A review by rosemarieshort
Watchmen by Alan Moore

5.0

I usually do my best to steer shy of proclaiming a book of any kind groundbreaking, unprecedented or without equal. These are terms I personally deem only available to the most seasoned readers which, prolific though I am, I cannot begin to even think of aspiring to. However if to me Lord of the Rings is fiction's tour de force then to comics the answer is Watchmen. An impeccably thought out story which takes the superhero genre and turns it on its head, then back again, taking out a lot of the tropes and adding some more in, making something so beautifully twisted as to resonate with the reader well after the last page has been turned. From the engrossing introduction of book one to the soaring, heartbreaking and vicious crescendos of books eleven and twelve, Watchmen is completely grounded in people, Moore creating beings which are so intrinsically flawed as to be both relatable and memorable. All superhero material I have seen since publication has, in some ways, borne some of Moore's dark realism. I could talk about this all day; suffice to say it was, and is, seminal in nature and will shape the superhero genre, and graphic novels in general, for years to come. Must read.