‘Watchmen’

By Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Published in 1986 and 1987, the graphic novel series “Watchmen” portrays an alternate reality in which superheroes are battling existential demons and the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon’s presidency took different turns.

In a 2005 review, Dave Itzkoff called “Watchmen” prescient, writing: “The symmetry between current events and the conclusion of its story, concerning a villain who believes he can stave off real war by distracting the populace with a trumped-up one, and an act of mass murder perpetrated in the heart of New York City, is almost too fearful to bear.”

“Watchmen” has been rendered onscreen before, in a 2009 film adaptation directed by Zack Snyder that garnered mixed reviews. The Times’s co-chief film critic A.O. Scott described it as “more curiosity than provocation, an artifact of a faded world brought to zombie half-life by the cinematic technology of the present.”

Now HBO is taking a crack at it as a TV show. The showrunner, Damon Lindelof, posted a letter on Instagram to “Watchmen” fans, calling the series a “remix” rather than a direct adaptation of Alan Moore’s work and calling himself “a true fan, too.” In the letter, Lindelof says viewers can expect new characters, different perspectives and a new setting in present-day Oklahoma.