidata P166: Eisner Award for Best Limited Series
Wikidata P166 (award received): Eisner Award for Best Limited Series.
Watchmen (Wikipedia)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen, lead paragraph, publisher sentence
It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 before being collected in a single-volume edition in 1987.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen, lead paragraph, publisher sentence (first publication year)
It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 before being collected in a single-volume edition in 1987.
In Medium: Comics, Article lead sentence
Watchmen is a comic book limited series created by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins.
Created By: Alan Moore, Infobox: writer
Alan Moore
In Group: Graphic Novels and Comic Book Series, Lead
Watchmen is a comic book limited series created by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins.
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