Image: 

Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Originally published by DC Comics as a monthly limited series from 1986 to 1987, it was later republished as a trade paperback, which popularized the "graphic novel" format. To date, Watchmen remains the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award, and is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present."

Watchmen is set in 1985, in an alternate history United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union (the Doomsday Clock is at five minutes to midnight). It tells the story of a group of past and present superheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. Watchmen depicts superheroes as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who struggle with neuroses and failings, and who—with one notable exception—lack anything recognizable as super powers. Watchmen's deconstruction of the conventional superhero archetype, combined with its innovative adaptation of cinematic techniques and heavy use of symbolism, multi-layered dialogue, and metafiction, has influenced both comics and film.

Plot summary:

The novel opens with the October 1985 murder of retired New Yorker Edward Blake. An introductory narrative and investigation by a pair of police detectives yields nothing conclusive: Blake, formerly affiliated with the United States government, might have been murdered by Communist Russians, but this could be suicidal considering America's current superiority in the arms race; also, Blake kept himself in excellent physical shape, raising the question of who could have overpowered him in the first place. The detectives conclude that, above all, they want to keep the murder quiet, for fear of attracting the attention of the last "costumed adventurer", the vigilante Rorschach.

Rorschach does investigate, however, and discovers that Blake was also a costumed hero: The Comedian, one of only two costumed adventurers who accepted government patronage under the Keene Act, which otherwise forbade costumed adventuring from 1977 onward (hence Rorschach's status as a vigilante). Believing that Blake's murder is part of a greater plot to eliminate "masks", as Rorschach calls them, he warns others: Jon Osterman, also known as Dr. Manhattan (the other government-sponsored hero and the linchpin of American nuclear superiority); Dr. Manhattan's lover, Laurie Jane Juspeczyk (the second Silk Spectre); Daniel Dreiberg (the second Nite Owl and Rorschach's former partner); and Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias, reputedly the smartest man in the world, who retired in '75 and built a commercial empire).

Within the fictional context of the story, the United States and the Soviet Union have been edging toward a nuclear showdown since the 1959 nuclear accident that transformed Osterman into the super-powered Dr. Manhattan. Dr. Manhattan had disrupted the mutually assured destruction doctrine by possessing the power to neutralize most of the Russian nukes in mid-air. With this trump card in hand, America has enjoyed a distinct strategic advantage, allowing it to defeat the Soviet Union in a series of proxy wars, including victory in Vietnam. Richard Nixon used this success and, unmarred by Watergate (in a flashback, the Comedian alludes to having assassinated Woodward and Bernstein), encouraged a repeal of the 22nd Amendment, removing Presidential term limits allowing him to serve an unprecedented fifth term in office during the events of the novel.

Dr. Manhattan's existence has accelerated the nuclear arms race and dramatically increased global tension. In seeming anticipation of global war, American society has assumed a general sense of fatalism about the future. Signs of this in daily life range from "Meltdowns" candy to graffiti inspired by the Hiroshima bombing to the designation of many buildings in New York as fallout shelters.

As Rorschach continues his investigation, he is framed, captured by the police, jailed and subjected to psychiatric examination. Meanwhile, Adrian Veidt is attacked by a gunman in a public assassination attempt that he survives.

Dr. Manhattan, though supremely powerful, suffers from a decreasing ability to relate to normal humans. He accidentally upsets his lover, Laurie, and she leaves him. Soon afterwards, evidence comes to light that a number of his co-workers, including his former girlfriend Janey Slater, have come down with terminal cancer. Manhattan feels that he poses a threat to others, and he exiles himself to Mars, in a chapter that reveals that he experiences time in a non-linear fashion. His break with the U.S. government prompts Soviet opportunism in the form of an invasion of Afghanistan (a delayed version of the real-life event), greatly aggravating the global crisis and prompting Nixon to consider nuclear reprisals.

These events are colored by commentary from a bevy of secondary characters, such as a teenage reader of the Tales of the Black Freighter comic-within-a-comic, the newsstand vendor from whom he purchases said comics, the psychiatrist evaluating Rorschach, the police officers from the first chapter and others.

Dan Dreiberg, who harbors an initially unrequited attraction to Laurie, offers her room and board, and when a tenement building catches fire, the two resume their costumed adventuring ways to save its residents. Dan has begun to believe in Rorschach's theory that an unidentified assassin is attacking former costumed adventurers and he insists they break Rorschach out of Sing Sing Penitentiary. Unfortunately, the news that formerly-retired adventurers have gone rogue leads to the hate-crime killing of the still-retired first Nite Owl.

Dr. Manhattan briefly returns to Earth to bring Laurie to Mars, as a discussion between them which he has foreseen is scheduled to take place at this time. In this conversation, she begs him to return to Earth and save humanity, an effort in which she is successful. This discussion also turns Laurie's life inside-out: she realizes that the Comedian, whom she hated for attempting to rape her mother, was later her mother's consensual lover and, in fact, Laurie's own biological father.

Meanwhile, the reunited duo of Rorschach and Nite Owl prowl the New York underworld, searching for hints on who commissioned the hit on Veidt. The trail leads to none other that Veidt himself, who has been orchestrating events all along; the company which commissioned the hit, owned by Veidt, also employed every associate of Dr. Manhattan's that had developed cancer.

Rorschach and Nite Owl travel to Veidt's Antarctic fortress, "Karnak", to confront him. In a lengthy monologue, Adrian explains his early worship of Alexander the Great, which later turned to admiration of Rameses II (whose Greek name was Ozymandias); his realization that the current arms race and disregard for the environment would lead to cataclysm by the 1990s; his belief that someone must save the world, and that only he could do so; and finally, that the crux of his plan is to teleport a genetically-engineered telepathic monstrosity into New York City, a process that will kill the monster and cause it to emit a massive psychic shockwave that will kill half the city and drive many of the survivors insane. Adrian believes that America and Russia, perceiving an extraterrestrial threat, will abandon their arms race and unite in defense of their planet.

The Comedian, Veidt also reveals, was killed because he happened to stumble upon the island where the creature was being bred; the murderer is revealed to be Veidt himself. Finally, Ozymandias establishes that he is not prey to one major weakness of arch-villains: the tendency to ramble about their plans before they are executed. At the end of his explanation he reveals that the monster has already been teleported as intended. At 11:25 PM Eastern Standard Time, the monster arrives in New York, creating a cataclysmic shockwave which kills millions, among them most of the secondary characters.

Laurie and Dr. Manhattan arrive in the devastated city and then teleport to Karnak, where Veidt watches the news and exults as his plan comes to fruition. Only these five former costumed adventurers know the truth of the matter, as Veidt has killed everyone else who knew anything incriminating about the project. Dan, Laurie and Jon agree to keep silent, sickened by the deaths of millions of New Yorkers but willing to countenance it for the sake of averting nuclear holocaust. Only Rorschach — who does not believe that the ends justify the means refuses to comply, and he prepares to return to America. Jon attempts to dissuade him, but Rorschach makes it clear that he will not compromise and demands that, if Jon wishes to stop him, Jon must kill him too. Jon does so, then returns to Veidt's fortress.

After destroying Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan talks briefly to Veidt. He plans to leave Earth for the time being to go to another galaxy for unknown reasons (when asked about his newfound respect for life, he hints that "perhaps I'll create some"). Professing his guilt and doubt, Veidt asks Manhattan for closure: "I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end." Dr. Manhattan, standing within Veidt's mechanical model of the solar system, smiles and replies: "In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends." He then disappears, leaving the entire orrery framed by a residue appearing distinctly similar to an atomic mushroom cloud.

The ending of Watchmen is ambiguous about the long-term success of Veidt's plan to lead the world to utopia. Prior to confronting Veidt, Rorschach had mailed his journal detailing his suspicions to The New Frontiersman, a far right-wing magazine he frequently read. The final page of the series shows a New Frontiersman editor contemplating which item from the "crank file" (to which Kovacs's journal had been consigned) to use as filler for the upcoming issue. The final line of the story is that of the editor's superior, indifferent as to which piece from the crank file is selected. He tells his subordinate - who has been established as not particularly bright - "I leave it entirely in your hands."