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Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Originally published by DC Comics as a monthly limited series from 1986 to 1987, Watchmen is set in 1985, in an alternative history United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. It tells the story of a group of past and present superheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. In Watchmen, superheroes are depicted as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who have neuroses and failings, and who are largely lacking in superpowers. Watchmen Background Alan Moore, who wanted to transcend the perceptions of the comic book medium as something juvenile, created Watchmen as an attempt to make "a superhero Moby-Dick; something that had that sort of weight, that sort of density." Moore also named William S. Burroughs as one of his "main influences" during the conception of Watchmen and admired Burroughs' use "of repeated symbols that would become laden with meaning" in Burroughs's one and only comic strip, which appeared in the British underground magazine Cyclops. Moore and Gibbons originally conceived of a story that would take "familiar old-fashioned superheroes into a completely new realm." Initially, Moore looked towards the defunct MLJ Comics line of superheroes for inspiration. "I’d just started thinking about using the MLJ characters—the Archie super-heroes—just because they weren’t being published at that time, and for all I knew, they might’ve been up for grabs. The initial concept would’ve had the 1960s-’70s rather lame version of the Shield being found dead in the harbor, and then you’d probably have various other characters, including Jack Kirby’s Private Strong, being drafted back in, and a murder mystery unfolding. I suppose I was just thinking, “That’d be a good way to start a comic book: have a famous super-hero found dead.” As the mystery unraveled, we would be lead deeper and deeper into the real heart of this super-hero’s world, and show a reality that was very different to the general public image of the super-hero. So, that was the idea." Dick Giordano, who had worked for Charlton Comics, suggested using a cast of old Charlton characters that had recently been acquired by DC; but since Moore and Gibbons wanted to do a serious storyline in which some of the newly acquired characters would die, this was not feasible. Giordano then suggested that Moore and Gibbons simply start from scratch and create their own characters. So while certain characters in Watchmen are loosely based upon the Charlton characters (such as Dr. Manhattan, who was inspired by Captain Atom, Rorschach, who was loosely based upon the Question and Nite Owl, who was loosely based on the Blue Beetle), Moore decided to create characters that ultimately would scarcely resemble their Charlton counterparts. Originally, Moore and Gibbons only had enough plot for six issues, so they compensated "by interspersing the more plot-driven issues with issues that gave kind of a biographical portrait of one of the main characters." During the process, Gibbons had a great deal of autonomy in developing the visual look of Watchmen and inserted details that Moore admits he did not notice until later, as Watchmen was written to be read and fully understood only after several readings. Title The title Watchmen is derived from the phrase Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?, from Juvenal's Satire VI, "Against women" (c. AD 60-127), often translated as "Who watches the watchmen?" noui consilia et ueteres quaecumque monetis amici, "pone seram, cohibe". sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes cauta est et ab illis incipit uxor "I hear always the admonishment of my friends: 'Bolt her in, and constrain her!' But who will watch the watchmen? The wife arranges accordingly, and begins with them." Juvenal was credited with exposing the vice of Roman society through his satires, and in a similar fashion, Watchmen examines the trope of the costumed adventurer or superhero by examining the human flaws of its "superhero" characters in lieu of the traditional comic book focus on its characters' strengths. In Watchmen, Moore shows a "grittier" side to the conceived notion of the superhero. The graffiti "WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN" appears scrawled upon walls throughout New York City during the story (though the complete phrase is never seen; the sentence is always partially obscured or cut out of the panel). The graffito occurs following the proposition of legislation which would require superhero registration, depicting the change of public opinion towards the practice of vigilantism. This viewpoint is exemplified by the character of the second Nite Owl, who asks, during an anti-vigilantism riot, "Who are we protecting society from?" As if to illustrate the many problems with vigilantes who sometimes serve as judge, jury and executioner, the Comedian glibly replies, "From themselves." The title, therefore, refers to the idea of superheroes, police, the government, or any group of people who assume the responsibility of protecting others from themselves. It does not refer to any group of characters within the Watchmen universe. The heroes belong to either the 30's-era supergroup The Minutemen or the short-lived 60's group The Crime-Busters. Structure The graphic novel Watchmen is composed of twelve chapters. These chapters were originally separate issues of the comic book series, which were released sequentially starting in 1986. Each chapter begins with a close-up of the first panel, originally the cover to each issue. Each chapter has an epigraph from classical or pop literature, which appears in abbreviated form early on, and acts as the chapter's heading or title. The quote is given in its entirety at the end of the chapter, summarizing the events that have just occurred. Watchmen also contains many fictional primary documents, which are appended to the end of every chapter (except the final one), and represented as being a part of the Watchmen universe's media. Biographies of retired costumed adventurers, such as the retrospective Under the Hood by the retired first Nite Owl, are used to help the reader understand the chronology of events, and also the changes in public opinion and representation of costumed adventurers through the decades. These documents are also used to reveal personal details of the costumed adventurers' private lives, such as Rorschach's arrest record and psychiatric report. Other documents used in this way include military reports and newspaper and magazine articles. Watchmens structure has been analyzed by many reviewers, with The Friday Review calling Watchmen "a complex, multi-layered narrative, populated with well-realized characters and set against a background that is simultaneously believable and unfamiliar". Perspective When reading Watchmen, the reader is mostly presented with only an objective Point of View, able to see all the characters' actions, facial expressions, and body language; but, in a move unusual for comic books of its time, Moore did not rely much upon thought balloons to clarify his characters' thoughtsV for Vendetta)http://www.fanboyradio.com/columns_view.php?c | 26 "Fanboy Radio" - a discussion on the speech balloon |