What if you could change the world? What if you could unite the planet in a common goal and put an end to war? What if you had to kill 3 million people to do it?

Let me start at the beginning, or as close to the beginning as I can.

In 1938 a costumed adventurer appeared on the scene. From the hood over his face and the noose he wore around his neck, the press called him Hooded Justice. There was speculation, after the fact, that he may have been circus strong man Rolf Muller, but since both men disappeared around the same time, that was never proven. With inspiration already out there on the streets, other costumed heroes soon began appearing.

In 1939 the Minutemen were formed. They were Hooded Justice, The Silhouette, Silk Spectre, Comedian, Captain Metropolis, Nite Owl, Mothman, and Dollar Bill. When these heroes got too old, the group disbanded.

Eventually the 60s rolled around and the world was once again treated to costumed heroes. They tried to form a group called Crimebusters, but the first meeting fell apart and it was never made clear if that group ever got off the ground. These heroes were Dr. Manhattan, Captain Metropolis (of the original Minutemen), Ozymandias, Comedian (of the Minutemen), Rorschach, Nite Owl 2, and Silk Spectre 2 (daughter of the original Silk Spectre). These heroes were active until 1977 when the Keene Act was passed, outlawing non-government-sponsored costumed adventurers.

In 1985, someone broke into the home of Edward Blake, the Comedian, and threw him off his balcony. That's when our story begins.

What Alan Moore has created with the 12-part Watchmen series is something that will never be equaled in comic book history. With painstaking attention to detail and structure, this is a complete world, a very complicated story that grows with each reading. I just re-read it a second time and saw so many things I didn't catch on the my first run through--and believe me, this book demands a second reading because half the stuff that seemed unimportant in the first few chapters only come to light as VERY important in the last few chapters, so paying attention here is a must. Unfortunately, it's not always a bit of dialogue or exposition. Sometimes it's nothing more than a small detail in the corner of a panel. For instance, Rorschach eats Sweet Chariot sugar cubes when he stops to visit Dan Dreiberg, the second Nite Owl. At first this seems unimportant, just a passing thing, an action the character goes through in the course of his conversation with Dan. But when Rorschach is captured and these cubes are found in his pocket, and the investigating officer later notices Dan Dreiberg buys Sweet Chariot sugar cubes, a connection is made (a lot of this attention to detail can also be attributed to artist Dave Gibbons who really went above and beyond for this book, whether it's a rundown apartment living room or a glass fortress hovering over Mars, Gibbons makes you believe in this world, even when Moore's words aren't accompanying the illustrations, and since a lot of those hidden clues are visual only, the credit has to go to Gibbons for making them clear, but not obvious).

This is the book that really did it for comics, that brought them once and for all out of the realm of kids stuff and made them adult reading. If any comic could ever be called serious literature, it would be this one.

By 1985 the heroes have either gone public or simply disappeared into the crowd and resumed their normal lives. All except Rorschach, the dark horse of the group, the one few of the heroes really cared much for anyway. Rorschach is antisocial, unstable, and he kinda smells a little funny. He's also one of the few from their ranks whom they never met outside costume. Even 8 years after the Keene Act, none of the old heroes know who Rorschach really is.

When Blake is murdered, Rorschach thinks it's the beginning of a series of "mask killings". Soon after Blake, an attempt is made on the life of Adrian Veidt, the former Ozymandias who's now an entrepreneur, head of the Adrian Veidt empire, and the purported "smartest man in the world". For Rorschach this only proves he was right. The only person he can turn to with his theory is Dan Dreiberg. Before the Crimebuster fiasco, Rorschach and Nite Owl 2 were partners, and in his own strange way, Rorschach considers Dan his friend.

In the midst of all this death and drama, there's also the nuclear threat. When Dr. Manhattan (the first true SUPER-hero of this world) exiles himself to Mars, America no longer has its advantage and when Russia invades Afghanistan, it could mean the beginning of World War III.

And all of this, the mask killings, Dr. Manhattan's self-imposed exile, the brewing war and what it does to the world, the disappearance of the world's top scientists and artists, everything you've read in Watchmen to this point, every detail, every seemingly unimportant subplot, it's all a part of the larger whole, the master plan, the grand scheme, the outcome being, simply, that "'all the countries are unified and pacified.'" However, in order to achieve this goal, 3 million people must die. It seems a moral dilemma, but when the mastermind behind the whole plan tells the heroes, "It happened forty-five minutes ago," it's out of their hands and all they can do is decide whether to tell the world what's happened, or let them live a lie. And a lie is what it is because the thing that leads the world to peace is a fake, created for that very purpose, and it's all just another glimpse of the genius of Alan Moore.

Moore spared nothing in creating this world, even going back to write the history of what happened before the story begins. The first three chapters end with excerpts from the autobiography of Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl, detailing not only Mason's beginnings as a crime fighter, but the beginning of costumed heroes in general, at least as far as this world is concerned. Every chapter ends with 4 pages of excerpt of one kind or another. It might be an article on ornithology by Dan Dreiberg, it might be an interview with Sally Jupiter, the original Silk Spectre, it might be an article on Dr. Manhattan and what his existence might mean to the world. After all, Dr. Manhattan is practically a god. He says it himself toward the end, "I'm leaving this galaxy for one less complicated."

"But you'd regained interest in human life," he's asked.

"Yes," he replies, "I have. I think perhaps I'll create some."

There's not a word of Watchmen that, in the end, isn't important and no one who reads this book will come away without being in awe. After reading his Miracleman run, after his Swamp Thing stories, or his V for Vendetta series, or the very detailed From Hell series, if there is still any doubt that Alan Moore is simply one of the best writers in the free world, Watchmen will put an end to that right quick.

Recommended: Yes