You know, I had never heard of the Tulsa Riots - and I think something like 42 percent of Americans hadn't - until 'Watchmen' on HBO. And that's just crazy. I really saw how history is manipulated.

The male domination and chauvinism of the comics form is either being wittily lampooned in 'Watchmen' or handily perpetuated, depending on whom you ask.

The problem for me is that 'Watchmen,' one of the great comics of all time, is a look at superheroes that has gone beyond the concept of or necessity for superheroes.

Twenty years ago my parents wouldn't know who the X-Men were, and now everybody knows that stuff. It means that deconstruction of the superhero is something you can do. All those movies have led to a point where we can finally have 'Watchmen' with a Superman character who doesn't want to save the world and a Batman who has trouble in bed.

When I read 'Watchmen,' it changed my view of so many things. It was the first time I'd read a graphic novel really like that.

When i was at school I had an assessment to make a trailer for an apocalyptic/dystopian film. I did more research on graphic novels at the time and my teacher lent me the 'Watchmen' comics.

A 12-year-old can watch 'Spiderman.' A 12-year-old cannot watch 'Watchmen.'

I had always been fascinated by comics, but it had taken me several weeks to make up my mind to buy 'Watchmen'; for someone on a publisher's assistant's salary, it was some quite unheard-of sum of money.

I think with something like 'Watchmen' you can genuinely call that a graphic novel because it has the weight and the intent of a proper novel and it also is the complete story.

I think that, for me, Superman just seemed to make a lot of sense to me. After doing 'Watchmen,' it was - you know that thing, you've got to know the rules before you can break them? There was something about that in making 'Watchmen.'

Within the macho-melodrama tropes of the superhero genre, it's fair to say 'Watchmen' stands out for its rich entertainment, its darkness, and its lurid pleasures. Its vividly drawn panels, moody colors and lush imagery make its popularity well-deserved, if disproportionate.

I think, before 'Watchmen,' I was the guy from 'Grey's Anatomy' who's a pretty good guy, a pretty charming sweet guy, and so as an actor, I really wanted to do something as far from that as I could.

You know that moment in 'The Matrix' when Neo takes the red pill and is plunged into the real world? That's what it felt like when I first read 'Watchmen' - like someone was taking a can opener to my head to make room for Moore's audacious brilliance.

One of DC's strengths is our archive of storylines ranging from 'Watchmen' to 'Arkham Asylum' to 'Sandman.'

With the 'Watchmen' comic, we attempted to tell it in an accessible way. I deliberately made the artwork very clear, deceptively so. You think you're sucking on a sweetie, but it turns out to be a sugar-coated chili.

People unacquainted with graphic novels, including journalists, tend to think of 'Watchmen' as a book by Alan Moore that happens to have some illustrations. And that does a disservice to the entire form.

'Watchmen' is not only the greatest comic ever written, it's a really important work of fiction.

People always come up to me now and say, 'Watchmen' is the best superhero movie ever made.' I'm always saying 'That's super cool. That's nice of you to say.' But it happens now, more and more and more than it did when it first came out.

I believe that pop culture is just, like, so ready for 'Watchmen.' We tried so hard to ride that wave between satire and reality, and all the things that make you still care about the character, but you don't miss the commentary about them.

The work I'm doing on 'Watchmen' is mind bending and physically just hard.