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No, because the Watchmen characters went beyond being simple analogues. Since he wasn’t allowed to use the Charlton characters, Moore needed to flesh out his analogues giving them and their world added depth that the originals did not have.

Basically what Ralf said. Moore himself said it, too. It was a blessing not being constrained to them.

No idea who the Charlton characters were so it wouldn’t have affected the way I read it.

I think the actual characters themselves would probably have been ruined, because Captain Atom/The Question/Blue Beetle would never, ever have been able to go back to the monthly adventures of causing Armaggedon, slowly dying of cancer, and getting shot in the head.

I do think that Moore would have tried to at least value the responsibilty of using someone else’s characters, and not have been able to tell the same story he told.

I have to agree that no, Watchmen would not have been as effective…especially since, no matter how respectful he was towards the original characters, Moore would have received extensive criticism for “ruining” the Charlton characters.

I think it would still be a good story but not nearly as widely recognized as it is now. It would probably narrow the audience down a lot if it was a story in an existing superhero universe and maybe even in continuity.

Making the story completely self-reliant makes it a lot more accessible to a lot more readers.

Good? Certainly.
Well-respected as a defining example of the medium and industry? (or whatever fancy term the kids use to describe it with this week) maybe not.
It would take at least a couple years before people would just stop crying at the “ruin” of their favorite characters, at least.
BUT
I would imagine it would still be an enjoyable read.

Tough question…I personally think it would be better.
Now, I know this isn’t exactly a popular opinion, but what I felt lacked from Watchmen (for me anyway) was that I didn’t get a real sense of history from them. Moore worked their pasts into the story excellently, but I still felt something was missing. If he had used the Charlton characters and done exactly the same story it would’ve added an extra depth that I did not find (again, just me…I know most people don’t share this opinion).
It’s kind of like Golden Age. I originally read it without considering the elseworlds logo and it was awesome. It was still awesome with the elseworlds being considered but just not as…awe-inspiring. Still, that’s my opinion, and I stand by it.

If editorial/ marketing etc. stayed out of his way, I don’t think there would have been a huge difference.

No, because DC would have brought in another writer after issue 12 and kept the series going. They would have beaten it into the ground because it was succesful.

Curious Craigy asks…

What’s to stop DC doing Watchmen 2, now, with analogues of the modern iterations of the Charlton characters? Teenage cyborg Nite-Owl, gay ex-cop Rorschach (is Montoya a Randian thinker, like Vic Sage?), and…erm…whatever Captain Atom is, these days?

And just how hard would your head a’splode?

//\Oo/\\

I actually think it would have been better, having been a longtime fan of those Charleston comics…. not to mention the notion that relatively lightweight characters were being used in such a way would have been an incredible shock to my system. It could have been an Elseworlds story without causing any problems.

Well, Moore seemed to do OK with Marvel, um, Miracleman. I think it would’ve been different, but probably as good. Homer makes a good point as well about the shock value: Imagine Blue Beetle not being able to rise to the occasion with (I think it woulda been) Nightshade til he gets the goggles on.

im in the middle of The Watchmen and i have to say after reading this i can’t see the DC characters being the characters in the book. i mean the reality of it with those characters does not seem to meld well

I don’t think using the actual Charlton characters would have made Watchmen better or worse, but it would have made DC itself much worse, as every depraved thing the characters did in the miniseries would have become story fodder for future hacks for decades. Everytime DC has a brilliant edgy superhero hit, DC writers go out of their way to make the mainstream universe conform to that idea. For example the Mallah and Brain relationship seems to me something Morrison just wanted to do as a one-time only off the cuff gag, but Johns and Winick latched onto it and beat it into the ground. Around Infinite Crisis the powers that be beat the Animal Man metafiction angle Morrison did to death. After Dark Knight Returns, every writer tried to recreate the Batman/Superman relationship from that series over and over in the mainstream universe. After Kingdom Come, the whole annoying quasi-religious “Trinity” angle has been crammed down our throats nonstop. So if actual Charlton characters were used I can imagine how many stories we’d have been subjected to dealing with Blue Beetle’s impotence or Captain Atom’s cold detachment, etc.

I can’t see how it would have hurt. But all it would really have achieved is given a slight nod to what is essentially an obscure sect of superheroics. There’s enough of the original character concepts in there too make them recognizable to those “in the know” anyway, so the point is kind of moot.

Now, I know this isn’t exactly a popular opinion, but what I felt lacked from Watchmen (for me anyway) was that I didn’t get a real sense of history from them. Moore worked their pasts into the story excellently, but I still felt something was missing.

Yes! One of my biggest problems with “Watchmen” has been that the “heroic” part of everyone’s past is glossed over, taken as read. I’m not even sure why they were ever considered a “team”, since apparently they all got together only once to discuss being a team, and realized that it wouldn’t work and went their own ways. I could never feel like any of them had, at any point, really been “heroes”, even flawed ones.

Probably but it’d ruin the original characters for other creators to use. Even if they retcon it out. Sort of like Moore’s Swamp Thing which is awesome. But then you realize by the end of the story Moore made Swamp Thing into a god and there wasn’t much you could do with Swamp Thing after that.

I just want to add that I agree with every word of T.’s comment.

Why does that only seem to happen here?