"Who watches the Watchmen?" Maybe this is one of your favorite comic book quotes of all time, or maybe you've heard and read it many times without knowing much about Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' masterpiece. Regardless, Amazon's Black Friday 2023 deal on the Watchmen deluxe edition hardcover is pretty sweet.

This 448-page edition has been available since June 2013, and it hasn't vanished because it's extremely good. The deluxe hardcover is no joke, and the graphic novel comes with sketches, extra bonus material, and a new introduction by series artist Dave Gibbons. Ahead of the 2024 animated adaptation of Watchmen coming from DC Studios, it might be the perfect time to either re-read or discover for the first time the comic book series that started it all. The price has gone down to $16.96 from the usual $39.99 list price. That's a huge slash.

Watchmen is set in an alternate world "where the mere presence of American superheroes changed history, the US won the Vietnam War, Nixon is still president, and the cold war is in full effect." You might be familiar with Zack Snyder's divisive 2009 movie (I personally love it) and/or the excellent HBO sequel series released in 2019, but the graphic novel goes much deeper and simply hits different. It begins as a murder-mystery, but quickly turns into a planet-altering conspiracy. The odd group of heroes that includes Rorschach, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan, and Ozymandias must "test the limits of their convictions and ask themselves where the true line is between good and evil."

In the mid-80s, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created Watchmen and essentially remade how popular culture perceived comic books and graphic stories. Watchmen's sophisticated take on superheroes might explain why it's been acclaimed for decades, but its uncompromising take on North American politics and the late-20th-century society gave it a unique edge which is hard to forget.

Need more shopping ideas for the holidays? Check out our Marvel gift guide, Star Wars gift guide, One Piece gift guide, Naruto gift guide, Totoro gift guide, and our DC Comics gift guide for ideas for the most unique holiday gifts.