Watching Time: The Unauthorized Watchmen Chronology

In 1986, the comic-book world experienced a profound paradigm shift, thanks to writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons. Gone were the long-held notions that crime-fighters always did the morally right thing for the intellectually right reason, that heroes and villains were rigidly defined constants, that good always prevailed over evil, and that happy endings were a foregone conclusion. In their place, there was Watchmen.

With DC Comics soon to bring Watchmen’s characters into its mainstream continuity, and with a Watchmen TV show reportedly in the works, it’s time to reexamine all that has come before. Watching Time: The Unauthorized Watchmen Chronology contains:

• A detailed history encapsulating every known event from all corners of the Watchmen franchise, including not only the better-known tales, but also viral videos and websites, trading cards, unproduced scripts, and other ancillary sources.

• A mini-”crimeline” summarizing the crimes and heroics of masked crime-fighters and supervillains throughout Watchmen history.

• A foreword by noted comic book guru Brian Cronin, whose thousands of meticulously researched articles have enthralled comics fans for years.

• A nostalgic essay by Duy Tano, creator of the popular blog The Comics Cube, explaining why Watchmen is simultaneously dated and timeless.

• And a gallery showcasing nearly 250 covers from the Watchmen comics, trade-paperback collections, DVDs, Blu-rays, reference books, and video games.

Designed both for fans new to Watchmen and for those who can identify Hooded Justice’s parents, Ozymandias’s four islands, Silk Spectre’s favorite crooner, Mothman’s family butler, and Rorschach’s breakfast food of choice, Watching Time tells you everything you need to know about the history and characters of Alan Moore’s Hugo Award-winning epic.

Rich Handley, a cofounder of Hasslein Books, is the author or co-author of Timeline of the Planet of the Apes: The Definitive Chronology, Lexicon of the Planet of the Apes: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia, Back in Time: The Back to the Future Chronology, A Matter of Time: The Back to the Future Lexicon, and the novel Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes.

Rich co-edited and contributed to Planet of the Apes: Tales From the Forbidden Zone, a short fiction anthology to be published in 2017 by Titan Books, as well as five Sequart essay anthologies to date-The Sacred Scrolls: Comics on the Planet of the Apes; Bright Eyes, Ape City: Examining the Planet of the Apes Mythos; A Long Time Ago: Exploring the Star Wars Cinematic Universe; A Galaxy Far, Far Away: Exploring Star Wars Comics; and A More Civilized Age: Exploring the Star Wars Expanded Universe. In addition, he has penned essays for IDWs five Star Trek comic strip reprint hardcovers, Sequart's New Life and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics and The Cyberpunk Nexus: Exploring the Blade Runner Universe, and ATB Publishing's Outside In Boldly Goes.

Rich has also contributed to numerous magazines and websites, including StarTrek.com, StarWars.com, Star Trek Communicator, Star Trek Magazine, Cinefantastique, Cinescape, Movie Magic, Dungeon/Polyhedron, and various Lucasfilm Star Wars licensees. By day, he is the managing editor of RFID Journal and IOT Journal magazines.