Watchmen manga variant? It’s almost like asking what is the apple variant of a spaceship? :looney: Hmm lemme try…
Well if you like the political aspects of Watchmen, then you should most def read Lone Wolf And Club. It’s a classic all on its own so in that regard it’s up there with Watchmen. The US edition of Wolf And Club even won an Eisner Award IIRC. There’s lots of political things here and there though it’s about Japan in the feudal / samurai era. Also the subject matter is very adult and serious.
Eagle is another one that you should look into. It’s a story about a Japanese man becoming the President of the United States.
Golgo 13 is a fun one. It’s not presented in the order the stories came out (Golgo 13 has gone on for about 30 years) though he gets involved with Nelson Mandela, Clinton, JFK, Saddam Husein and plenty more. It works in real time even though Golgo 13 never ages, but no one knows exactly why. He’s impregnated women - in the manga, not in flashbacks - and their kids have grown up to be adults - in the manga! LOL! Duke Toga’s the man! :rock:
If you are looking for stuff that will make you excercise your brain then Akira is a solid bet. The anime for Akira is amazing but of course it leaves a lot of things in the manga out. Katsuhiro Otomo is an amazing draftsmen. I could look at his buildings all day. :lovin:
Another one that is pretty deep, keep you on your feet and guessing is Death Note. Bear in mind that there’s a few typical manga traps like two male characters handcuffing themselves for no reason at all LOL and Misa’s whole gothic lolita wardrobe… :wonder: Still the story itself is pretty deep and brings up lots of philosophical questions regarding life and death, good and evil, right and wrong.
Everyone I know recommends Monster even though I’ve never gotten around to reading it, but it’s up there with stuff that will make you work your brain a bit.
Just for straight up violence well, we like Berserk here, A LOT! 
My favorite manga is Rurouni Kenshin which also has a lot of historical and political events interwoven into typical shonen manga stuff. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is really cool and Hirohiko Araki can hang with pretty much any American artist when it comes to anatomy. He’s an incredible draftsmen.
You might want to look at Ryoichi Ikegami’s stuff too. He has a totally different art style because he started out drawing the Spider-Man manga and he learned to imitate our stuff, so his stuff is heavily influenced by American comic book artists. Aside from his Spider-Man manga (which… I’m not sure you can find in English TPBs?) 2 of his works that I really enjoy are Mai The Psychic Girl and Crying Freeman.
I guess this is all that comes to mind. Have fun reading! :tup:
My favorite manga is Rurouni Kenshin which also has a lot of historical and political events interwoven into typical shonen manga stuff. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is really cool and Hirohiko Araki can hang with pretty much any American artist when it comes to anatomy. He’s an incredible draftsmen.