Watchmen by Alan Moore
The lone “genuine” superbeing of the group, Dr Manhattan, has his own issues, but the rest of the group has chosen to stand up to the corruption of the world and defend and safeguard the common citizen as they once were. This is a very real narrative of ordinary people dealing with their chosen futures. They were all forced into the shadows by the very people they had formerly supported despite having wonderful intentions and the courage to try.
Watchmen by Alan Moore
75 used from $1.24
Free shipping
Amazon.com
This is a mystery novel wrapped in a bloody American flag set against the angry and unsettling backdrop of an alternate 1985 where Nixon is still in office, the Cold War is heating up page by page, Vietnam was unconditionally won by the U.S. (thanks in part to Dr Manhattan and The Comedian), and America invades Afghanistan against protective Russia.
The former members of “The Crimebusters,” a team created just before World War 2, are being eliminated or attacked. In addition to trying to figure out whodunit and why it’s happening, one of the last remaining active (and illegally practising) members named Rorschach is also hoping to persuade the members who were forced to retire in the wake of government legislation that outlawed them in 1977 to work together one last time to figure out what’s going on.
With a fear-filled atmosphere during the Cold War, Watchmen also reflects its era quite well. The premise is driven by the fact that the story takes place in an alternate 1985 where nuclear war is a real possibility. The comic opens with the demise of Comedian, a super-soldier character who worked for the American government. He’s been thrown out the window, and Rorschach, the detective on patrol in the streets, is trying to figure out who might be responsible. I won’t give away the story, but through Rorschach’s inquiry, we are taken into the pasts of all the main figures in this team of superheroes who have since retired. Everything is related to the potential for nuclear war.
