Warning, this review will contain spoilers.

Trade Paperback: 978-0-930289-23-2, $19.99

Let’s get right to the point with this one; I just didn’t connect with this story. I found it slow, with more than half the book being world set up and a series of convoluted flashbacks. I found none of the characters sympathetic, save for Jon (and possibly Night Owl), and in fact greatly disliked many of them. I had to wonder why the whole book was spawned off the death of The Comedian, who was a rather atrocious person, and centered on Rorschach whom I strongly suspect is related to Jesse Custer.

Furthermore, I found all the stories within stories (newspaper clippings, book excerpts, the overlapping comic-within-a-comic etc.) quite distracting and mood breaking. And I admit I had a real problem with the constant reminder of the world’s prejudice and concern with Jon, spun from the fact that no other supernatural creatures existed at all and all the “masked adventurers” were merely human, when the entire climax of the story is dependent on psychics (who didn’t exist up until that point in the story.)

I also found a lot of little gripes, like Veidt’s superiority complex (specifically the idea that even though he was highly educated and raised quite privileged that by giving all his inheritance money away he somehow started his adult life on an even playing field as the rest of us), the original Silk Specter’s confusion about her near rape (okay, I’ll be honest, next to the Comedian I hated this character the most) and the second generation Silk Specter’s complete forgiveness of her mother’s constant manipulations and disapproval. While the tension of a nuclear war added to the over all world building and tension Veidt’s political and environmental psychobabble felt clichéd and, in the end, the story was not at all about politics, human evil or environmentalism, but instead was about what it means to be God and what it costs to play God.

So, all the bad stuff aside, I can see why people have been draw to this story. The sheer unlikeability and humanity of the characters is a draw (and if you’ve read my essay on Superhero Psychology you’ll know that I am draw to very flawed, very human heroes who fight to become something more). The world feel, which I would argue could have been sacrificed for more character building of the Watchmen, however I admit something would have been lost, is full and unique, stark and trying (but failing) to be beautiful. There are some striking images, but far less than in modern comics, and none as impacting as the smiley button with a drop of blood that graces the cover.

And finally I have to give the book props because it was revolutionary when it came out and it’s highly likely that part of my failure to connect was because I’ve read a lot of comics likely influenced by Watchmen and am unfairly used to many of the storytelling tools used to make Watchmen stick out.

In the end, Watchmen is a piece of classic comic culture. It’s a genre-specific equivalent to reading Shakespeare or To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Even if you don’t enjoy it, it does help build a wider view of where the genre came from and how it’s evolved.