The genre theory is fun, and I agree, but I also think Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns can be considered a significant contribution as well as it was published around the same time.

We all have filters that we see things through (feminism, Marxism, postmodernism etc.) and different filters can highlight different aspects. Personally, the thing that struck me most about Watchmen was from the point of view of genre theory. The framework is a revisionist superhero story, and what it does is similar to what Once Upon a Time in the West, Ride the High Country, High Plains Drifter, or Unforgiven did to Westerns, or what Evangelion did to the boys’ mecha genre. That’s one of my filters though.

Of course the series was written at a particularly dark period in the Cold War, so the political/nuclear aspect and the way it comments on the legacy of Vietnam provide another way of looking at it. Hats off to Alan Moore, I say.

@Jarmel: I’m not as worried about the prison scene as I am about pretty much everything involving Dr. Manhattan — I’m just not too fond of what I’ve seen of the special effects. I’m not sure what it is though; too shiny? We’ll see.

@dotdash: Yeah, Wiki tells me as much as far as the phrase goes, but I think the source of the comic’s title could come from any number of things. The quote from Einstein at the end of one of the chapters comes to mind also: “The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking…the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.” And that quote feels more relevant to what I perceive to be the series’ main theme. Still, it’s true that that theme and the superhero theme is closely intertwined, so maybe I shouldn’t be differentiating them at all?

Haha, I always forget that. Alan Moore is British too, but I guess since DC published the comic, I consider it American.

I think the idea is to ask the question, “Is it OK to allow these loonies to be custodians of our morality?”, which is an idea reflected through a lot of the moral issues central to the story, including the big moral question at the end.

Dave Gibbons is British, but I take your point, since British and American artists tend to work in largely the same market.

I wonder if Alan Moore wrote that himself, or it’s some other (perhaps a marketing guy) person’s idea.