Watchmen #1 – September, 1986
Little need be said about WATCHMEN, probably the best-regarded super hero story of them all. But the one point that I do want to make is that, while I’m happy that it’s been kept in print in collected form all these years, it really reads better in serial form. That month between installments was devoted, in my crowd, to speculation about the storyline, and the world. And while we figured out who was behind the murder that starts off the series by the time the fifth issue came out, that didn’t keep us from dissecting each entry as it hit the stands.
WATCHMEN was truly an interactive comic book. Somehow, having the whole thing available and in your hands at one time takes some of the fun out of things.
It need not be said, but WATCHMEN is a masterwork on so many levels–character portrayal, structure, thematic resonance. It’s the one series every comic book reader should experience firsthand.
