I liked the graphic novel. I even liked the 2006 movie. I did not, however, read the unauthorized (by Alan Moore, anyway) sequel comics, nor did I rush to watch the HBO miniseries when it came out. Now, I finally decided to give the series a try.

It's dark. It's moody. It's creepy and, at times, surreal. Although it picks up some visual cues from the 2009 film, it is more conceptually in line with Moore's original story, first published in 1986.

It's not great. But it's very, very good. And it's deeply, darkly thought-provoking.

The world of Watchmen is a world where superheroes are, still, illegal, and police go masked to protect their identities from violent gangs based on equal parts Rorschach -- a masked vigilante and pivotal character from the original storyline -- and the Ku Klux Klan. Dipping heavily into the real, often untold history of the Tulsa race massacre of 1921, the series tells an uncomfortable story of race relations today -- in a reality that's far different from ours and yet, in ways, very much the same.

The series stars Regina King as Angela Abar, a masked cop who goes by the name Sister Night. She fights crime alongside a host of uniformed, yellow-masked police officers and other costumed crimefighters of questionable morals, most notably the Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson), himself a survivor of the "giant squid" attack at the climax of Moore's story.

The plot, in Watchmen-like fashion, rarely unfolds in a straightforward or linear fashion. And it jumps around among characters who only at times seem to be in the same story.

In one plot thread, you have Sister Night and Looking Glass investigating the murder of their chief, Judd Crawford (Don Johnson). In another, you have Will Reeves, who as a young boy (Danny Boyd Jr.) survived the Tulsa massacre, as an adult (Jovan Adepo) became a New York City police officer and, after a failed lynching attempt, the first masked vigilante Hooded Justice, and as an old man (Louis Gossett Jr.) pulls some of the strings that bring Abar -- his granddaughter, it turns out -- into a deeper mystery. Entwined in their stories are Cyclops and the Seventh Kavalry, two violent white supremacy groups, the latter of which draws inspiration from a misinterpreted view of Rorschach's writings.

A separate thread revolves around Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons), also known as the old-school vigilante Ozymandias, who in the original Watchmen story orchestrated a cataclysmic event that killed millions of people in order to save the world from nuclear annihilation. He appears at first to be living in secret in the English countryside, attended by the repeatedly disposable staff of Phillips and Crookshanks (Tom Mison and Sara Vickers). Lady Trieu (Hong Chau) is a brilliant scientist building a mysterious clock, and whose origins are best revealed in their own time in the series.

Laurie Blake (Jean Smart), an FBI agent and former vigilante known as the second Silk Spectre, who comes to Tulsa looking for answers. And then you have Cal Abar (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), Angela's husband with a whole lot more backstory than his initial appearances would suggest. Oh, and Dr. Manhattan ... but no, that, too should be revealed in due course.

It's a complex story, layers within layers, with complex questions of moral ambiguity and motivations that only gradually become clear. There's some top-notch storytelling going on here, and the creators of this series deserve a lot of credit -- as do the actors who brought it to life. Regina King in particular does a great job with a challenging script.

I've heard complaints about the series, mostly from people who either 1) think it's untrue to Alan Moore's vision, or 2) think it's too "woke" for its own good. I disagree with both criticisms. Moore's involvement, of course, would likely have been welcomed with open arms had he chosen to be involved in the series but, of course, he doesn't like anyone playing with his toys. As for being "woke," that's a complaint used by people -- usually wearing red caps, it seems -- whenever women or non-white people are shown in a positive light. Such complaints are usually without merit and are usually best dismissed without debate.

The series is certainly at times uncomfortable to watch, particularly scenes set during the Tulsa massacre and the blatant racism of hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan. And they should be uncomfortable, it's a part of American history that people often don't like to discuss or even admit was real. Couching those issues in a comic-book narrative doesn't diminish them; it simply tells the story in a different way.

Watchmen is for adults, without question, and on the surface it's an intricately plotted, well-told comic-book adventure. Do with the social commentary what you will.