2 Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons first editions are documented on this shelf, from Watchmen #1 (comic) (1986) to Watchmen (1987). Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.

Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

Watchmen #1 (comic) — 1986 · DC ComicsFirst issue of the twelve-part maxi-series, cover-dated September 1986, with a the printed price cover price (not the printed price). The first print direct-market edition carries the DC logo box in the lower-left cover corner; newsstand copies carry a UPC barcode instead. The indicia shows no reprint or later-printing notation. As a direct-market maxi-series of this era, the original single issues were generally…. True first appearance of Rorschach, the Comedian, Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl II, Silk Spectre and Ozymandias. The serialized issues precede the 1987 collected trade paperback. Both direct and newsstand states exist; grade (white pages, sharp corners) drives desirability far more than the direct/newsstand distinction. No book-club issue. Beware later DC reprint printings of the single issue and recolored editions; the original carries the 1986 indicia and the printed price cover price.
Watchmen — 1987 · DC ComicsTrue first is the DC softcover trade (collecting the 1986–87 twelve-issue maxi-series), with the printed cover price, ISBN 0-930289-23-4, the 'bloody smiley / broken window' cover, and a stated first printing with a number line ending in 1. Early printings carry no UPC barcode block. 448 pages, full color. The DC US trade is the recognized true first edition of the collected work. The individual comic Watchmen #1 (DC, Sept. 1986) is the true first appearance in serial form. A UK Titan Books edition and later DC printings follow the DC first. No book-club edition per se; distinguish the first printing from the many later DC/Titan reprints by the clean number line ending in 1 and the absence of any 'second printing' or later notation. 'Absolute Watchmen' (2005 oversized slipcase) and recolored editions are not the first.

More Comics & Graphic Novels shelves: Alison Bechdel, Art Spiegelman, Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples, Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra, Chris Ware, Craig Thompson.

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