Editing Watchmen (section)

==Legacy==
A critical and commercial success, ''Watchmen'' is highly regarded in the comics industry and is frequently considered by several critics and reviewers as comics' greatest series and graphic novel.<ref name="AboutReview">Albert, Aaron. "[http://comicbooks.about.com/od/comicbookreviews/fr/watchmen.htm ''Watchmen'' Graphic Novel Review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326110952/http://comicbooks.about.com/od/comicbookreviews/fr/watchmen.htm |date=March 26, 2013 }} ". About.com. Retrieved on March 11, 2013.</ref><ref name="CSMonitor">Driscoll, Molly. "[http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/0201/Watchmen-prequels-provoke-debate-in-comic-book-community ''Watchmen'' prequels provoke debate in comic book community] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514031716/http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/0201/Watchmen-prequels-provoke-debate-in-comic-book-community |date=May 14, 2013 }}". ''The Christian Science Monitor''. February 1, 2012. Retrieved on March 11, 2013.</ref><ref name="IGN Essential">"[http://au.ign.com/wikis/holiday-gift-guide/All-Time_Essential_Comics All-Time Essential Comics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160117063542/http://au.ign.com/wikis/holiday-gift-guide/All-Time_Essential_Comics |date=January 17, 2016 }}". IGN. Retrieved on March 11, 2013.</ref><ref name="ComicBookResources">"[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=34637 ''Watchmen'', Other DC Graphic Novels Announced as Kindle Fire Digital Exclusives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606152851/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=34637 |date=June 6, 2013 }}". ''Comic Book Resources''. September 29, 2011. Retrieved on March 22, 2013.</ref> In addition to being one of the first major works to help popularize the graphic novel publishing format alongside ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.polygon.com/comics/2019/11/11/20931078/alan-moore-watchmen-name-hbo-dc-comics-rights-controversy |title=The reason Alan Moore doesn't want his name on HBO's Watchmen |first=Susano |last=Polo |date=November 11, 2019 |access-date=November 11, 2019 |work=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] | archive-date = November 11, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191111161757/https://www.polygon.com/comics/2019/11/11/20931078/alan-moore-watchmen-name-hbo-dc-comics-rights-controversy | url-status = live}}</ref> ''Watchmen'' has also become one of the best-selling graphic novels ever published.<ref name="ComicBookResources" /><ref name="BleedingCool">Johnston, Rich. "[http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/12/10/before-watchmen-to-double-up-for-hardcover-collections/ ''Before Watchmen'' To Double Up For Hardcover Collections] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113083744/http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/12/10/before-watchmen-to-double-up-for-hardcover-collections |date=January 13, 2013 }}". ''Bleeding Cool''. December 10, 2012. Retrieved on March 22, 2013.</ref> ''Watchmen'' was the only graphic novel to appear on ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''{{'}}s 2005 "All-''Time'' 100 Greatest Novels" list,<ref name="IGN Distinguished">Goldstein, Hilary. "[http://au.ign.com/articles/2005/10/17/watchmen-distinguished-in-time ''Watchmen'' Distinguished in Time] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130411033156/http://au.ign.com/articles/2005/10/17/watchmen-distinguished-in-time |date=April 11, 2013 }}". ''IGN''. October 17, 2005. Retrieved on March 11, 2013.</ref> where ''Time'' critic [[Lev Grossman]] described the story as "a heart-pounding, heartbreaking read and a watershed in the evolution of a young medium."<ref name="All-Time feature">Grossman, Lev. "[https://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/watchmen-1986-by-alan-moore-dave-gibbons/ ''Watchmen'' – ALL-''Time'' 100 Novels] ". ''Time''. October 16, 2005. Retrieved on March 9, 2013.</ref> It later appeared on ''Time''{{'}}s 2009 "Top 10 Graphic Novels" list, where Grossman further praised ''Watchmen'', proclaiming "It's way beyond cliché at this point to call ''Watchmen'' the greatest superhero comic ever written-slash-drawn. But it's true."<ref name="All-Time Graphic Novel">Grossman, Lev. "[https://entertainment.time.com/2009/03/06/top-10-graphic-novels/slide/watchmen/ ''Watchmen'' – Top 10 Graphic Novels] ". ''Time''. March 6, 2009. Retrieved on March 9, 2013.</ref> In 2008, ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' placed ''Watchmen'' at number 13 on its list of the best 50 novels printed in the last 25 years, describing it as "The greatest superhero story ever told and proof that comics are capable of smart, emotionally resonant narratives worthy of the label 'literature'."<ref>"The New Classics: Books". ''Entertainment Weekly''. June 27/July 4, 2008.</ref> ''[[The Comics Journal]]'', however, ranked ''Watchmen'' at number 91 on its list of the Top 100 English-language comics of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=73&Itemid=48 |title=''The Comic Journal''{{'}}s Top 100 English-Language Comics of the 20th Century |work=[[The Comics Journal]] |date=February 15, 1999 |access-date=September 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620050038/http://www.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=73&Itemid=48 |archive-date=June 20, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In ''Art of the Comic Book: An Aesthetic History'', Robert Harvey wrote that, with ''Watchmen'', Moore and Gibbons "had demonstrated as never before the capacity of the [comic book] medium to tell a sophisticated story that could be engineered only in comics".{{sfn|Harvey|1996|p=150}} In his review of the Absolute Edition of the collection, Dave Itzkoff of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote that the dark legacy of ''Watchmen'', "one that Moore almost certainly never intended, whose DNA is encoded in the increasingly black inks and bleak storylines that have become the essential elements of the contemporary superhero comic book," is "a domain he has largely ceded to writers and artists who share his fascination with brutality but not his interest in its consequences, his eagerness to tear down old boundaries but not his drive to find new ones."<ref>Itzkoff, Dave. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/20/books/review/20itzkoff.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Behind the Mask] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200909103036/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/20/books/review/behind-the-mask.html |date=September 9, 2020 }}." ''The New York Times''. November 20, 2005. Retrieved on September 19, 2008.</ref> Alan Moore himself said his intentions with works like ''[[Marvelman]]'' and ''Watchmen'' were to liberate comics and open them up to new and fresh ideas, thus creating more diversity in the comics world by showing the industry what could be done with already existing concepts. Instead it had the opposite effect, confining the superhero comic to a "depressive ghetto of grimness and psychosis".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wilbur |first1=Brock |title=Alan Moore Now Believes 'The Killing Joke' Was Melodramatic, Not Interesting |url=https://www.inverse.com/article/14967-alan-moore-now-believes-the-killing-joke-was-melodramatic-not-interesting |website=Inverse |date=April 28, 2016 |access-date=April 29, 2016|archive-date=May 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507114536/https://www.inverse.com/article/14967-alan-moore-now-believes-the-killing-joke-was-melodramatic-not-interesting|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2009, Lydia Millet of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' contested that ''Watchmen'' was worthy of such acclaim, and wrote that while the series' "vividly drawn panels, moody colors and lush imagery make its popularity well-deserved, if disproportionate", that "it's simply bizarre to assert that, as an illustrated literary narrative, it rivals in artistic merit, say, masterpieces like [[Chris Ware]]'s '[[Acme Novelty Library]]' or almost any part of the witty and brilliant work of [[Edward Gorey]]".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123569333628588197.html?mod=article-outset-box |title=From Comic Book to Literary Classic |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=February 27, 2009 |access-date=February 27, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503021554/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123569333628588197.html?mod=article-outset-box |archive-date=May 3, 2009|last1=Millet |first1=Lydia }}</ref>

''Watchmen'' was one of the two comic books, alongside ''[[The Dark Knight Returns|Batman: The Dark Knight Returns]]'', that inspired designer [[Vincent Connare]] when he created the [[Comic Sans]] font.<ref>Steel, Emily. "[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123992364819927171 Typeface Inspired by Comic Books Has Become a Font of Ill Will] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420022303/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992364819927171.html?mod=googlenews_wsj |date=April 20, 2009 }}". ''The Wall Street Journal''. April 17, 2009. Retrieved on February 8, 2010. {{cite news |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992364819927171.html |title=Typeface Inspired by Comic Books Has Become a Font of Ill Will |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=April 18, 2009 |access-date=February 8, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430210327/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992364819927171.html |archive-date=April 30, 2009|last1=Steel |first1=Emily }}</ref>

In 2009, Brain Scan Studios released the parody ''[[Watchmensch]]'', a comic in which writer [[Rich Johnston]] chronicled "the debate surrounding ''Watchmen'', the original contracts, the current legal suits over the Fox contract".<ref>Contino, Jennifer M. "[http://www.comicon.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=531993 Who Watches Rich Johnston's Watchmensch] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301165641/http://www.comicon.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=531993 |date=March 1, 2012 }}". Comicon.com. December 28, 2008. Retrieved on March 17, 2010.</ref>

Also in 2009, to coincide with the release of the ''Watchmen'' movie, [[IDW Publishing]] produced a parody one-shot comic titled ''Whatmen?!''<ref>[https://grizzlybomb.com/2012/09/29/weird-and-wacky-world-of-comics-whatmen/ Weird & Wacky World of Comic – Whatmen?!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913050130/https://grizzlybomb.com/2012/09/29/weird-and-wacky-world-of-comics-whatmen/ |date=September 13, 2021 }} at Grizzly Bomb</ref>

[[Grant Morrison]] wrote a scene in ''[[The Multiversity#Pax Americana|Pax Americana]]'' (2014) where a child shoots his father in the head with his own gun, killing him. This was meant to symbolize Morrison's opinion about how the limited series had a negative impact on the superhero genre: "it's Watchmen's shot to the head of the American superhero."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://screenrant.com/watchmen-killed-american-superheroes-grant-morrison/ |title=Watchmen Killed American Superheroes, According to Grant Morrison |website=[[Screen Rant]] |date=November 26, 2022 |access-date=June 21, 2023 |archive-date=June 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621003949/https://screenrant.com/watchmen-killed-american-superheroes-grant-morrison/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In September 2016, Hasslein Books published ''Watching Time: The Unauthorized Watchmen Chronology'', by author Rich Handley. The book provides a detailed history of the ''Watchmen'' franchise.<ref>Fasciani, Damian (February 25, 2017). [http://dccomicsnews.com/2017/02/25/review-watching-time-the-unauthorized-watchmen-chronology/ "Review: Watching Time The Unauthorized Watchmen Chronology"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815054552/http://dccomicsnews.com/2017/02/25/review-watching-time-the-unauthorized-watchmen-chronology/ |date=August 15, 2017 }}. DC Comics News.</ref><ref>Carreiro, Remy (November 24, 2016). [https://www.forevergeek.com/review-watching-time-unauthorized-watchmen-chronology/ "A Review of Watching Time: An Unauthorized Watchmen Chronology"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109181250/https://www.forevergeek.com/review-watching-time-unauthorized-watchmen-chronology/ |date=January 9, 2018 }}. Forever Geek.</ref>

In December 2017, DC Entertainment published ''Watchmen: Annotated'', a fully annotated black-and-white edition of the graphic novel, edited, with an introduction and notes by [[Leslie S. Klinger]] (who previously annotated Neil Gaiman's ''[[The Sandman (Vertigo)|The Sandman]]'' for DC). The edition contains extensive materials from Alan Moore's original scripts and was written with the full collaboration of Dave Gibbons.