10 DC Graphic Novels You Must Read Before You Die

1. Watchmen

Watchmen Cover
DC Comics

You won't find a stronger comic book than Alan Moore's Watchmen. You just won't.

Seminal in so many ways, and revolutionary in many more, Moore and Dave Gibbons' text is almost universally considered to be the finest comic book of all time. With its gripping social commentary on the eighties Cold War milieu and its satire of the superhero genre in particular, Watchmen continues to captivate readers thirty years on from its original publishing.

That's no small feat, and while continued revivals of the license prove to be controversial, it's easy to see why DC are so keen to trap the same lightning Moore and Gibbons did when the text first released in 1986. Indeed, it's a testament to Moore's work that the book's most famous characters - Rorschach, Nite Owl, Doctor Manhattan and Silk Spectre - are household names. To do that outside of the limits the mainstream DCU engenders is incredible, and the fact it keeps being revisited intimates how special a feat that is in accordance to the book's ever-increasing popularity.

Sure, fans might continue to misread Rorschach, but when the book's as good as it is, surely that's a price worth paying?

Are there any other DC Comics you think people simply HAVE to read? Please let us know in the comments below!

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.