According to legend, DC won’t revert the rights of Watchmen to Alan Moore until they stop selling the book. I don’t know if that’s necessarily true, but I do know that DC has never ceased repackaging this graphic novel since its inception. There are so many different versions of this story in print, that I couldn’t even begin to list them all. Well, actually I could … I just don’t want to. Instead, I want to briefly touch on the multiple versions that are found on the wonderful DC Universe Infinite app.
If you download the app and sign up for the Ultra subscription (well worth the extra cost, in my opinion), and you do a search for Watchmen, you’ll find it broken down into three tabs: Issues, Volumes, and Omnibus. Under the Issues tab, you’ll be able to read the 12 individual issues of the story, but you’ll notice the first issue has the wrong cover. Instead of the yellow smiley face button sitting in a pool of blood, it’s the rather boring image you see above, taken from the only entry under the Volumes tab, the International Edition. Apparently this cover was used because DC doesn’t hold the trademark to the yellow smiley face outside the United States. They’re fine having it inside their books — just not on the covers.
Anyway, this International Edition came out in 2012 and — at least digitally — provides an identical reading experience to the individual issues. Both have the same colors that John Higgins updated in 2005. The images are crisp and clear, and all the original supplemental material is there. But that’s it. Nothing new. If you want something new, then you need to check out the Omnibus tab, which includes five options.
The Deluxe Edition came out in 2013. It includes a new forward from Dave Gibbons, plus 30 pages of concept art. It is pretty impressive to see the amount of work Gibbons put into the series long before he actually began drawing it. But the meat of the story is exactly the same — which isn’t a bad thing. DC very carefully and adeptly transferred this comic to the digital medium and doesn’t need to tinker with it anymore. I really do enjoy the Deluxe Edition, but I can’t stand the busy cover.
In 2016, DC released something rather unusual — a black-and-white version called Watchmen Noir. I didn’t think I’d enjoy this at first, but I surprisingly found myself drawn in. Much of the story actually does take on a new perspective when you only have the inks. Gibbons’ level of detail shows through even more — especially in Dr. Manhattan’s dramatic transformation scene, which was wisely chosen as the cover for this edition. But in some places, I am really missing Higgins’ colors. Most of Dr. Manhattan’s scenes are dull and lifeless without his glowing blue body or the eerie pink of Mars. And every scene of Nite Owl’s Archimedes lacked the punch that the beautiful color palette provided.
But my favorite part about Watchmen: Noir is how it is the only digital version available that has corrected the splash page of Adrian Veidt fighting his hired assassin. Every other version obstinately leaves in the printing margins in the middle of the page, which causes Adrian’s arms to not line up.
But Watchmen: Noir actually connected the center image to make it one fluid image, just as Gibbons and Moore had intended.
I’m really frustrated that DC didn’t do this for any of the colorized digital versions of Watchmen. It seems like an easy fix, but what do I know?
In 2017, DC took another bold choice with an Annotated Edition. This version features a new introduction by Gibbons, plus a lengthy introduction by the annotator of this volume, Leslie Klinger, in addition to a timeline in the back of everything that happens in Watchmen. The book is formatted with extra wide margins on the sides to include notes that heavily relied on interviews with Gibbons (Moore essentially stopped talking publicly about Watchmen after DC denied his pitch for a 12-issue prequel comic).
I object to this edition for three reasons:
No. 1: The book uses the same artwork from Watchmen: Noir. In my opinion, any attempt to conduct a thorough annotation of Watchmen is missing a key component if it ignores Higgins’ colors. He was the third storyteller of this tale, and his choices are worth exploring.
No. 2: The shape of the book is basically a square, due to its extra wide margins. This might be fine if I were holding the actual physical version of this edition, but digitally, it’s a complete mess. No matter which direction I turn my iPad, I can’t get a good view of the page. And zooming in only makes it harder to keep track of what you’re reading, as you can’t easily compare the corresponding panel to its notes. And heaven help you if a note on the left-hand page references a panel on the facing right-hand page! In a digital format, I declare this edition unreadable.
No. 3: I don’t like the idea of putting too much weight into every single little detail of this story. I think it over inflates the importance of some moments and risks presenting Watchmen almost as an infallible, religious text. I mean, Watchmen is very, very good — but it’s not perfect, by any means. And I don’t see much value in this exercise, beyond the occasional master’s thesis some poor graduate student would write.
In honor of the new HBO show, DC released yet another version of Watchmen in 2019. Simply called the 2019 Edition, this version is completely identical to the Deluxe Edition, down to Gibbons’ 2013 introduction. The only difference is the cover, which is vastly superior to the other versions. By doing an extreme closeup on the eye of the smiley face, DC found a way to artfully dodge the international trademark restrictions. It’s basically having your cake and eating it, too. I just wish they had taken this opportunity to fix that splash page for the digital version.
And so that is all the ways you can read the entire Watchmen story digitally. Most recently, in September 2026, DC released a WIP (Work In Progress) edition of Watchmen #1. I don’t know if DC finally resolved that smiley face trademark issue, or if they were able to get around it by keeping it black-and-white. Anyway, this comic includes a brand-new introduction by Gibbons (he is always happy to write these things!) and even more concept art that wasn’t included in the Deluxe Edition. The big selling point for this comic is the pages are all scans of the actual, finished pages Gibbons had inked before he sent them off to Higgins to be colored. Once again, I feel like this edition is wasted in a digital format, as the extra-large margins just make the artwork smaller on my iPad. I think I may need to break down and visit a comic shop to grab a physical copy of this to truly appreciate its intentions. But then again, I’d be sad that I’m missing out on Higgins’ colors.
I have heard that DC is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Watchmen by publishing facsimiles of each issue, which allegedly have all the same ads and the original colors. Obviously such a thing wouldn’t translate at all to a digital format, so I would definitely need to go visit a shop to check it out.
So yeah, there’s my brief recap of all the ways to read this story on your device. But I’m mostly interested in seeing how DC continues to adapt this story. After the poor reception to Before Watchmen, DC attempted something even bigger and more controversial — merging Watchmen with the main DC Universe continuity. Next time, I’ll cover how that began with DC Universe Rebirth.
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