Watchmen #1-3 (1986)

Watchmen #1-3 [Grand Comics Database links: 1, 2, 3 ; Comic Book Database: 1, 2, 3]
(September 1986, October 1986, November 1986)
DC Comics
(Version read: Watchmen trade paperback edition (1987) [LibraryThing] [Amazon])

Credits:
Writer: Alan Moore
Penciller: Dave Gibbons
Inker: Dave Gibbons

Series Notes: Numbers 1-3 of a 12 issue limited series. Each issue has a primary story (#1: "At Midnight, All the Agents...", #2: "Absent Friends", #3: "The Judge of All the Earth") and a secondary, back up, text piece (all supposed excerpt chapters from the original "Nite Owl's" (Hollis Mason) book, Under the Hood).

Comments: As this is the first actual comics entry in my new blog, it will not be immediately apparent that I'm reading Watchmen out of my usual sequence. I intend on most of my comics reading for the near future to be a chronological reading through my entire collection, from the earliest newspaper comic strips that I have reprint collections of through to the present (the bulk of my collection pre-1970s is in various trade paperback and hardcover reprint collections, while most of my actual comics run from mid or late 1970s to a few years ago when I finally started to have to cut back a bit on my comics buying; for most of 1982 to 2004 I was picking up nearly all of the major DC and Marvel superhero comics).

Anyway, the reason I'm reading Watchmen first is because of the movie adaptation that's in theaters currently. Believe it or not, while the time frame I was most into reading comics was the 1980s and 90s, and I've always been a big DC fan (although I love Marvel comics, too), I never got around to reading Watchmen when it first came out. I didn't even buy it back then. Why? I don't know. I certainly heard a lot about it. But, I suppose because it didn't feature any of DC's usual characters, taking place in a universe/continuity of its own, I just never made it a priority. I finally picked up a copy of the 1987 trade paperback (ninth printing) a few years back pretty cheap. It's been sitting on my shelf up to this point, still unread.

However, the movie came out and I've been torn about going out to see it. I really didn't want to see it prior to having read the comics. (I prefer to read or watch a piece in its original form/medium first, followed by the later adaptation. As such, I've been reading the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Chronicles of Narnia books prior to seeing the movie versions.) To do this with Watchmen, that meant digging out the trade paperback and finally getting around to reading it.

So, that's where I am right now. I've been pretty busy, so I've only read the first three issues so far, roughly one per night before going to bed. I've been enjoying them well enough, so far. I mean, it's not knocking me over yet, but the characters are somewhat interesting. (I'm not going to go into the whole history of the project here. There are enough websites out there already where folks who don't know the history can catch themselves up. Suffice it say, the characters Moore created here are variations on the 1960s Charlton characters--Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Peacemaker, The Question, etc.--which DC had just purchased the rights to. Moore had originally intended on using the Charlton characters but was asked by DC to modify his story idea to feature original characters instead because DC felt that Moore's story would hurt their chances to continue to use the Charlton characters they had just paid for in future publications.)

What I like most so far is probably the flashbacks to the 1940s and 1960s. In the 1940s, there was a team of superheroes called the "Minutemen". Some of these same characters, now retired, are seen also in the present day (1980s) scenes. Then, in the 1960s, we see a new group of superheroes (Captain Metropolis, Nite Owl (2), Ozymandias, Silk Spectre (2), Rorschach, and the Comedian.

As I said, the "present day" is the same as that of when the comics were originally released, the mid-1980s, so twenty years have passed since the 1960s flashbacks. Most of the heroes have either retired or been killed in the ensuing years. Rorschach and the Comedian are still active. The first issue of the series begins with the murder of the Comedian. Rorschach is convinced that someone is hunting down superheroes. His warnings largely fall upon deaf ears, at least at first.

The first three issues tend to jump from the investigation into the murder of the Comedian, showing us how the other current superheroes are now living their lives, and flashbacks to the aforementioned 1940s and 1960s time periods. Moore's characters are by no means idealized. They all have their own personal problems and hang-ups, some serious and some less so. Watchmen is definitely not a comic book (or "graphic novel") for younger children.