Originally Posted by JonDoe:
“So Watchmen isn't a graphic novel?”
Not really, no. It was originally promoted as a "limited series". It was later released as a trade paperback and pretentiously branded a graphic novel to allow DC to get into markets and appeal to audiences their average capes and tights comics would not otherwise reach.
If you absolutely insist, there's a weak case to made for its status as a graphic novel, in that it was specifically written with a beginning, middle and an end, unlike most serialized comics that are later collected in TPBs. With that in mind, I wouldn't actually kick anyone for calling it a graphic novel, as long as it's not held up as an example of why serialized comics collected in TPBs are graphic novels, because they are for the most part not.