Watchmen was a revolutionary story that made the world take notice that of comic books as a literary form. It took the superhero genre and turned it on its head, bringing a darkness to the colorful world that has impacted the medium even to this day. Its hard to imagine a world without Watchmens influence - the story structure, the art, the themes, and the maturity are all things that come to mind when talking about Alan Moores magnum opus, but it also boasts one of the greatest surprises in comic book history. In the books penultimate chapter the shadowy villain behind everything was revealed to be Ozymandias, a former superhero. What he lacked in the powers of Doctor Manhattan or the ferocity of Rorschach, he made up for with a lethal cunning. When confronted in his Antarctic lair, Ozymandias revealed to his former allies that he had created a telepathic bomb he planned to teleport into the middle of Manhattan and kill half the citys population. A bad guy monologuing, revealing his evil plan and giving the heroes a chance to stop him? It's a total cliche. Yet in a moment that turned the medium on its head, when Nite Owl asked him when he planned to pull the trigger on this plan, Ozymandias dropped the bomb that he had already done it. With no chance to save the day the readers were left with not only the realisation that the good guys lost, but that comics would never be the same again.
Andrew is a self-proclaimed humorist/facepuncher, and is one of the last of his kind. He was dragged from the debris in war-torn Poland and plays a piano most beautifully. In closing, he likes pickles. Follow him on Twitter @TheAEJohnson
