Watchmen's Greatness

Most people agree that Watchmen is the greatist comic ever written. The question is, what makes this story the greatist ever? What is it about this book that people love?

I don't think most agree on that. Most agree it is one of the greatest. I think it has a lot to do with the grittiness of it and its balancing of a few different themes together in a way that seems new since it was totally breaking away from the whole idea of status quo storytelling which mandates that not much ever really changes with major characters. Self contained stories give the writer more freedom to do w/e they want and aren't bound by reader expectation the way standard monthly comics are.

It's certainly not the best.

Watchmen is known for deconstructing superheroes, and it's influence on the American comic book industry.

Don't think it's greatest ever. I prefer X-men the dark phoenix saga and Moebius' "inkal". It's one of the greatest though, no doubt.

Anyway - what makes it so good, it that it's so worked out. You can read it over and over again and you understand new things every time. For instance the way it is structured, with the characters paired up. Ozymandiaz (order) with Comedian (chaos), Dr Manhattan (reason without passion, lives outside of time) / Laurie Juspeczyk / Silk Spectre (passion without reason/lives in "now"time), Rorschach (commitment) / Nite Owl (indecision).

And I like the while 80ies nuclear war backdrop. I remember how creepy it was hearing about nukes all the time on the radio, and the comic really got that mood.

The characters good, with Rorshach as the best one. Weird he didnt get his own series?

I think it's a bit weird that Dr Manhattan is the only super powered being. Ozymandiaz maybe also being a sort or mutans Deathstrike kind of guy? I'd like the others to have powers though, and there being some character around that could pose a threat to Dr Manhattan.

It is considered great because it was unlike any comic book of its time. It had strong themes and used motifs like a novel would. It also created a highly detailed and unique and interesting characters. It also revolutionized comics and told everyone that they werent just for kids. I love the comic and it is the best one Ive read.

There's some strong stuff in there.

Watchmen is dope!!

I think it's the greatest comic ever. It's view of the comic hero, its critic of the human moral system, and just the story in general. It's phenomenal.

Cause it's overrated

@eyedcyou: I know right.

@allstarsuperman: Ouch.