Is it? Not being snarky here -- but what makes WATCHMEN a "terrific story"?

I think too many creators try to make their mark by killing a character (usually one they didn't create). It strikes me as cheap. I can't remember anything about Kevin Smith's DAREDEVIL arc other than that Karen Page was killed. On the other hand, Frank Miller's Elektra storyline in DAREDEVIL stands out even without the death of Elektra (and in that case, Miller introduced the character and was the one who made us care about her).

It's incredibly short-sighted to kill a character because there are "no more stories left." If that's really the case, then write out the character. I remember when Stan Lee would have Aunt May off in Florida for an extended period.

When Kitty Pryde was introduced, about 5 years later, everybody hated her, too -- but this time the mail was all "Kill her! Kill her!" Nobody wanted Kitty to leave -- they wanter her dead.

Right on the money, Stephen. If that was the prevailing attitude in comics, Aunt May and Harry Osborn might never have been killed off (or Karen Page, for that matter).

I'm liking a lot of what Bruebakers is doing on Captain America, but like others the Bucky thing doesn't seem right. Not just bringing the character back but changing who he is and what motivates him. Not as the Winter Soldier, but as Bucky Barnes. Bucky was the cheerful kid sidekick nowhe's a black ops guy trained to do the "dirty work" a symbol like Captain America can't do. He was a kid who stumbled onto Steve Roger's secret and proved him self worthy not only to keep that secret, but to fight at Captain America's side. Now he's a guy assigned to Captain America by the government. Its part of the creeping "realism" that seems intent on sucking the fun and fanstasy out of superhero comics. Also gone is the father/son or at least big brother relationship between Cap and Buck. Now they seem to be just  partners of similar age.  

Once in a blue moon this approach can actually work -- Ditko's Blue Beetle, for instance, or Johnny Storm as the Human Torch -- but mostly… it's an approach best avoided.

Is it? Not being snarky here -- but what makes WATCHMEN a "terrific story"?

I'm not expert of literature, but I know what entertains me. I found all the characters interesting and believable, the plot held my interest the entire way thru, and the backstory and history for the character to be fascinating. I can't put my finger on why I love it, I could conjure up a bunch of nonsense about story structure and depth and symbolism, but I like it for the same reason I like anything else. I just do.

Watchmen is a graphic novel—a book-length comic book with ambitions above its station—starring a ragbag of bizarre, damaged, retired superheroes: the paunchy, melancholic Nite Owl; the raving doomsayer Rorschach; the blue, glowing, near-omnipotent, no-longer-human Doctor Manhattan. Though their heyday is past, these former crime-fighters are drawn back into action by the murder of a former teammate, The Comedian, which turns out to be the leading edge of a much wider, more disturbing conspiracy. Told with ruthless psychological realism, in fugal, overlapping plotlines and gorgeous, cinematic panels rich with repeating motifs, Watchmen is a heart-pounding, heartbreaking read and a watershed in the evolution of a young medium.—L.G.

That's from TIME's list of best English language novels from 1923 to the present.