Watchmen

:For the Canadian band, see The Watchmen.

Origin and characters

In the early 1980s DC Comics, who had acquired a number of existing characters from Charlton Comics, commissioned a treatment from Moore for a mini-series about them. Watchmen is the resulting story, recast with new heroes to avoid continuity problems with the existing DC Universe and previously established characters. (Moore recast characters he grew up with; when asked, he admitted this story would have left them useless to DC if it had been set in the mainstream.)

Related Topics:
1980s - DC Comics - Charlton Comics - Moore - DC Universe

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While the Watchmen characters were initally inspired by various Charlton Comics characters, it's worth noting that Moore borrowed elements of other comics characters as well, and also drew on his own imagination. Below is a list of Watchmen characters and the figures who inspired them:

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• The Comedian (Edward Blake), adapted from the Peacemaker.
• Doctor Manhattan (Jon Osterman), adapted from Captain Atom.
• Nite Owl I (Hollis Mason), adapted from Blue Beetle (Dan Garrett).
• Nite Owl II (Dan Dreiberg), adapted from Blue Beetle (Ted Kord).
• Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt), adapted from Thunderbolt.
• Rorschach (Walter Kovacs), adapted from The Question.
• Silk Spectre I and II (Sally Juspeczyk, and later Laurie Juspeczyk), adapted from Nightshade