Editing Watchmen (section)

== Publication and reception ==
[[File:Alan Moore.jpg|left|thumb|[[Alan Moore]], co-creator of ''Watchmen'', severed his ties with DC Comics over contractual issues related to the work.]]
''Watchmen'' was first mentioned publicly in the 1985 ''[[Amazing Heroes]] Preview''.<ref>Plowright, p. 42</ref> When Moore and Gibbons turned in the first issue of their series to DC, Gibbons recalled, "What really clinched it [...] was [writer/artist] [[Howard Chaykin]], who doesn't give praise lightly, and who came up and said, 'Dave what you've done on ''Watchmen'' is freaking A.{{'"}}<ref name="Duin-Gibbons">Duin, Steve and Richardson, Mike. ''Comics: Between the Panels''. Dark Horse Comics, 1998. {{ISBN|978-1-56971-344-0}}, pp. 460–461</ref> Speaking in 1986, Moore said, "DC backed us all the way [...] and have been really supportive about even the most graphic excesses".<ref name="TCJ116" /> To promote the series, DC Comics released a limited-edition badge ("button") display card set, featuring characters and images from the series. Ten thousand sets of the four badges, including a replica of the blood-stained [[smiley|smiley face]] badge worn by the Comedian in the story, were released and sold.<ref name="Pebbles116" /> [[Mayfair Games]] introduced a [[Who Watches the Watchmen?|''Watchmen'' module]] for its ''[[DC Heroes]]'' Role-playing Game series that was released before the series concluded. The module, which was endorsed by Moore (who also provided story assistance),<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 14, 2019 |title=Exclusive: How Alan Moore Helped Create the Watchmen Role-Playing Game |url=https://13thdimension.com/exclusive-how-alan-moore-helped-create-the-watchmen-role-playing-game/ |access-date=February 29, 2024 |website=13th Dimension |language=en-US |archive-date=March 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310180548/https://13thdimension.com/exclusive-how-alan-moore-helped-create-the-watchmen-role-playing-game/ |url-status=live }}</ref> adds details to the series' backstory by portraying events that occurred in 1966.<ref>Gomez, Jeffrey. "Who Watches the Watchmen?". ''Gateways''. June 1987.</ref>

''Watchmen'' was published in single-issue form over the course of 1986 and 1987. The [[Limited series (comics)|limited series]] was a commercial success, and its sales helped DC Comics briefly overtake its competitor [[Marvel Comics]] in the comic book direct market.{{sfn|Wright|2001|p=273}} The series' publishing schedule ran into delays because it was scheduled with three issues completed instead of the six editor Len Wein believed were necessary. Further delays were caused when later issues each took more than a month to complete.<ref name="CBR Amaya 2008" /> One contemporaneous report noted that although DC solicited issue #12 for publication in April 1987, it became apparent "it [wouldn't] debut until July or August".<ref name="S&S116" />

After the series concluded, the individual issues were collected and sold in [[trade paperback (comics)|trade paperback]] form. Along with [[Frank Miller]]'s 1986 ''[[The Dark Knight Returns|Batman: The Dark Knight Returns]]'' miniseries, ''Watchmen'' was marketed as a "[[graphic novel]]", a term that allowed DC and other publishers to sell similar comic book collections in a way that associated them with novels and dissociated them from comics.{{sfn|Sabin|1996|p=165}} As a result of the publicity given to the books like the ''Watchmen'' trade in 1987, bookstores and public libraries began to devote special shelves to them. Subsequently, new comics series were commissioned on the basis of reprinting them in a collected form for these markets.{{sfn|Sabin|1996|pp=165-167}}

''Watchmen'' received critical praise, both inside and outside of the comics industry. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, which noted that the series was "by common assent the best of breed" of the new wave of comics published at the time, praised ''Watchmen'' as "a superlative feat of imagination, combining sci-fi, political satire, knowing evocations of comics past and bold reworkings of current graphic formats into a {{sic|dysutopian}} mystery story".<ref>Cocks, Jay (January 25, 1988). [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966542-2,00.html "The Passing of Pow! and Blam!"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826233704/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966542-2,00.html |date=August 26, 2009 }}. (2 of 2). ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. Retrieved on September 19, 2008.</ref> In 1988, ''Watchmen'' received a [[Hugo Award]] in the Other Forms category.<ref name="HugoAward">[http://www.thehugoawards.org/?page_id=32 1988 Hugo Awards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421021053/http://www.thehugoawards.org/?page_id=32 |date=April 21, 2009 }}. The HugoAwards.com. Retrieved on September 22, 2008.</ref> According to Gibbons, Moore had his award placed upside down in his garden and used it as a bird table.<ref>{{cite web |last1=IGN |title=Dave Gibbons Studio Tour |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATklwxxTmWg |website=YouTube |date=June 8, 2015 |access-date=April 12, 2022 |archive-date=April 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412025241/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATklwxxTmWg |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[David Langford|Dave Langford]] reviewed ''Watchmen'' for ''[[White Dwarf (magazine)|White Dwarf]]'' #96, and stated that "The modern myth of the Superhero is curiously powerful despite its usual silliness; ''Watchmen'' lovingly disassembles the mythology into bloodstained cogs and ratchets, concluding with the famous quotation ''[[Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?]]''"<ref name="WD96">{{cite magazine |last=Langford |first=Dave | author-link =David Langford |title=Critical Mass |magazine=[[White Dwarf (magazine)|White Dwarf]] |issue=96 |pages=13 |publisher=[[Games Workshop]] |date=December 1987}}</ref>

=== Ownership disputes ===
Disagreements about the ownership of the story ultimately led Moore to sever ties with DC Comics.<ref name="NYC Itzkoff">{{cite news |last=Itzkoff |first=Dave |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/movies/12itzk.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin |title=The Vendetta Behind 'V for Vendetta |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 12, 2006 |access-date=October 7, 2008 | archive-date = May 26, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140526064658/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/movies/12itzk.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin | url-status = live}}</ref> Not wanting to work under a [[work for hire]] arrangement, Moore and Gibbons had a reversion clause in their contract for ''Watchmen''. Speaking at the 1985 [[San Diego Comic-Con]], Moore said: "The way it works, if I understand it, is that DC owns it for the time they're publishing it, and then it reverts to Dave and me, so we can make all the money from the [[Slurpee]] cups."<ref name="TCJ106" /> For ''Watchmen'', Moore and Gibbons received eight percent of the series' earnings.<ref name="strange" /> Moore explained in 1986 that his understanding was that when "DC have not used the characters for a year, they're ours."<ref name="TCJ116" /> Both Moore and Gibbons said DC paid them "a substantial amount of money" to retain the rights. Moore added, "So basically they're not ours, but if DC is working with the characters in our interests then they might as well be. On the other hand, if the characters have outlived their natural life span and DC doesn't want to do anything with them, then after a year we've got them and we can do what we want with them, which I'm perfectly happy with."<ref name="TCJ116" />

Moore said he left DC in 1989 due to the language in his contracts for ''Watchmen'' and his ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' series with artist [[David Lloyd (comics)|David Lloyd]]. Moore felt the reversion clauses were ultimately meaningless because DC did not intend to let the publications go out of print. He told ''The New York Times'' in 2006, "I said, 'Fair enough&nbsp;... You have managed to successfully swindle me, and so I will never work for you again.{{Single double}}<ref name="NYC Itzkoff" /> In 2000, Moore publicly distanced himself from DC's plans for a 15th anniversary ''Watchmen'' hardcover release as well as a proposed line of action figures from [[DC Direct]]. While DC wanted to mend its relationship with the writer, Moore felt the company was not treating him fairly in regard to his [[America's Best Comics]] imprint (launched under the [[WildStorm]] comic [[Imprint (trade name)|imprint]], which was bought by DC in 1998; Moore was promised no direct interference by DC as part of the arrangement). Moore added, "As far as I'm concerned, the 15th anniversary of ''Watchmen'' is purely a 15th Anniversary of when DC managed to take the ''Watchmen'' property from me and Dave [Gibbons]."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081216124434/http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?threadid=34286 "Moore Leaves the Watchmen 15th anniversary plans"]. ''[[Newsarama]]'', August 2000. Retrieved on October 7, 2008. Archived from the [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?threadid=34286 original] on December 16, 2008.</ref> Soon afterward, DC Direct canceled the ''Watchmen'' action-figure line, despite the company having displayed prototypes at the 2000 San Diego Comic-Con.<ref name="toys">St-Louis, Hervé. [http://www.comicbookbin.com/Watchmen_Action_Figures001.html "Watchmen Action Figures&nbsp;– Controversies and Fulfillment"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100119052604/http://www.comicbookbin.com/Watchmen_Action_Figures001.html |date=January 19, 2010 }}. ''ComicBookBin'', August 18, 2008. Retrieved on December 24, 2008.</ref>