This probably isn't good. Watchmen was, regardless of your opinion on it, very well crafted as a narrative. Almost every panel had some subtext to it that was often conveyed not just by dialogue, but by things like character postures, expressions, props, things in the background, etc, rather than existing simply to move the plot forward. It's still unique in the superhero genre for treating its subject matter seriously rather than making yet another power fantasy.* I think a big part of the reason why it worked was because it examined how the types of personalities who might be drawn to putting on a cape and fighting crime might actually interact, including the fact that a superhero group would likely fall apart due to ideological differences and major personality clashes (you'd probably have to be pretty full of yourself to put on a costume and make a big name for yourself to fight crime rather than to, say, become a cop).
Your probably right, but I never felt that drawn into it or even notice the subtext. The characters mostly left me cold and frankly didn't care much to what happened to them. I didn't care about Dr. Manhattan or his story; Ozymandias I hated, especially considering how much he felt like a Gary Stu at some points; when I found out more about the Comedian, I was completely happy he was murdered and I never changed my mind about it; I never felt Silk Spector II was ever fully fleshed out enough to care for; and with Nite Owl II, I barely remember he was even in it. The only people I sort of liked were Rorschach (not all that much mind you) and the first Nite Owl, but he was killed off in a very unsatisfying way that really did nothing for this plot.
I liked the mystery element to it, but once it was over, there was nothing left for me. I wasn't really interested in the politics happening or growing tensions between the US and Soviet Union (Maybe if I was alive during that time, it would mean more to me?). The Tales of the Black Freighter felt strangely weird and outplace in the main story, even if I do have a bit of understanding for why it is there. Finally, the biggest problems for me with this comic is that I felt unsatsified with it, especially with the ending, and to me, it was largely forgettable. I had to look up a couple of things just to remind myself what happened in this comic.
It's not that I don't like a complex or well written story with lots of subtext and several levels to it. I love The Unwritten, 20th Century Boys, Monster, Sweet Tooth, and to sum extent, Phoenix. Watchmen just does nothing for me and feels empty, like Neil Gaiman's Sandman or Blade Runner for instance.
On the plus side, it didn't leave me angry after reading it like the MW. That was like watching an engaging movie with deep and interesting ideas, but suddenly, a lot of the time, someone puts in scenes from The Human Centipede, Saw, and a gay porno flick to try to make a point about something. It's shock value and overall pointlessness overrides anything of substance the piece could have.
Back to these Watchmen prequels, like I said before, some of them sound interesting to me. Brian Azzarello and Darwyn Cooke could be just the right writers to me to make me actually care about these characters and story.