Watchmen is the 1986 comic-book series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons that features the superhero Rorschach.
Published by DC Comics as a twelve-issue limited series from 1986 to 1987, Watchmen examines a world where masked vigilantes and government-backed superheroes have altered modern history. Rorschach, whose real name is Walter Kovacs, investigates the apparent murder of a former hero known as the Comedian.
The series also includes Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, and Ozymandias. Its structure uses recurring visual motifs, documentary-style inserts, shifting viewpoints, and carefully mirrored page layouts. The story’s fictional pirate comic, Tales of the Black Freighter, provides a parallel narrative about obsession and moral collapse.
Watchmen is sometimes confused with The Dark Knight Returns because both are influential 1980s works that helped reshape superhero comics. They are separate books: Frank Miller wrote and drew The Dark Knight Returns, while Moore and Gibbons created Watchmen. The series won a Hugo Award in 1988 in a special category.