Fine.  But I'm loathe to call them "sophisticated" because that carries the implication that if other stories do not emulate the techniques used in WATCHMEN they are, by default, not sophistcated.  In any event, there have been stories before WATCHMEN that were told with just as much "sophistication", for lack of a better word, and there have been stories after it as well.  WATCHMEN was not a first nor was it a last.

Ok so we have established that Moore loves comics and despairs of the industry. So much like our host then, no?

Sorry, Mr. Keane, that dog doesn't hunt. Perhaps you need to read and consider what Moore is saying.

Alan Moore says he loves the "comic medium". That doesn't necessarily equate to a love of comics in general, American comics in particular or super-hero comics in the specific.

Moreover, your attempt at moral equivalence between Alan Moore and John Byrne is laughable. Last time I looked, John Byrne wasn't slagging Stan Lee and his "two dimensional" creations. The underlying conceit of Moore's quote is that these characters did not become properly three dimensional until he arrived. It is a conceit, it seems, that can be expanded to the various cast members of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Lost Girls.

Conversely, Byrne's laments on the industry are what the current powers that be have allowed to be done to Lee's (and Kirby's, Ditko's et al) creations.

The key difference between these two artistic talents is a respect for the inheritence they've received.

Moore reminds me of a crash-test technician, who deliberately creates a wreck to see what can be learned from the experience. It would be one thing if the results were applied to create a higher quality product in the end, but I think he just likes the thrill of making things crash. And no doubt it generates an audience.

Robert LaGuardia wrote: Matt what are these books? Not being confrontational, I'd like to read them.

Pick up Eisner's THE SPIRIT.  Try the work of R. Crumb. Pick up just about any TPB of 100 BULLETS.  I'd put the elegant, deceptively simple BONE there as well.  Just a few.  I'll think of more.

"Ok so we have established that Moore loves comics and despairs of the industry. So much like our host then, no?"

I see definite similarities between the two and how they have described their perceptions.

Jim Muir wrote: Like Kane, Watchmen used a huge array of storytelling techniques and narrative devices not seen in one story before. Taken in isolation, any of these 'groundbreaking' techniques can be found in earlier comics/movies, but it's the sheer amount of them and attention to detail that I would argue had never been seen before. Or for that matter, since.

That is not "like Kane" at all.  CITIZEN KANE was not a mash up of techniques used in a wide variety of films which Wells then put into a single film.  The techniques used in KANE were done for the very first time in film.  That's why it's highly regarded and has been influential for more than 70 years.  That is not, at all, like WATCHMEN which was a mash up of techniques and storytelling not unique to comics in general.

Robert,

Just expanding on Matt Reed's list, I recommend the following:

• Will Eisner, The Spirit Archives, Volumes 1-26
• Will Eisner, A Contract With God
• Scott McLeod, Zot!
• Archie Goodwin and Gil Kane, His Name Is... Savage
• Archie Goodwin and Gill Kane, Blackmark
• Dave Sim, Cerebus
• Jim Starlin, Marvel Masterworks 119 Warlock Volume 2
• Jim Starlin, The Death of Captain Marvel