Introduction: A Rorschach Test.

PART ONE: THE POLITICS OF POWER: WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN?

1 The Superman Exists, and He’s American: Morality in the Face of Absolute Power (Christopher Robichaud).

2 Can We Steer This Rudderless World? Kant, Rorschach, Retributivism, and Honor (Jacob M. Held).

3 Super-Vigilantes and the Keene Act (Tony Spanakos).

4 Superheroes and Supermen: Finding Nietzsche’s Übermensch in Watchmen (J. Keeping).

PART TWO: THE VEIDT PLAN: WATCHMEN AND ETHICS.

5 Means, Ends, and the Critique of Pure Superheroes (J. Robert Loftis).

6 The Virtues of Nite Owl’s Potbelly (Mark D. White).

7 Rorschach: When Telling the Truth Is Wrong (Alex Nuttall).

PART THREE: THE METAPHYSICS OF DR. MANHATTAN.

8 Dr. Manhattan, I Presume? (James DiGiovanna).

9 A Timely Encounter: Dr. Manhattan and Henri Bergson (Christopher M. Drohan).

10 Free Will and Foreknowledge: Does Jon Really Know What Laurie Will Do Next, and Can She Do Otherwise? (Arthur Ward).

11 I’m Just a Puppet Who Can See the Strings: Dr. Manhattan as a Stoic Sage (Andrew Terjesen).

PART FOUR: THIS IS NOT YOUR FATHER’S COMIC BOOK.

12 “Why Don’t You Go Read a Book or Something?” Watchmen as Literature (Aaron Meskin).

13 Watchwomen (Sarah Donovan and Nick Richardson).

14 Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis: The Ambiguously Gay Duo (Robert Arp).

15 What’s So Goddamned Funny? The Comedian and Rorschach on Life’s Way (Taneli Kukkonen).

CONTRIBUTORS: Who Writes about the Watchmen?

I N DEX: After the Masquerade.