Watchmen: 7 Ups And 0 Downs From 'It's Summer And We're Running Out Of Ice'

6. It Genuinely Feels Like A Continuation Of The Comic's World

The alternate history Moore and Gibbons fashioned for Watchmen really allowed the duo to satirise Cold War-era America. It's a world where Richard Nixon served two decades in office and where the United States won the war in Vietnam, leading to the country uniting as a new state. It's also a world with superheroes and superpowers, and while the idea of situating heroes in quote-unquote "real" settings is nothing unusual these days, it was Watchmen that really started the trope as we know it today.

The disparate reality of HBO's Watchmen, while different, still very much feels like it stems from the same world fashioned in 1988. It's still 2019, but it's also a reality where Nixon held office for over a decade and where his successor is actor Robert Redford (Watchmen places his presidency at three decades). There's no internet, and squid fall from the sky at a moment's notice, so in both embodying the spirit of the original comic by providing commentary on contemporary events and by organically expanding its lore, the new series really finds success.

Those familiar with the original story should also welcome the series' ambiguity when it comes to exploring the fallout of the book's ending. There's a mystery to be solved in piecing together what happened after Ozymandias enacted his plan to bring world peace, and while that's merely a side dish compared to what the the series mainly offers, it's also right where it should be.