The Watchmen by Alan Moore

At Headlines, World Book Day holds a special place in our hearts because telling great stories is what we’re passionate about.  

This year, we asked the team to tell us about their favourite book, poem or piece of writing. From sports gossip to seminal graphic novels – we’ve got eclectic taste! 

Read on ... and you never know, you might find your next book suggestion.

Peter Handford – Managing Director

What is your favourite thing to read?

The Watchmen by Alan Moore. It’s a bit of an obvious one and most people will have heard of it! But if you haven’t, then it’s a story about morally questionable superheroes trying to stop World War 3.

Why is The Watchmen your favourite?

I liked to read superhero comics as a kid, the obvious ones like Batman and Spiderman,  but when I was 11 I came across my older brother’s comic book stash, which were for older readers and had much more mature content. The fact they were forbidden meant, of course, I wanted to read them! After much nagging, I eventually got The Watchmen for Christmas. I was far too young really, and although I loved it, I never properly understood it until I was much older.

What drew you in initially?

The front covers! It was originally released in 12 issues and each one had an amazing cover that was beautiful but also mysterious, which is why I kept wanting to read what was inside.

Once I started reading them, the dark and unusual story kept me coming back for more, because I’d never seen superheroes done like this before.

What does it make you think about or feel?

As I am a writer myself I find Alan Moore’s work both intimidating (I can’t write anything that good) and inspirational at the same time. He takes a one-dimensional subject like superheroes and twists it to be unique and feel fresh again. You feel like you could never write something that good, but it inspires you to try anyway!