Where should I start Watchmen?

So I have a lot of comics to catch up on but I really want to start reading the Watchmen franchise. The only problem is I don’t really know where to start. I was going to watch the movie first but I think I should read the comics first but idk :woman_shrugging:

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Definitely read the comics first. Just the main series though. I don’t mind Before Watchmen that much, but the main series is better read separate from that.

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Okay thank you!

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With Before Watchmen, it’s better to read that after you’ve read Watchmen itself.

The plots and other things in the BW books make more sense once you know what they’re leading into in Watchmen.

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Okay yeah thanks. I feel like it’s going to get really big with the new HBO series so I wanted to start it now

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Late to the party but agree with majority read it first movie is incredible imho it’s my all time favorite dc flick, reading to know that universe will help.

I would watch the movie then read the book
The film is better in my opinion but the book just feels different

@abf woh idek they had that, thank you!

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@dj and @Crimson thank you guys, I’ve been wanting to watch the movie tbh but I thought I should read the comic so I knew what was going on. :joy:

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The book is dense. You should know going in that it’s a commitment. It’s hardly a light read, and some parts of it won’t feel relevant until you’ve finished all 12 issues. The abridged motion comic speeds up the process, which may or may not be a good thing. The book is designed to be seen on a printed page, perhaps more so than most comics.

The movie is fine if you want the CliffsNotes of the plot and a hint at the philosophical questions that the book explores in detail. You may want to watch the two tie-in projects (Tales of the Black Freighter and Under the Hood) to round out the experience.

The movie is a diff experience from the motion comics and both are a diff experience from reading the comic book series, with all the deep dive content that it has to fully immerse the reader in the alternate history of the world in which it takes place. The comic book approach should also include the before watchmen series of comic books, which expands on the characters backstories and adds other characters that weren’t in the original series, and fleshes out the details of the world even more. Even though it says before watchmen, you should read it after you read watchmen, because, spoilers…

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