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When Alan Moore published the seminal Watchmen series, it became a holy relic to comic book fans. In fact, every attempt to follow its success appeared doomed if not cursed. Since Moore had never approved of any adaptation of his work, it made sense that audiences expected there would only ever be one story about the Watchmen.
When Damon Lindelof announced he was directing a series that told the story of the Watchmen more than 30 years after the end of the Watchmen comic book series, there was plenty of cause for concern. Despite fans' hesitation, the series was a rousing success, unintentionally paving the way for fans to debate whether Lindelof's sequel or Moore's original was the better Watchmen story.
10 Moore's Dr. Manhattan's Power Remains Unmatched
Before becoming the master of time and space Dr. Manhattan, Jon Osterman was a scientist whose father repaired watches. Numerous pages in the Alan Moore series delved into the mind of a scientist who suffered a dramatic change following a horrific scientific accident.
The tragic disaster created Dr. Manhattan and an identity based on the mystery men who fought crime. Manhattan's abilities made him a force that could win the war in Vietnam and change the international balance of power. This changed how he perceived the world and his place in it.
9 HBO's Sister Night Fights Crime With Street Justice
The role reversal of masks being forced to retire only to watch police take up the very secret identities that were outlawed was a wickedly delicious twist of fate in HBOMax's Watchmen. One such police officer was Regina King's is police officer Angela Abar. She and the rest of the officers in her town were the victims of a coordinated assault by the anti-government group the Seventh Kavalry.
The police responded to the homegrown threat by hiding their civilian identities behind masks. Abar chose the name Sister Night and wore a nun’s habit, an homage to a movie Abar loved as a child. Night had a secret hideout, a cool car, and the drive to do the wrong thing for the right reasons instead of what others want.
8 Moore's The Comedian Took The Joke Too Seriously
The Comedian is the catalyst for the Watchmen comic series. His death is a mystery that those like Rorschach are determined to solve. In the process, the many secrets of the masked crusaders who fought crime before they were outlawed are brought to light.
Eddie Blake was the personification of dark comedy. The violence he witnessed as a masked vigilante and then as a sanctioned operative in military deployment changed him. Soon, The Comedian was a tragic figure mired in the weight of his sins.
7 HBO's Laurie Blake Has Seen It All
Smart, sassy, and unrepentant, Jean Smart breathes sarcasm into the character of a former mask who's seen it all. Laurie Blake is the daughter of The Comedian/Eddie Blake and Silk Spectre. Later, she took on the mantle Silk Spectre II and became romantically involved with Dr. Midnight.
In the Watchmen HBOMax series, Blake is a jaded member of the FBI's Anti-Vigilante Task Force. She finds the police force tiresome, the white supremacists they're fighting bothersome, and the obsession people have with Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias, and the rest of the mystery men trite.
6 Moore's Tales Of The Black Freighter Is Spellbinding
There are only a few secondary stories as popular in comics as the pirates from Tales of the Black Freighter. It's a dark and haunting tale that appears to foretell the demise of the heroes and the ideologies they choose to surrender at the end of the story. Then the reader sees the publishing house where the comic is printed.
A similar backup story was used recently by Joe Hill during his first Hill House imprint with DC Comics. In that run, comics like The Low, Low, Woods; Basketful of Heads; and Plunge featured a backstory about the escapades of The Sea Dogs — pirates who bear a striking resemblance to Tales of the Black Freighter.
5 HBO's Hooded Justice Gets A Brilliant Backstory
A mysterious identity was always central to Hooded Justice's narrative. But the lens on the history his story offered was deeply profound. Watchmen director Damon Lindelof was adamant that he wanted the Hooded Justice character to be black and that he wanted to make a clear connection to the 1921 race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
What grew out of it was the story of a young boy who escaped to the woods and grew up denying his sexuality — a boy who became a police officer, uncovered the sinister Cyclops Order, and survived a lynching. He then turned his assault into an identity. That crime-fighter grew into a grandfather trying to connect with his granddaughter to share a mystery about a family secret and a sacred legacy almost lost to history.
4 Moore's Rorschach Refuses To Change, Even Now
Few things created by Alan Moore have had such lasting impact on comics and popular culture as Rorschach. It was Rorschach who refused to go along with the other Minutemen when they agreed to remain silent and cover up the villainy behind Ozymandias’ scheme.
Stubborn adherence to his moral code made Rorschach a legend. Recently, Tom King's Rorschach series offered a possible narrative of what followers of the classic anti-hero might be capable of accomplishing.
3 HBO's Nostalgia Memory Pills Give Flashbacks A New Name
Nostalgia memory pills are a wonderful storytelling device. In a future filled with brilliance and wonder shadowed by darkness, the memory pills offer possibilities of magic and mystery. Memory pills should only be taken one at a time. Instead, Sister Night takes them all at once in an attempt to understand who the stranger in the wheelchair is who claims he is her grandfather.
What are memory pills? They are a clever invention of Adrian Veidt, the masked man called Ozymandias. The pills capture memories and disperse them into individual capsules. Each pill contains moments from the past that can be treasured in the present.
2 Moore's Ozymandias Is The World's Most Dangerous Man
Ozymandias always believed he was made for more than just one thing. Adrian Veidt believed he was the answer to every problem. He recognized the importance of singular thought and purpose. He saw the same quality in Alexander the Great, modeled his life after Alexander, then sought to rise above him.
Ozymandias was drawn to join the masked heroes as the first step in his mission. When he set his sights on addressing the great calamities of the world, he realized that in order to unite humanity he needed to invoke a tragedy — one that would inspire every person to put aside their personal feelings and save the planet. In the end, his plan succeeded.
1 HBO's Nite Owl Illustrates The Tragedy Of A Legacy
Hollis Mason and Daniel Dreiberg are brilliant examples of Moore’s interpretation of the Charlton superhero Blue Beetle through the character Nite Owl. Blue Beetle was later bought out by DC Comics.
Mason and Dreiberg both dressed up in the Nite Owl costume and represented two very distinct time periods of masked crime-fighting. The first was when they were legal and welcome. The second was when they are outlawed criminals. In the end, both men suffered tragic consequences as a result of their choice to put on the mask.