Watchmen, man. One of the biggest names in comic books, and books in general. There is always that one piece of work, in every outlet of media and pop culture that completely changes how you view the world. Where your loyalties lie with the government, and your own beliefs. Everything you’ve ever known and believed is called into question once you read it. With regular novels, that particular piece of work was Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

With graphic novels, and comic books in general, it was Watchmen.

It really calls something into question: How far are you willing to go to save the world? Would you be willing to kill three million people, half of the then population of 1985 New York City, if it meant saving the rest of the world?

The series follows Rorschach, a psychotic vigilante in a world where Richard M. Nixon is still president and costumed heroes have been outlawed. During the course of the series, Rorschach finds one of the two heroes still working for the government, the Comedian, murdered. Then he believes he’s stumbled onto a plot to kill all of the world’s superheroes.

Eventually, his investigations lead him to find that Adrian Veidt(Ozymandias), a former hero, is responsible for the murder of the Comedian, who was merely an obstacle in Ozymandias’ main goal for world peace. Ozymandias explains:

During the start of his heroic career, Veidt realized that the United States and the Soviet Union were escalating in a never ending arms race that would eventually lead to the extinction of both parties.

He saw an opportunity to end it. To create never ending peace in the world:

He had to convince the world that it was under attack, and that the only way to save themselves would be to band together. To work together, like never before.

To do so, he created a monster cloned from the brain of a human psychic and teleported it to Times Square. It immediately exploded, taking half of New York with it.

When the Comedian found out about this plan, Veidt explained, he suffered a nervous breakdown.

“Imagine the perfect fighting man discovering a plot to put an end to war.”

It works, after all. The Soviet Union and United States disable their weapons and usher in a new age of never ending peace. But was it worth it? Do the ends justify the means? Who could possibly put themselves in a position to make this kind of a decision? Do they take it upon themselves to watch us? But if they watch us, who watches them? Who watches the Watchmen?