Immerse yourself in the World of Watchmen.
The world in which the Watchmen live is pretty much the same world we live in with one exception: sometime in the 1940's, people started dressing up in funny costumes and fighting crime. None of these costumed adventurers had any powers until the arrival of Dr. Manhattan in the early 1960's. We'll get more in-depth with his story later. Thanks to Manhattan, the world has been dramatically altered: the United States won the Vietnam War, we've got electric cars and radically advanced technology. With a guy like Manhattan on our side, the US isn't just a super power, it's the super power. There isn't a whole lot you can threaten us with when we've got the superman on our side. Even though the presence of Dr. Manhattan has given the US the strategic advantage, it's still 1986 and the specter of nuclear holocaust looms in the world of the Watchmen just as it did in the real world.
At some point in the 1970's, the Keene Act was passed, outlawing costumed vigilantes. All but three have disappeared: The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan, who act as government operatives, and Rorschach, who still prowls the streets enacting his deadly brand of justice on the criminal fraternity.
Identify The Comedian:
Picture G. Gordon Liddy in a riot suit and a gimp mask you've pretty much got the Comedian. He's violent, cynical and nihilistic, but despite being generally unlikable and as Dr. Manhattan says, "deliberately amoral", The Comedian has actually got some pretty deep insights into the world around him. The Comedian usually gets his kicks by hurting people. He looks a lot like Burt Reynolds, only he's way more of a jerk and trained in army fighting tactics.
Watch out for Dr. Manhattan:
Scientist Jon Osterman was the son of a watchmaker who pushed him into studying physics. After being caught in an "intrinsic field subtractor"in 1959, he subsequently restructured his body from the ground up. Possessing a quantum consciousness, Dr. Manhattan doesn't view time in a linear fashion and he is the only character in the series with any sort of superpowers. And it isn't just that he can fly or see through walls; Manhattan can see time, space and matter on a subatomic level. For him, all time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on seeing one edge at a time, when in reality, the whole design is visible in every facet. Or to boil it down to layman's terms: he can pretty much do anything. He's kind of like a god, or like a cross between Mr. Spock and Neo from the Matrix, only he's blue and he walks around naked all the time. Along with the Comedian, Dr. Manhattan is a government operative and a major player in the game of human chess that is the Cold War.
Oggle Ozymandias. Ozymandias is allegedly the smartest man in the world. He draws his inspiration from Alexander the Great and, seeing the writing on the wall, retired from active superheroing several years before the passage of the Keene Act outlawed costumed vigilantism. Veidt then started his own company, aggressively marketing his image as a hero for a line of toys and a Saturday morning cartoon. As a result, Veidt possesses enormous wealth which he uses towards the betterment of mankind. He's got an Antarctic retreat and a genetically altered lynx and is one of the most famous men in the world. Adrian Veidt is looked upon with respect, admiration and awe by most, though some, such as Rorschach, view him as little more than a prostitute and a sell-out for his shameless self-promotion.
Spot Rorschach. A Moral absolutist and staunch nationalist, Rorschach is the only active vigilante in the series and the murder of Edward Blake sets the wheels of his paranoid mind into motion. He's convinced that someone is killing masked heroes and takes it upon himself to solve the crime before it goes too far.
The long way around is to say that he's a real world exploration of an archetypal character such as Batman: someone who is driven beyond driven by a sense of moral objectivity - a superhero for the Randian set. A vengeance filled vigilante who sees the world with a very black and white sense of morality and enforces a particularly brutal style of crime fighting. What would that type of superhero really be like if they existed in the real world?
Be on the look out for the Nite Owl. Inspired by Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl of the 1940's, Dan Dreiberg turned his love of ornithology and his technical savvy into a costumed identity and fights crime using a variety of owl-themed gadgets including a hoverbike and night vision goggles. While he is ostensibly based on the Blue Beetle, Nite Owl also bears a fair resemblance to Batman in terms of his modus operandi. All three are high-tech heroes with underground lairs. Nite Owl is the only one with a beer gut (not counting the Giffen/Dematteis Bwa-ha-ha era of the JLA which featured a rather robust Blue Beetle - perhaps inspired by Nite Owl?)
Nite Owl and Rorschach teamed together successfully in the 1970's, until the Keene Act forced Dan into retirement. Having been out of the hero business for some time, Dan has become soft, chubby and directionless. He remains close friends with his mentor, Hollis Mason and the two quite often get together to toss back a few beers and reminisce about old times. It isn't until he begins to take stock in Rorschach's "mask killer theory" that Dan finds purpose once again and resumes the mantle of Nite Owl.
Keep your eyes open for Silk Spectre. Laurie Juspeczyk's mother was the original Silk Spectre back in the '40s and she pushed her daughter into following in her footsteps, though Laurie's heart was never fully into it. Sally Jupiter (Laurie's mom) was the only costumed adventurer with the good sense to hire an agent and largely used her career as a promotional tool. It was during her ten-year tenure as a hero that Laurie met and fell in love with Dr. Manhattan.
Following the passing of the Keene Act, Laurie is begrudgingly kept on retainer by the United States government, presumably as a means of keeping their ultimate weapon calm, cool and collected. Dr. Manhattan, unlike the traditional nuclear bomb, has to get some action once in a while. As the story opens, Jon's increasing detachment with humanity is taking a toll on Laurie and she begins to become closer to Dan Dreiberg, aka Nite Owl.