50 Fun Facts About Watchmen

Who wrote Watchmen?

Dave Gibbons drew it and John Higgins coloured it.

Who was the artist on Watchmen?

A former surveyor, he packed every tiny panel with detail.

How many issues did the original series run?

Moore realised early he only had plot for six, so he alternated plot issues with origin issues.

Which publisher's characters did Moore originally want to use for the story?

His pitch was titled Who Killed the Peacemaker; DC wanted those heroes for Crisis on Infinite Earths instead.

Which DC managing editor persuaded Moore to create original characters instead?

He later joked, 'Who copy-edits Alan Moore, for God's sake?'

Which Mad magazine parody did Moore and Gibbons want to turn '180 degrees'?

Moore wanted 'a superhero Moby Dick', dramatic instead of comedic.

Roughly how long was Moore's single-spaced script for the first issue?

Gibbons numbered every page in case he dropped them on the floor.

How did Moore get late scripts to Gibbons as deadlines loomed?

Gibbons' wife and son drew panel grids to save time on later issues.

Which TV series episode did Moore realise his ending resembled, prompting editor Len Wein to quit?

The episode was 'The Architects of Fear'; Moore acknowledged it in the final issue.

In what year does Watchmen's alternate history diverge from ours?

Superheroes appear, the US wins in Vietnam, and Nixon is still president in 1985.

Which US president is still in office in October 1985 in the story?

Term limits were repealed and Watergate never broke because Woodward and Bernstein were implied killed.

What does Vietnam become after the American victory in Watchmen's history?

Doctor Manhattan won the war for the US in 1971.

Which 1977 law outlawed costumed vigilantes?

Only Doctor Manhattan and the Comedian kept working, as government agents.

Whose murder opens the story on October 12, 1985?

Rorschach finds his costume and smiley badge and deduces he was the Comedian.

What is Rorschach's real name?

He is unmasked when police capture him, framed for killing Moloch.

Which Steve Ditko creation was Rorschach chiefly based on?

Ditko's Charlton hero The Question was the other template.

Why did Gibbons call Rorschach his favourite character to work on?

A shape for the face, some black blobs, and you're done, he said.

What is Ozymandias's civilian name?

Believed to be the smartest man on the planet, he was based on Charlton's Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt.

Which Charlton hero was Nite Owl based on?

Like Ted Kord, Dan Dreiberg had a predecessor: Hollis Mason, the first Nite Owl.

Which Charlton character was the Comedian based on?

Moore and Gibbons also saw him as a bigger, tougher G. Gordon Liddy with a dash of Nick Fury.

What 1959 accident gave physicist Jon Osterman his powers?

Doctor Manhattan was built on Charlton's Captain Atom, the only hero with real powers in that line too.

Which earlier blue character had Gibbons created before the blue hero of Watchmen?

He reused the blue skin to suggest electrical or atomic energy.

Who is Laurie Juspeczyk's mother?

The first Silk Spectre; Laurie learns on Mars that the Comedian was her father.

Where does Jon exile himself after the cancer accusations?

His departure prompts the Soviets to invade Afghanistan.

Where is Veidt's private retreat, the scene of the climax?

Tachyons from there limit Manhattan's ability to see the future.

What does Veidt unleash on New York to unite the superpowers?

It kills half the city and is built in his own laboratories.

Who kills Rorschach to keep Veidt's secret?

Doctor Manhattan does it; Moore realised by issue four that Rorschach's refusal to compromise meant he could not survive.

To which newspaper does Rorschach mail his journal?

The series ends with an assistant reaching for the crank file where it sits.

What does the blue superman say when Veidt asks if he did the right thing in the end?

He then leaves Earth for good.

What page layout does Gibbons use throughout the series?

Gibbons liked its 'authority'; Moore liked the control it gave over pacing.

Which chapter, 'Fearful Symmetry', is laid out so the first page mirrors the last?

The centre spread is broadly symmetrical too.

What is the name of the pirate comic read within Watchmen?

In a world with real superheroes, Moore reasoned, readers would prefer pirates.

Which playwright's 'Pirate Jenny' song does the Black Freighter allude to?

Moore is a big fan; the song is from The Threepenny Opera.

What stains the smiley face on the last page, echoing the blood on the first?

Gibbons created the badge to lighten the Comedian's costume, then added the blood splash.

Which Roman satirist asked the question the title refers to?

Moore did not know the classical source until Harlan Ellison told him.

What did Moore reportedly do with the Hugo Award Watchmen won in 1988?

It won in the one-off 'Other Forms' category.

Watchmen was the only graphic novel on which magazine's 2005 list of 100 greatest novels?

Lev Grossman called it 'a watershed in the evolution of a young medium'.

What percentage of the series' earnings did Moore and Gibbons receive?

Rights were meant to revert once DC stopped publishing, but it never went out of print.

How many prequel miniseries made up Before Watchmen in 2012?

Neither Moore nor Gibbons was involved.

Who wrote Doomsday Clock, the 2017-19 sequel that folded Watchmen into the DC Universe?

It set Superman against Doctor Manhattan seven years after the original story.

Who wrote the 2020-21 standalone sequel series Rorschach?

It follows a detective investigating an assassination attempt 35 years after Rorschach's death.

Which director made the 2009 Watchmen film?

Warner hired him on the strength of 300; the other three had all been attached earlier.

Which studio first bought the film rights in 1986 and later sued to block the 2009 release?

The settlement gave them 8.5 percent of the film's worldwide gross.

Which 1997 film's rubber muscle suits did Snyder parody with Ozymandias's armour?

He also made Nite Owl look scarier than in the comic.

Which 300 star voiced the Captain in the animated pirate-comic spin-off film?

He had been promised a role in the live-action film that never materialised.

Who developed the 2019 HBO Watchmen series?

He called it a 'remix': a sequel with new characters rather than a reboot.

In which city is the HBO series primarily set?

It takes place in 2019, 34 years after the comic.

Which actor is president in the HBO series' 2019?

His reparations policies drive the plot; Regina King and Jeremy Irons lead the cast.

What was the title of the episodic video game released alongside the 2009 film?

It was a prequel beat-'em-up starring Rorschach and Nite Owl.

What was the cover price of the 1986 first issue, reprinted in DC's Millennium Edition?

The 2005 Absolute Watchmen edition was supervised by Gibbons with recoloured art.