| 6th | Top campaign settings |
| 2nd | Top award-winning graphic novels |
| 7th | Top superhero teams and groups |
| 10th | Top science fiction novels |
| 1st | Nuclear_energy_disasters">Top disaster films: Nuclear energy disasters |
 |
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Watchmen. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with DC Database, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
This page is similar in name or subject to other pages.
See also Earth, Watchmen (Movie) for a complete list of references to distinguish between these closely named or closely related articles.
Contents |
Watchmen is set in an alternate reality which closely mirrors the contemporary world of the 1980s. The primary point of divergence is the presence of superheroes. Their existence in this iteration of America is shown to have dramatically affected and altered the outcomes of real-world events such as the Vietnam War and the presidency of Richard Nixon. In keeping with the realism of the series, although the costumed crime fighters of Watchmen are commonly called "superheroes", the only character who possesses obvious superhuman powers is Doctor Manhattan. The existence of Doctor Manhattan has given the U.S. a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union, which has increased tensions between the two nations. Additionally, superheroes have become unpopular among the public, which has led to the passage of legislation in 1977 to outlaw them. While many of the heroes retired, Doctor Manhattan and The Comedian operate as government-sanctioned agents, and Rorschach continues to operate outside the law.
"Watchmen" was a 12-issue maxiseries published from September of 1986 through October of 1987, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The events of the story take place in 1985. The title takes its name from a popular translation of a latin phrase, "Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?":[1] "Who Watches the Watchmen?"
Although Alan Moore has stated he originally wished to use the old characters from MLJ Comics in the story, which were no longer being published at the time, he was unable to. Dave Gibbons, who had worked there, inspired him to use the old Charlton Comics characters instead. However, Charlton had recently been bought by DC, and as they intended to introduce those characters into mainstream continuity, they were unavailable as well. As a result, Moore simply made his own new characters based on the Charlton characters (see the full list below).
A film adaptation was released in 2009.
The initial premise for the series was to examine what superheroes would be like "in a credible, real world". As the story became more complex, Moore said Watchmen became about "power and about the idea of the superman manifest within society."[2] The title of the series refers to the phrase "Who watches the watchmen?", although Moore said in a 1986 interview with Amazing Heroes he did not know where the phrase originated.[3] After reading the interview, author Harlan Ellison informed Moore that the phrase is a translation of the question "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?", posed by the Roman satirist Juvenal. Moore commented in 1987, "In the context of Watchmen, that fits. 'They're watching out for us, who's watching out for them?'" The writer stated in the introduction to the Graffitti hardcover of Watchmen that while writing the series he was able to purge himself of his nostalgia for superheroes, and instead he found an interest in real human beings.
Bradford Wright described Watchmen as "Moore's obituary for the concept of heroes in general and superheroes in particular." Putting the story in a contemporary sociological context, Wright wrote that the characters of Watchmen were Moore's "admonition to those who trusted in 'heroes' and leaders to guard the world's fate." He added that to place faith in such icons was to give up personal responsibility to "the Reagans, Thatchers, and other 'Watchmen' of the world who supposed to 'rescue' us and perhaps lay waste to the planet in the process". Moore specifically stated in 1986 that he was writing Watchmen to be "not anti-Americanism, [but] anti-Reaganism," specifically believing that "at the moment a certain part of Reagan's America isn't scared. They think they're invulnerable." While Moore wanted to write about "power politics" and the "worrying" times he lived in, he stated the reason that the story was set in an alternate reality was because he was worried that readers would "switch off" if he attacked a leader they admired. Moore stated in 1986 that he "was consciously trying to do something that would make people feel uneasy."
Citing Watchmen as the point where the comic book medium "came of age", Iain Thomson wrote in his essay "Deconstructing the Hero" that the story accomplished this by "developing its heroes precisely in order to deconstruct the very idea of the hero and so encouraging us to reflect upon its significance from the many different angles of the shards left lying on the ground".[4] Thomson stated that the heroes in Watchmen almost all share a nihilistic outlook, and that Moore presents this outlook "as the simple, unvarnished truth" to "deconstruct the would-be hero's ultimate motivation, namely, to provide a secular salvation and so attain a mortal immortality".[5] He wrote that the story "develops its heroes precisely in order to ask us if we would not in fact be better off without heroes".[6] Thomson added that the story's deconstruction of the hero concept "suggests that perhaps the time for heroes has passed", which he feels distinguishes "this postmodern work" from the deconstructions of the hero in the existentialism movement.[7] Richard Reynolds states that without any supervillains in the story, the superheroes of Watchmen are forced to confront "more intangible social and moral concerns", adding that this removes the superhero concept from the normal narrative expectations of the genre.[8] Reynolds concludes that the series' ironic self awareness of the genre "all mark out Watchmen either as the last key superhero text, or the first in a new maturity of the genre".[9]
Geoff Klock eschewed the term "deconstruction" in favor of describing Watchmen as a "revisionary superhero narrative." He considers Watchmen and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns to be "the first instances ... of [a] new kind of comic book ... a first phase of development, the transition of the superhero from fantasy to literature."[10] He elaborates by noting that "Alan Moore's realism ... performs a kenosis towards comic book history ... [which] does not ennoble and empower his characters ... Rather, it sends a wave of disruption back through superhero history ... devalue[ing] one of the basic superhero conventions by placing his masked crime fighters in a realistic world ..."[11] First and foremost, "Moore's exploration of the [often sexual] motives for costumed crimefighting sheds a disturbing light on past superhero stories, and forces the reader to reevaluate - to revision - every superhero in terms of Moore's kenosis - his emptying out of the tradition."[12] Klock relates the title to the quote by Juvenal to highlight the problem of controlling those who hold power and quoted repeatedly within the work itself.[13] The deconstructive nature of Watchmen is, Klock notes, played out on the page also as, "[l]ike Alan Moore's kenosis, [Veidt] must destroy, then reconstruct, in order to build 'a unity which would survive him.'"[14]
Moore has expressed dismay that "[T]he gritty, deconstructivist postmodern superhero comic, as exemplified by Watchmen... became a genre". He said in 2003, "[T]o some degree there has been, in the 15 years since Watchmen, an awful lot of the comics field devoted to these grim, pessimistic, nasty, violent stories which kind of use Watchmen to validate what are, in effect, often just some very nasty stories that don't have a lot to recommend them."[15] Gibbons said that while readers "were left with the idea that it was a grim and gritty kind of thing", he said in his view the series was "a wonderful celebration of superheroes as much as anything else."[16]
In the 1985 of an alternate reality where superheroes are real (though only one, Dr. Manhattan, has superpowers), one of the vigilantes, The Comedian, is brutally murdered. This causes one of his former colleagues, Rorschach, to investigate on his death, and uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes.
  This article features characters, items or events exclusive to the continuity of the "Watchmen limited series," or the Watchmen Movie. This template will categorize all articles that include it into the Watchmen category. |
| Watchmen | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Billing information | |
| Members | Justus Black Reaper |
| Former member(s) | |
| Other name(s) | |
| Heights | |
| Combined weight | 428 lb. |
| Hometown | |
| Theme music | "Truth of a Liar" by August Burns Red |
| Affiliation(s) | |
| Federation(s) | Lords of Pain Wrestling |
| Brand(s) | |
| Previous federation(s) | |
| Wrestling information | |
| Alignment | Tweener |
| Wrestling style | |
| Finisher(s) | Reaper sets opponent in the Repentance, then Justus hits the Last Laugh |
| Will | |
| Won't | |
| Trainer | |
| Handler(s) | |
| Professional career | |
| Debut | Insanity LIVE from Woodstock (September 15, 2009) |
| Record | 3-1 |
| Accomplishments | • LPW Undisputed World Tag Team Championship (current) |
| Disbanded | |
Watchmen is a professional e-wrestling tag team consisting of Justus and Black Reaper. Together, they compete in Lords of Pain Wrestling (LPW) on its Insanity brand, where they reign as the LPW Undisputed World Tag Team Champions.
Contents |
Justus and Black Reaper appeared together for the first time during the Insanity pay-per-view, Body Count, when Reaper tried to assist Justus in his match against Ash Strife and his demon-possessed alter-ego, Crazy Ash Killa. Despite the help, the power of CAK was too strong, even against the team.
Despite the unsuccessful bid to defeat Strife, Justus and Reaper announced that they would be named the Watchmen, inspired by a refernce in the Bible and the comic graphic novel by Neil Gaiman.
The Watchmen made their tag team debut at Insanity LIVE from Woodstock against Villiano 187 and Killswitch on September 15, 2009, gaining a victory in their debut match when Reaper positioned Villiano in The Repentance while Justus bounced off the ropes for a variation of the Last Laugh, slamming the back of Vil's head to the canvas to pin the Hall of Famer.
The following Insanity LIVE from Manhattan telecast saw Justus revisit Phantom Lord, who was masked as Genocide at the time, put up minimal effort in a tag team match in Justus' debut. Upset over Phantom's approach to the Word of God and his disregard of teamwork in his debut match, Justus teamed with Reaper against Phantom and his student Dr. Wagner. Despite a strong effort from Justus, Wagner was able to catch Reaper in the Providence and gained the victory for himself and Phantom.
Despite the setback, the Watchmen paid for an announcement at the Insanity LIVE from Baltimore, instantly catching the attention of LPW fans. They were booked against Sudden Death (Black Ada and Son of Shockey and Phantom and Dr. Wagner in a Triple Threat tag team match to determine who would face the Madcore Misfits (Tromboner Man and Drew Michaels at Epic for the LPW Undisputed World Tag Team Championship. During the match, the Watchmen took out Sudden Death, but Justus found himself arm-locked by Phantom, who insulted Wagner to nail the clown with a chair. Wagner swung, but struck Phantom instead. The move allowed the Watchmen to finish Phantom to become the number one contenders, in the process having beaten two Hall of Famers in their only wins.
At Insanity LIVE from Atlantic City, the Watchmen will face the feuding Andy Savana and Hatchet Ryda, who reigns as the LPW World Heavyweight Champion, in the night's main event.
| Result | Record | Winner(s) | Loser(s) | Event | Date | Notes | Just Score† | BR Score† |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 3-1 | Watchmen (Black Reaper and Justus) | Andy Savana and Hatchet Ryda | Insanity LIVE from Atlantic City | December 12, 2009 | Won vacant LPW Undisputed World Tag Team Championship | 4.19 | 3.66 |
| Win | 2-1 | Watchmen (Black Reaper and Justus) | Sudden Death (Ada and SOS) and Phantom Lord and Dr. Wagner | Insanity LIVE from Baltimore | 11 November, 2009 | Triple Threat Tag Team match to determine Number One Contenders' to LPW Undisputed Tag Team Championship | 4.01 | 3.51 |
| Loss | 1-1 | Phantom Lord and Dr. Wagner | Watchmen (Justus and Black Reaper) | Insanity LIVE from Manhattan | 15 October, 2009 | Tag Team match | 4.15 | 3.00 |
| Win | 1-0 | Watchmen (Justus and Black Reaper) | Killswitch and Villiano 187 | Insanity LIVE from Woodstock | 15 September, 2009 | Tag Team match | 3.93 | 3.65 |
    LPW Undisputed Tag Team Championship |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Preceded by:
Madcore Misfits |
Succeeded by:
- |
|
   Insanity |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lords of Pain Wrestling | ||||
| History | Results (Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5) • Pay-per-views • Statistics • Records | |||
| Championships | World Heavyweight • Transatlantic • Hardcore • Undisputed World Tag Team | |||
| eWrestlers | Andy Savana • Ash Strife • Black Ada • Black Reaper • Blackwell • cYnical • Dr. Wagner • Hatchet Ryda • Joe Michaels • Justus • Krimson Mask • Little Red • MC Steel • NPD • Phantom Lord • Pope Fred • Seth Omega • SoL • Son of Shockey • Tromboner Man • Villiano 187 • X | |||
| Teams and Stables | The Illuminati • Madcore Misfits • OCEAN69 • Psych Ward • Sudden Death • Watchmen | |||
| Galleries | Show logos • Event logos • Championships | |||
| See also | LPW Inferno | |||
 |
Spoiler alert! Warning: This article contains spoilers for the graphic novel and film "Watchmen" |
|
Watchmen is a comic book series and graphic novel written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons published by DC Comics. It tells the story of an alternative 1985, where the world is at the brink of a nuclear war at the height of the cold war. Five superheroes, all but one ordinary human beings, and all of them harboring complex emotional ties and relationships with each other and the world around them, are brought back together after the death of a sixth reveals a disturbing conspiracy which has implications for the whole world. The comic jumps from page to page between flashbacks from 1930s to the 1980s, and also to a meta-comic (comic within a comic), Tales of the Black Freighter, that parallels and mirrors the stories narrative and several characters from the Watchmen world. It is the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine's All Time 100 Novels list. The graphic novel is credited as being one of the main influences of today's comic book world, pushing writers into more realistic and grittier writing. The graphic novel has since been turned into a film, which was released in March 2009 worldwide.
Contents |
Damon Lindelof called Watchmen "the greatest piece of popular fiction ever produced". Source: Entertainment Weekly Also, writer Brian K. Vaughan, who is best known for his works in the field of comics, cited Watchmen as "definitely" the inspiration for his start as a writer.[1] Javier Grillo-Marxuach, writer/producer in Seasons 1 and 2, has stated that Watchmen "was a topic of much discussion among those of us in the writers’ room who were comics-minded." [2]
| Watchmen | Lost | ||||||
 |
 |
||||||
 |
 |
||||||
| The main characters of Watchmen recall scenes that occurred before the events of the graphic novel. | The main characters of Lost recall scenes that occurred before the events of the show. | ||||||
| Adrian Veidt sends a group of scientists and artists to a mysterious island. | This is very similar to the operations of Alvar Hanso and the DHARMA Initiative on the Island. | ||||||
 |
 |
||||||
| An elderly newsstand vendor named Bernard started a newsstand because his wife, Rosa, had died. | An elderly man named Bernard and his wife Rose are survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. | ||||||
| The issues of Egyptology become increasingly present in the later part of the series, with Ozymandius seen meditating above a pyramid with the Ankh symbol around it. Anubis is also referenced in the final chapters of the novel. | Egyptology references have been shown in more recent episodes of Lost, with the Ankh symbol seen in "LaFleur". Further, the four-toed statue has finally been shown complete (albeit from behind), looking quite similar to Anubis. Egyptian Hieroglyphics have been a theme in the show since season 2, and the Island has been shown to have some Ancient Egypt-like influence on it, at one point. | ||||||
| Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre II's mother, the first Silk Spectre, was raped by Edward Blake/The Comedian. Laurie hated him for the way he treated her mother. During this time, Laurie finds out that The Comedian not only abused her mother but was her biological father, and despite the rape and abuse suffered, her mother still loved him, and mourned his death. | This mirrors Kate's relationship with her mother, which is also strained. Kate also finds out after his death that the man she believed to be her mother's abusive new husband was in fact her biological father. Despite this abuse, Kate's mother also still loved him, and mourned his death. | ||||||
Adrien Veidt’s name as a masked adventurer was Ozymandias, the Greek name for Ramses II. The following is a poem about Ozymandias, which may be analogous to the statue seen in "Live Together, Die Alone":
|
Shelley's version of this poem is the one that actually appears in Watchmen. It deals more directly with the impermanence of political power and civilizations, and therefore is thematically relevant to the fall of the DHARMA Initiative during the Purge, or the fall of human civilization as predicted by the Valenzetti Equation :
|
||||||
| Doctor Manhattan experiences time in a nonlinear fashion, due to his superhuman abilities. He is able to see things before they happen and after they happen. After his accident, he appears naked. Additionally, he keeps a picture of his human self and his former girlfriend Janey Slater. | Desmond Hume time travels on multiple occasions, most notably when he turned the key, experiencing one long period of time travel as well as many after-effects ("flashes"). He also became "unstuck in time", traveling between the past and the present. After his accident, he appears naked in the jungle. Desmond keeps a picture of himself and his girlfriend Penny, posed the same way as Jon and Janey. | ||||||
| A smiley face is found near Edward Blake's corpse. | The original Henry Gale's hot air balloon is notable for the fact that it is adorned with a smiley face. A short distance away is Henry Gale's corpse. | ||||||
 |
 |
||||||
| The Veidt Corporation owns numerous shell companies and engages in both a public front (Shoes, Perfume) and secret scientific research. | The Hanso Foundation operates in a similar way. | ||||||
| Adrian Veidt's jungle atrium in the middle of a frozen wasteland (Antarctica) is where he launches a massive alien into New York City and attempts to stop the Cold War. | Benjamin Linus's frozen room in the middle of the jungle is where he moves the island and attempts to stop the war with the freighter. It is the opposite of Veidt's base (but still similar) in the way that Veidt's was a jungle in the middle of ice while Ben's was ice in the middle of jungle. | ||||||
 |
 as the Black Freighter -- called "The Black Rock." According to an auctioneer selling the ship's first mate's journal, the Black Rock set sail from Portsmouth, England on March 22, 1845, and was believed to have been lost at sea. Somehow, however, it became stranded in the middle of the island. |
||||||
| In Watchmen, the above mentioned parallel comic is read by a young boy named Bernie. | In Lost, Walt, who resembles Bernie in height, weight, and appearance, reads a comic book that also mirrors the situation on the island with the polar bear. |
|
||||||||
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Misc
Search
