Hey, you say 'reading Watchmen'. You mean rereading, right?

Always had DCU connections, just less strongly as time went on. But look who shows up at the wake.

But Oh Yeah "24 Hours" stands out as one of the disturbing comic stories of all time.

No. Unfortunately, Dave I'm slow on the uptake.

But I was going to say, that I think that Sandman (and consequently Watchmen), is a story that requires multiple reads, due to the depth of the story. There will be things I've missed when all is said and done, and I'm OK with that. So I'm looking forward to reading it, and then going back, say in a year, and re-reading it.

Oh man, DV...I'd be lieing if I didn't say you just went down a notch

Just to check...you've read V for Vendetta, Dark Knight Returns, and Alan Moore Swamp Things right? Cause if not, I gotta send you holiday (non-denominational) presents.

As a side note, it's interesting that I didn't mention any Marvel titles, eh? I'm not a Marvel Zombie or a DC Zombie. I'm a Sequential Arts Zombie (nod to Eisner). ANd in the last 20 years, it's not to say Marvel hasn't had good stories, it's just that DC has done a better job of making keynote stories, IMNSHO.

Ok, flog me now.

DKR- Absolutley! Read it when it frist was published, and when I got back into comics, it was one of the first trades that I HAD to get. Up until I started reading Watchmen, DKR was seriously the best thing I'd ever read. Now the farther I get into Watchmen-it's clearly the best thing I've read, in terms of Maxi-series.

Swamp Thing- I'm afraid not. Never really was a fan. However, the more Alan Moore stuff I read, the more of his stuff I want to read. The Killing Joke, What Do you get for the Man who has Everything?, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, are all great stories that resonate something more than your typical super hero story. Watchmen, of course exceeds it all. So, I think that I have things like Swamp Thing, Supreme, Promethea, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Tom Strong have landed in the area of my radar.

V for Vendetta- It's on my short list Dave. In fact, it's waiting for me to pick up at my shop, being held in my box. I suspect that I'll probably end up picking it up this week, maybe as early as tomorrow.

The thing is, I've always been a mainstream reader. Hulk, Superman, Batman, the X-Men, and Spider-man really were the center of my comic experience growing up.

This year, I noticed that while I still enjoyed those characters and their stories, I wanted to experience more thought-provoking reads. Over the last four years (aside from spending time fighting with one-sided zealots, because of their ignorance), one thing that I've seen is constant discussion around titles that seemed to have the profoundness, that I was looking for from the medium.

When the $0.25 Sandman preview special was released about two months ago, I took a chance, on it. I generally do get those when they come out, if for nothing else, just to get a taste of something a bit different from what I normally read- the mainstream reads. The special reprinted the first issue of Gaiman's series, and I wanted to see where the story lead to. So I went and got the first trade, and got hooked.

I'm someone who likes to have a comic to read at all times, so having old stories in trade lying around is a plus. Getting the right ones, is the challenge!

The more I look at what people consider the best the medium has to offer; the more I find that your words ring true. Generally, I see Essential Spider-Man mentioned, as well as Marvels, but never in the same breath, nor with the same level of importance nor with the same level of resonance of things like Wathcmen, V for Vendetta, Kingdom Come, Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, and Sandman. Of course, in this regard, it seems like Moore has created half of the things people mention, and so a lot of "Indy" stuff is mentioned as well.

And that is every Wednesday I sit down with my stack and thank god that he gave us Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Karen Berger and what eventually would become Vertigo comics. If it weren't for those, I don't think I'd have ever given the medium a second glance.

You know, I've reconsidered my words (a little) and I'd like to mention Marvel for Earth X and the Ultimates.

Funny thing to me, I've always enjoyed the slightly less than mainstream heroes. I'd take the Defenders over the Avengers, Green Arrow over Batman, etc

DV, if I might, hunt down Astro City, Nexus, and Starman. All superb reads. And if you like Alan Moore (prolly my all time fave), his Supreme was Superman done right. Find it, read it, sit back and read it again. Love it. I'll reiterate Astrocity. It rocks!

I never read the Watchmen yet.

Is too much! too much words! I try to read the first # and in english in just to much for me. I will read it someday. just not now.

I've never found Earth X to interest me. I might breakdown and read it someday, but it's not at the top of my list. Ultimates, to me was ok. Ultimates 2 has been far better, although delayed way too much.

I've been looking at Astro City. Not sure where I want to go with that just yet. As I don't know anyone that reads it locally, I can't borrow it to give it a try before buying it. Of course, when something piques my interest.....

You know I really envy you right now. The 4th Sandman trade is one of my favorite trades in the series and you get to read it for the first time.

You are right about Sandman being some thing that should be read several time through. After all some things that are set up in early trades dont pay off until the last one and it's nice after you know the story to go back and uncover more.