But with the March 6 release date now set in stone, the movie is an almost-certain blockbuster, even if early reviews have been mixed. And the growing buzz has reflected back on the book also, which saw sales skyrocket after the first “Watchmen” movie trailer came out last year. How well do you know Moore and Gibbons’ groundbreaking superhero tale? Take our quiz and find out.",""); Watchmen_quiz.headHeight = 40; Watchmen_quiz.copyMargin = 9; Watchmen_quiz.copyBorder = 0; Watchmen_quiz[1] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[1][0] = new Array("One reason Alan Moore dislikes having his comics turned into movies is that so many of the subsequent adaptations have been terrible — nevertheless, his work has been filmed repeatedly despite his objections. Which of the following films is NOT based on an Alan Moore story?"); Watchmen_quiz[1].answer = "The correct answer is A, “Swamp Thing.” Although it was one of Moore’s most heralded works in comics, completely reimagining DC Comics’ bog-dwelling plant creature in a way that set the template on updating superheroes for years to come, the 1982 movie was based on the original version of the character as created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson, and came out before Moore’s run on the series, which began in 1984."; Watchmen_quiz[1][1] = new Array("A. “Swamp Thing” ",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[1][2] = new Array("B. “V For Vendetta”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[1][3] = new Array("C. “From Hell”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[1][4] = new Array("D. “The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[2] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[2][0] = new Array("The original concept for “Watchmen” was that it would be the new adventures of a group of comic-book characters which DC Comics had recently bought from another publisher that had gone bankrupt. Eventually, DC became leery of changing those characters too much, and asked Moore to recast the story with new ones of his own invention. He did so, though most of them are still recognizably inspired by the characters from that first draft. What company and which characters are we talking about?"); Watchmen_quiz[2].answer = "The correct answer is A. Charlton’s Captain Atom became Dr. Manhattan; Peacemaker became the Comedian, Blue Beetle became Nite Owl, and The Question became Rorschach. Rorschach’s boyhood orphanage, the Lillian Charlton Home For Problem Children, is a nod to the original publisher. (To see what the Peanuts gang would look like as Watchmen, click here."; Watchmen_quiz[2][1] = new Array("A. Charlton Comics’ Captain Atom, Peacemaker, The Question and Blue Beetle",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[2][2] = new Array("B. Archie Comics’ Archie, Jughead, Reggie and Mr. Weatherbee",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[2][3] = new Array("C. Marvel Comics’ Hulk, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange and Ghost Rider",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[2][4] = new Array("D. Disney’s Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Louie and Dewey",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[3] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[3][0] = new Array("And to follow up on the previous question: Which member of the “Watchmen” heroes was not based on a specific earlier character?"); Watchmen_quiz[3].answer = "The correct answer is B, Silk Spectre. She was included to give the story some gender equity, as Moore didn’t want to write only about male characters."; Watchmen_quiz[3][1] = new Array("A. Rorschach",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[3][2] = new Array("B. Silk Spectre",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[3][3] = new Array("C. The Comedian",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[3][4] = new Array("D. Dr. Manhattan",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[4] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[4][0] = new Array("Several years after writing “Watchmen,” what religion did Alan Moore convert to?"); Watchmen_quiz[4].answer = "The correct answer is C, he’s a pagan worshipper of the Roman snake god Glycon, who is actually a sock puppet in the form of a snake. Seriously. No, seriously. Moore explained: “Most people get to 40 and have a midlife crisis, and that’s just boring ... I thought it might be at least more entertaining to go spectacularly mad and start worshipping a snake and declaring myself to be a magician. It’s been immense fun. And, more than fun, it’s been illuminating.”"; Watchmen_quiz[4][1] = new Array("A. Presbyterianism",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[4][2] = new Array("B. Judaism",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[4][3] = new Array("C. Pagan worship of the Roman snake god Glycon, who is actually a sock puppet in the form of a snake",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[4][4] = new Array("D. Lutheranism",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[5] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[5][0] = new Array("The clock on the covers of the “Watchmen” comic book counts steadily down to midnight, moving the minute hand once each of the 12 issues. This is a reference to the Doomsday Clock maintained by the academic journal “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,” which keeps track of global politics and approximates how close the world is to nuclear war. Since 2007, what time has that clock shown?"); Watchmen_quiz[5].answer = "The correct answer is A, five minutes to midnight. The clock was closest to “midnight,” aka apocalypse, in 1953 after the U.S. and Russia both developed the hydrogen bomb, and furthest from it in 1991 with the end of the Cold War."; Watchmen_quiz[5][1] = new Array("A. Five minutes to midnight",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[5][2] = new Array("B. 10 minutes to midnight",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[5][3] = new Array("C. Two minutes to midnight",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[5][4] = new Array("D. 17 minutes to midnight",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[6] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[6][0] = new Array("Just before the 12-issue comic series came to its conclusion, Moore realized that his ending was similar to that of “The Architects Of Fear,” an episode of a popular science-fiction TV series. He acknowledged this with a reference to the episode in the final issue. What TV series was “The Architects Of Fear” from? "); Watchmen_quiz[6].answer = "The correct answer is B, “The Outer Limits.” "; Watchmen_quiz[6][1] = new Array("A. “The Twilight Zone”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[6][2] = new Array("B. “The Outer Limits”",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[6][3] = new Array("C. “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[6][4] = new Array("D. “Star Trek”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[7] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[7][0] = new Array("“Watchmen” is not only a superhero story, it’s an alternate-history tale, exploring the changes that might have occurred in our world if superheroes had actually existed. Some of those changes are profound: In the “Watchmen” world, the U.S. won the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon served four consecutive terms as president. Others are not so profound. For instance: In our world, the slogan of the Heinz tomato sauce company is “57 Varieties.” What is it in “Watchmen”?"); Watchmen_quiz[7].answer = "The correct answer is C, “58 Varieties.”"; Watchmen_quiz[7][1] = new Array("A. “One Variety”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[7][2] = new Array("B. “50 Varieties”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[7][3] = new Array("C. “58 Varieties”",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[7][4] = new Array("D. “1,000,000 Varieties”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[8] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[8][0] = new Array("One of the groundbreaking achievements of the “Watchmen” comics was Moore and artist Dave Gibbons’ painstaking and innovative use of the design of the nine-panel comics page. One example is the fifth chapter, “Fearful Symmetry,” which is notable for what unusual stylistic choice?"); Watchmen_quiz[8].answer = "The correct answer is D, the entire chapter is laid out as a mirror image. That is, the panel layouts on the first page are the reverse of the last page. The content in the panels isn’t necessarily always directly related to its mirror, but often there is a visual connection."; Watchmen_quiz[8][1] = new Array("A. It uses only the colors black, blue and green",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[8][2] = new Array("B. Every line of dialogue is an anagram of another line elsewhere in the issue",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[8][3] = new Array("C. The pages can be separated and read in any order, with different combinations revealing different aspects of the story",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[8][4] = new Array("D. The entire chapter is laid out as a mirror image",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[9] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[9][0] = new Array("One of the “Watchmen” heroes, Rorschach, is a paranoid conspiracy theorist who lives on the margins of society. He scrupulously keeps a journal of his thoughts and activities as he fights criminals and (as he calls them) “vermin” on the New York streets. The journal entry that Moore uses as the opening sentences of the story is very similar to a famous scene in which Martin Scorsese movie in which a similarly deranged, self-appointed “hero” decides to clean up New York?"); Watchmen_quiz[9].answer = "The correct answer is C, “Taxi Driver.” Rorschach says, “The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown.” Robert De Niro, playing Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver,” says, “Some day a real rain’ll come and wash all this scum off the streets.”"; Watchmen_quiz[9][1] = new Array("A. “GoodFellas”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[9][2] = new Array("B. “Mean Streets”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[9][3] = new Array("C. “Taxi Driver”",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[9][4] = new Array("D. “The Last Temptation Of Christ”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[10] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[10][0] = new Array("Dr. Manhattan, who has the ability to reorganize matter at the atomic level with his mind, began life as an ordinary physicist before getting accidentally caught in the nuclear experiment that gave him his powers. We learn in the fourth chapter of the book that he first planned to take up his father’s profession — a profession also shared by the villain Sylar on the NBC show “Heroes.” What is that career, which is also the title of the fourth chapter?"); Watchmen_quiz[10].answer = "The correct answer is A, watchmaker. Moore uses the idea of a watchmaker to explore issues of fate, free will and predestination."; Watchmen_quiz[10][1] = new Array("A. Watchmaker",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[10][2] = new Array("B. Professional wrestler",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[10][3] = new Array("C. Circus clown",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[10][4] = new Array("D. Farmer",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[11] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[11][0] = new Array("Over time, Dr. Manhattan’s great power makes him touch with his humanity — the most obvious sign of this, perhaps, is his gradual decision to go without clothing. Long before that happens, though, when he’s just starting out as a government-controlled operative, the military gives him a specially designed uniform that includes a helmet with the familiar symbol for atomic power on it — the one that shows the paths of three electrons as they orbit an atomic nucleus. Manhattan disapproves, calling the symbol “meaningless,” and tattoos a different symbol directly onto his own forehead. What symbol does he use instead?"); Watchmen_quiz[11].answer = "The correct answer is A, a hydrogen atom. Silk Spectre’s mother later disparagingly refers to him as a living H-bomb."; Watchmen_quiz[11][1] = new Array("A. A hydrogen atom",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[11][2] = new Array("B. A mushroom cloud",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[11][3] = new Array("C. The alchemical symbol for the Earth",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[11][4] = new Array("D. A picture of his mother",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[12] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[12][0] = new Array("Dr. Manhattan experiences time in a non-linear fashion, not progressing forward from second to second as other humans do, but seeing a moment in 1959 simultaneously with one in 1985. In this, he is most similar to the main character of which literary novel?"); Watchmen_quiz[12].answer = "The correct answer is C, “Slaughterhouse-Five.” The first line of Kurt Vonnegut’s masterwork is “Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time,” and tells the story of a man whose consciousness darts back and forth randomly between different periods of his own life."; Watchmen_quiz[12][1] = new Array("A. “For Whom The Bell Tolls”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[12][2] = new Array("B. “Remembrance Of Things Past”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[12][3] = new Array("C. “Slaughterhouse-Five”",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[12][4] = new Array("D. “Naked Lunch”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[13] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[13][0] = new Array("After Rorschach breaks into his apartment, Nite Owl is forced to hire a locksmith from the Gordian Knot company to repair the door — which is just one reference in “Watchmen” to the fabled knot, which has come to be shorthand to mean a problem with no apparent answer but which actually has an unexpected solution. It comes from a legendary story about a deviously complex knotted rope solved by which future world conqueror, who not coincidentally was a childhood hero of “Watchmen” character Ozymandias?"); Watchmen_quiz[13].answer = "The correct answer is B, Alexander. The solution? Cut the knot in half with his sword."; Watchmen_quiz[13][1] = new Array("A. Julius Caesar",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[13][2] = new Array("B. Alexander",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[13][3] = new Array("C. Genghis Khan",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[13][4] = new Array("D. Bill Gates",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[14] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[14][0] = new Array("Since the world of “Watchmen” has real superheroes in it, it makes sense that superhero comics are not as popular as they are here. What kind of comic book dominates instead?"); Watchmen_quiz[14].answer = "The correct answer is B, pirate stories. One of them, “Tales Of The Black Freighter,” forms one of the subplots of “Watchmen.”"; Watchmen_quiz[14][1] = new Array("A. Horror stories",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[14][2] = new Array("B. Pirate stories",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[14][3] = new Array("C. Romances",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[14][4] = new Array("D. Jack Chick tracts",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[15] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[15][0] = new Array("The name of super-genius Ozymandias is a reference to a poem by what author?"); Watchmen_quiz[15].answer = "The correct answer is D, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Fitting with Ozymandias’ obsession with Egypt, the poem tells of a shattered statue deep in the desert of a long-abandoned ancient kingdom."; Watchmen_quiz[15][1] = new Array("A. William Butler Yeats",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[15][2] = new Array("B. Bob Dylan",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[15][3] = new Array("C. William Shakespeare",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[15][4] = new Array("D. Percy Bysshe Shelley",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[16] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[16][0] = new Array("Nite Owl is basically the “Watchmen” version of Batman, a rich dilettante fighting crime with all manner of inventions and gadgets including his “owlship” — his version of the Batmobile, a flying vessel of his own design he sometimes calls “Archie.” What does Nite Owl say inspired the name? "); Watchmen_quiz[16].answer = "The correct answer is D, Merlin’s owl. Moore may also have been thinking about Archimedes the owl’s own namesake, the ancient Greek mathematician and inventor who was famous for building amazingly complex machines, much as Nite Owl does."; Watchmen_quiz[16][1] = new Array("A. It’s a reference to Archie Bunker from “All In The Family,” his favorite 1970s sitcom",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[16][2] = new Array("B. It's a play on words for “R.G.,” which is short for “Raptor-Shaped Ground-To-Air Ship”",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[16][3] = new Array("C. It’s named after Archibald Wright, the little known third Wright Brother who invented the concept of in-flight movies",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[16][4] = new Array("D. It’s short for “Archimedes,” Merlin the wizard’s owl companion in the King Arthur stories",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[17] = new Array(); Watchmen_quiz[17][0] = new Array("Rorschach’s mask shifts its black-and-white pattern constantly, forming an endless series of new mirror-image blots like the psychiatric test from which the character takes his name. The character he’s based on, The Question, has a similarly unusual mask. How so?"); Watchmen_quiz[17].answer = "The correct answer is A, it’s a blank human face with no eyes, nose, or mouth."; Watchmen_quiz[17][1] = new Array("A. It’s a blank human face with no eyes, nose or mouth.",'',1); Watchmen_quiz[17][2] = new Array("B. It takes the shape of whoever the Question is thinking about at the time",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[17][3] = new Array("C. It’s Abraham Lincoln’s face",'',0); Watchmen_quiz[17][4] = new Array("D. The eyes are covered by large green question marks",'',0); Watchmen_quiz.profiles = new Array();var i=0; Watchmen_quiz.profiles[i++]= new Array(99,100,"All correct. Consider this your doctorate in Dr. Manhattan studies. "); Watchmen_quiz.profiles[i++]= new Array(66,98,"Mostly correct. Only Ozymandias himself could have done better. Also, people who got the other questions right. "); Watchmen_quiz.profiles[i++]= new Array(41,65,"So-so. Maybe you should take some evening classes in Nite Owl school. "); Watchmen_quiz.profiles[i++]= new Array(6,40,"Not Very Good. Who watches the watchmen? Evidently not you. "); Watchmen_quiz.profiles[i++]= new Array(0,5,"Terrible. You must be The Comedian, because your score is a joke. "); // END editorial data