This is a perfect example of "don't judge a book by it's movie", since the film was crap and the graphic novel was excellent, thanks in large part to the extras sprinkled amongst the chapters. I can definitely see why it's listed in Time Magazine's Top 100 Best English-language novels since 1923.

The story is a little hard to get into, but I absolutely love the graphics,coloring and the symbolism in the illustrations, such as the smiley face with the blood on it.

This looks like a superhero book, but in reality, it's more like a film noir/psychological thriller. Getting into it can be difficult, but well worth it. If you can get past the difficult intro, you get a rather interesting finale. It's dark, bloody, and brilliant. Recommended.

To be honest, this one was a challenge for me to get into. The characters seemed just a little too distant and unrelateable for much of the story. I saw the live-action movie in theaters, and then after finishing the novel, I watched the extended movie version on DVD. I think the combination of book, movie and putting the story in the context of the mid-1980's (where Cold War fears were still high, and the threat of nuclear annihilation was much more a reality than now) is what helped me fully appreciate what Watchmen was trying to say.

I just finished reading this graphic novel and it blew me away. I was completely spellbound by the skillful way the stories were intertwined and by the intense and compelling graphics.

I don’t know why this is one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Novels of the 20th century. I’m sure as far as comic books go, this is one of the best, but as a novel? Then again, I haven’t read many comic books, so what do I know? And should I be calling them comic books or graphic novels? The storytelling seems impressively sophisticated for a comic book. The non-linear plot masterfully unfolds an alternate Earth, fifty years of its history and two generations of crime-fighting superheroes. There are multiple stories intertwined within, although they don’t always come together well or pay off in the end – if I hadn’t already seen the extremely faithful movie I might have had trouble following the twisting narrative. The ending in the movie sure as hell made a lot more sense than the one in the comic book.

If you've never read a graphic novel before, I would NOT suggest starting with this one. It's okay, but there are much better ones.

A really good graphic novel very different from the movie made after it. Covers many different major themes and the colours and graphics tell a whole other story other than the dialogue. Examine the graphics closely while reading for the best experience!

If you grew up loving DC or Marvel superhero comics, you will probably love this book. There are parodies of Dick Tracy, Superman, Batman, the Punisher and Generic Lady Heroes. Watchmen is what happens when adolescent male power fantasies reach middle age in an alternate timeline. Its smart writing style and elegantly constructed plot serve the novel well, although the bits of prose inserted at the end of every 32-page book can be a bit of a slog to read through (don't skip them!). Having said all that, if sexism in comic books bothers you, it will still bother you here, particularly the use of rape as a plot device. The female characters are defined by their relationships with the male characters in the book, which is just lazy writing, but not unusual for the genre.

We are creatures of need, greed and self indulgence. Watchmen summarizes this through the lives of many outcast superheros who wanted to help the world. Or did they just like the attention that surrounded them? Times change and people change with them. The theme may not be original, but the way it was executed was totally new. With newspaper clips and articles you get a true sense of what was happening at the time which made it feel real. Simply great!