Watchmen Merchandise

The team fought villains such as Moloch the Mystic until the government passed the Keene Act in 1977. This law banned all non-government sanctioned superheroes, leaving the Comedian and Doctor Manhattan the only members with official superhero status. The others retired except for Rorschach, who remained active despite being a fugitive. Things were quiet until 1985 when the Comedian was murdered. Rorschach began an investigation and theorized that someone was murdering “retired” superhero vigilantes. Night Owl and the Silk Spectre joined with Rorschach in his mission to prove a conspiracy. Doctor Manhattan left Earth due to unsubstantiated proof that his very presence was a cancerous agent. Ozymandias remained aloof during the investigation, having retired from super heroics a few years before the passing of the Keene Act.

At the same time, Watchmen is a story within a story as Moore tells a comic tale, Tales of the Black Freighter, in a comic book read by a youth in New York City within the Watchmen story. The pirate themed comic story, “Marooned” serves as an allegory for what goes on in the Watchmen universe, itself a comic in the hands of the reader). The protagonist, turned villain, is a visible reflection to Adrian Veidt, who, in the course of trying to save his family from disaster is forced to use his dead comrades as a means to an end, unfortunately, an inevitably, destroying that which he sought to save.

Throughout Rorschach’s investigation, the threat of nuclear war with Russia and the United States looms ever closer. This intensified after Doctor Manhattan left Earth; being a living nuclear deterrent for the United States. While the heroes tried to uncover the mystery of the “Mask Killer,” a deeper, more sinister plot percolates to the surface. After Silk Spectre convinced Doctor Manhattan to return to Earth, they join Nite Owl and Rorschach at Ozymandias’ Antarctic retreat for a climactic confrontation. The conflict ends with the Watchmen struggling over a moral dilemma; one that not every member would walk away from. This is a fantastic story with deep allegories that will most likely only be found after a second reading of the book. You can purchase Watchmen merchandise, apparel and Watchmen t-shirts here.