Parallel worlds are commonplace in the American comics universe, a way for authors to start from scratch. While some of these worlds are purely fictional, some are inspired by real facts in order to appear more realistic. This is the case of the Watchmen universe that we are going to talk about today!
A world apart
When DC Comics published Watchmen in 1986, it immediately appeared more mature and realistic than its predecessors. Born from the alliance of screenwriter Alan Moore, awarded for his work on works like V for Vendetta, and cartoonist Dave Gibbons, Watchmen has everything of a great comic. 
Watchmen depicts a dark and tortured universe, both close and different from the one we know. The story takes place in New York, in a 1985 where President Nixon is in his fifth term and where the nuclear holocaust is becoming clearer by the day. 
Watchmen could be summed up in one question: What would the world look like if superheroes were a reality? It is by approaching the question in the most realistic way possible that Alan Moore created his universe.
Atypical heroes
Here no Superman or Batman, but unique heroes, black and tortured, evolving in a society in crisis. Also, masked vigilantes are nothing more than relics of the past, seeking their place in a world that has rejected them. Among the few surviving heroes, some have decided to serve their country, like the Comedian, while others continue to work in the shadows, like Rorschach. 
Through his heroes, Alan Moore criticizes society. Inspired by Charlton Comics' defunct league of heroes, the Mighty Crusaders, the authors have created atypical heroes such as the Owl, the Masked Judge, Miss Jupiter and Bill Dollars. 
Sometimes dark, sometimes colorful, Watchmen reveals throughout its pages a tortured world in the image of the society of the 70s and 80s, torn by peripheral conflicts and global tensions between the USSR and the United States. 
The threat of the atom
In Watchmen, as during the Cold War, the atomic weapon is at the center of the story. It even takes human form via the person of Dr. Manhattan! 
Victim of an accident, physicist Jonathan Osterman becomes almost omnipotent and can influence matter at the atomic level. Taking its name from the Manhattan Project, the research project that led to the manufacture of the first atomic bomb, the hero presents himself as a weapon of nuclear deterrence.
God exists and He is American. If, after pondering this statement for a few moments, you begin to feel chilled with dread, don't worry. In the face of such a concept, feeling intense and overwhelming religious terror simply means that you still retain your mental balance.
If in Watchmen the Americans won the Vietnam War, it is only because the superhero with the blue skin is an integral part of the American military device. He is a god among mortals, as evidenced by the scene in the 2009 film Watchmen, where Vietnamese soldiers are seen surrendering to the hero and kneeling at his feet like clerics praying to a deity. 
Manhattan embodies the fear of nuclear weapons in an America with an uncertain future, but it also represents a future turned towards space and rocked by technological prowess.
A faceless justice
In the shadow of Manhattan gravitate various other heroes, individuals who have chosen to act for the common good. Among them is Rorschach, a masked vigilante with violent and relentless methods. 
Dressed in an odd and worn old hat, Rorschach seems to be the only one who sees the world as it really is. The investigation he conducts on the murder of the Comedian is the common thread of the story of Watchmen and, from the beginning of the story, the reader can identify the atypical character of this faceless antihero.
This morning, dog carcass in alley, tire trace on burst belly. This city scares me. I saw his true face. […] When at last the sewers back, all the vermin will be drowned. All the accumulated garbage from their sex and murders will foam up to their necks, and all the whores and politicians will raise their heads, shouting "save us!" … and from above I will look and whisper "no"
Coming from a disadvantaged background, the character appears as the embodiment of the American people in a paranoid world devoid of morality. It is the contained anger of the average citizen against the inequalities of the incumbent government. 
But Rorschach is also a reflection of the psychological state of an era, taking its name from the famous inkblot psychological assessment test. The moving spots of his mask make the character a kind of mirror: each individual, can see himself, reveal himself to himself, in the spots of his face! 
More than a comic, Watchmen appears as a distorted reflection of a society in crisis. It was in the climate of hostility of the 80s that Alan Moore created his dark and realistic superhero universe. Also, he slipped many criticisms aimed at the American government, especially on the Vietnam War. The Watchmen, a comic that we recommend!
