With a new HBO Watchmen series coming soon, DC collects some of the best stories starring the heroes that inspired the cast of the original WATCHMEN comic series. At the height of comics' 1960s Silver Age, artist Steve Ditko was winning praise for his spectacular work on Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. At the same time, Ditko was also creating powerful tales of other heroes: Charlton Comics' Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and the Question. Now, for the first time, DC collects stories starring these enigmatic heroes, plus the Peacemaker and others -- the heroes that provided the inspiration for WATCHMEN team members Night Owl, Doctor Manhattan, Rorschach, the Comedian and more. This title includes CAPTAIN ATOM (1966) #83-86, BLUE BEETLE (1967) #1-6, MYSTERIOUS SUSPENSE #1, CHARLTON PREMIERE #3, THE CHARLTON BULLSEYE (1975) #1, #5, THE CHARLTON BULLSEYE (1981) #1, AMERICOMICS #3 and AMERICOMICS SPECIAL #1.

Discover what happened before WATCHMEN as writer J. Michael Straczynski is joined by Andy Kubert and the legendary Joe Kubert to take flight with the gadget-savvy vigilante known as Nite Owl! And then in BEFORE WATCHMEN: DR. MANHATTAN, JMS teams with fan-favorite artist Adam Hughes on the all-powerful super-man Dr. Manhattan. For Dr. Manhattan, past, present, and future are one and the same. But as he observes the events of his life, do they remain the same? Or are they changed? The very fact of his existence may have altered the nature of what will or will not be... Collects BEFORE WATCHMEN: NITE OWL #1-4 and BEFORE WATCHMEN: DR. MANHATTAN #1-4.

The Watchmen Companion collects for the first time long-out-of-print, rarely seen material based on the landmark comic book series! The Watchmen Companion includes the Watchmen: Watching the Watchmen and Watchmen: Taking out the Trash game modules, along with the Watchmen Sourcebook, released in 1990 as part of the DC Heroes role-playing game-sanctioned by Alan Moore, including illustrations by artist Dave Gibbons created especially for the game, and expanding on the mythos of the Watchmen series. This volume also collects pages from Who's Who in The DC Universe featuring the Watchmen and Minutemen characters, The Question #17 (guest-starring Rorschach!) and a page from the rare, promotional DC Spotlight #1 from 1985 that marked the very first appearance of the Watchmen cast in print!

Alan Moore's Watchmen is set in 1985 and chronicles the alternative history of the United States where the US edges dangerously closer to nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Within this world exists a group of crime busters, who don elaborate costumes to conceal their identity and fight crime, and an intricate plot to kill and discredit these "superheroes." Alan Moore's Watchmen popularized the graphic novel format, has been named one of Time magazine's top 100 novels, and is now being made into a highly anticipated movie adaptation. This latest book in the popular Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series peers into Moore's deeply philosophical work to parse and deconstruct the ethical issues raised by Watchmen's costumed adventurers, their actions, and their world. From nuclear destruction to utopia, from governmental authority to human morality and social responsibility, it answers questions fans have had for years about Watchmen's ethical quandaries, themes, and characters.

The iconic Transformers character embarks on a solo adventure through a world of swords-and-sorcery unlike anything ever seen before! Grimlock, the beloved powerhouse T-rex with an attitude, and one of the strongest Cybertronians in existence, finds himself magically transported to a world of fantastical beasts and strange powers! In this savage world, where the strong rule with sword and iron, Grimlock finds a new opportunity to prove he’s the strongest there is... but as Grimlock and the human barbarian, Arko, will learn, sometimes brute strength isn’t enough. Written by Steve Orlando (Wonder Woman, Justice League of America) with art by Agustin Padilla (Dungeons & Dragons, Suicide Squad) King Grimlock is a stand-alone Transformers story like no other!

The controversial, long-awaited prequels to the best-selling graphic novel of all-time are finally here: BEFORE WATCHMEN! For over twenty years, the backstories of the now-iconic characters from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s landmark graphic novel have remained a mystery, until now. DC Comics has assembled the greatest creators in the industry to further paint the world of WATCHMEN, with this second volume starring two of the most polarizing anti-heroes ever, COMEDIAN and RORSCHACH. Eisner Award-winning writer and creator of 100 BULLETS Brian Azzarello brings his gritty, nuanced storytelling to these two recognizable characters. In RORSCHACH, Azzarello again teams with superstar artist Lee Bermejo (JOKER, LUTHOR, BATMAN/DEATHBLOW) to illustrate how one of most dangerous vigilantes the comics world has ever seen became even darker. COMEDIAN, featuring art by J.G. Jones (FINAL CRISIS, Wanted), plants the famed war hero within the context of American history, as we find out how the Vietnam War and the Kennedy assassination revolve around him. Collects BEFORE WATCHMEN: COMEDIAN #1-6 and BEFORE WATCHMEN: RORSCHACH #1-4.

With the Earth teetering on the brink of an international super-war, Black Adam and his followers make their move! And while our heroes are busy elsewhere, Dr. Manhattan has set his endgame into motion. The Doomsday Clock continues to tick toward midnight with the fate of the Multiverse hanging in the balance.

In an alternate world where the mere presence of American superheroes changed history, the US won the Vietnam War, Nixon is still president, and the cold war is in full effect. WATCHMEN begins as a murder-mystery, but soon unfolds into a planet-altering conspiracy. As the resolution comes to a head, the unlikely group of reunited heroes-Rorschach, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias-have to test the limits of their convictions and ask themselves where the true lineis between good and evil. In the mid-eighties, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created WATCHMEN, changing the course of comics' history and essentially remaking how popular culture perceived the genre. Popularly cited as the point where comics came ofage, WATCHMEN's sophisticated take on superheroes has been universally acclaimed for its psychological depth and realism. WATCHMEN is collected here in deluxe hardcover, with sketches, extra bonus material and a new introduction by series artist Dave Gibbons.

Delving into the more supernatural and esoteric areas of Gotham City, the six-part storyline explores the horrific murder of one of Bruce Wayne's childhood friends . . . and the terrible ramifications the brutal crime has on Batman's life.

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s Watchmen has been widely hailed as a landmark in the development of the graphic novel. It was not only aesthetically groundbreaking but also anticipated future developments in politics, literature, and intellectual property. Demonstrating a keen eye for historical detail, Considering Watchmen gives readers a new appreciation of just how radical Moore and Gibbons’s blend of gritty realism and formal experimentation was back in 1986. The book also considers Watchmen’s place in the history of the comics industry, reading the graphic novel’s playful critique of superhero marketing alongside Alan Moore’s public statements about the rights to the franchise. Andrew Hoberek examines how Moore and Gibbons engaged with the emerging discourses of neoconservatism and neoliberal capitalism, ideologies that have only become more prominent in subsequent years. Watchmen’s influences on the superhero comic and graphic novel are undeniable, but Hoberek reveals how it has also had profound effects on literature as a whole. He suggests that Watchmen not only proved that superhero comics could rise to the status of literature—it also helped to inspire a generation of writers who are redefining the boundaries of the literary, from Jonathan Lethem to Junot Díaz. Hoberek delivers insight and analysis worthy of satisfying serious readers of the genre while shedding new light on Watchmen as both an artistic accomplishment and a book of ideas.