Having nine panels also gave the advantage of having a central panel that naturally draws the eye, which both Gibbons and Higgins expertly used to include some of the most important and shocking images. It also made it clear for readers to follow because they simply had to read from left to right and top to bottom without trying to figure out the order. First, it allowed the writers to fit more scenes into a page, allowing for a faster-paced story. The genius of 'Watchmen' also lies in its structure, more specifically its nine-panel grid, a simple yet brilliant way of framing a story for multiple reasons. 6, 'The Abyss Gazes Also,' which begins with a brighter palette that eventually turns darker and darker along with the character's descent into his dark past, finally ending in black.

At times, Higgins even freely experimented with color, like in issue No. And colorist John Higgins took the same approach with color, choosing to use secondary colors that were more common in European comics to achieve a moodier look and accentuate the use of primary colors, like the massive, overflowing blood from a massacre. Even in the weight of lines, where he used a hard, stiff pen to create bolded edges that were significantly different from the more fluid lines in other comic books of the era. And no one played a more integral part than the artist Dave Gibbons, who was given complete control over its visual look and focused on making a unique and distinctive aesthetic unlike anything the readers had seen. But what makes 'Watchmen' the greatest comic book ever written isn't what's on the page, but the people behind it.įrom its inception, 'Watchmen' had one objective: to create a work that can only be achieved by the comic medium. For comics, a medium with a surprisingly long history, that work is none other than 'Watchmen.' First released in 1986 as a 12-issue limited series, it forever changed the public perception of the medium and what comics can really achieve. Narrator: Every art form has one work that is so monumental and profound that it forever defines and changes the medium. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.

Watchmen by alan moore