It's the question on everyone's lips right now, thanks to a much-anticipated comic-to-film adaptation: Who watches the Watchmen?

But in the case of Winnipeg's The Watchmen -- the '90s alt-rock act behind such radio staples as Boneyard Tree, All Uncovered and Stereo -- a better question might be: Who still listens to The Watchmen?

Well, if the crowds flocking to a recent string of reunion shows are any indication, the band still has a large and loyal fanbase out there.

But no one was as surprised to find out about the following than the former bandmates themselves, who haven't exactly been in close contact since calling it quits back in 2003.

"I wasn't convinced that people would still be interested," says guitarist Joey Serlin, who along with bandmates Danny Greaves, Ken Tizzard and Sammy Kohn, plays his first MTS Centre gig as part of tonight's Powerball festivities. "But I've been so blown away by the response. People have flown in from Australia and Europe and all over Canada and the States. And they're singing along -- they know every word to every obscure track from the first album. They're even louder than the PA. It's been really touching."

Formed in 1988 (and named after the aforementioned DC Comics bestseller), The Watchmen scored their big breakthrough with the 1992 debut McLaren Furnace Room.

Followup albums In the Trees, Brand New Day and Silent Radar cemented their status as a Canuck favourite, though their star had slipped a bit by the time 2001's Slomotion was released. That disc found the Watchmen experimenting with electronica -- a move necessitated by drummer Kohn's departure in 2000 -- and by the time they embarked on a farewell tour in '03, their hearts simply weren't in it anymore, Serlin says.

"We put out a good record without Sammy, but the band really wasn't the same," he explains. "In a lot of ways, I think we were checked out. We were all trying to savour the final moments, but a lot of us, emotionally, had already moved on."

It was Kohn -- now an account manager for Toronto Life magazine -- who got the ball rolling on the reunion, and coaxed the other three out of their post-Watchmen careers (Serlin is a partner in sound design firm Vapor Music, Tizzard toured with Thornley, and recently released his own solo album, and Greaves runs a bar and restaurant in Toronto).

Though Serlin admits the breakup was messy -- fraught with emotion and hurt feelings -- it didn't take long for the bandmates to bury the hatchet.

"I finally said, 'Let's go for a beer together,' and it turned out I really missed those guys," says Serlin. "We've all grown up a lot, and we all have a lot of perspective as to what really matters. We're in a good place now -- just four friends making music."

And while the current reunion tour is only four stops long -- back-to-back gigs at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern in September (both sold out in no time), plus tonight's Powerball date and a gig in Calgary tomorrow -- Serlin expects the Watchmen will soon be back in the studio, working on material that could signal a return to the road.

"The feeling of these shows we're doing now, and the rehearsals we're doing now, is how it should've felt (in 2003)," he says. "It's the same feeling we got when we started, back when it was just for the sake of making music and having fun. There's no pressure to move records, or how your single is performing. There's no business -- just fun. It feels f---ing awesome."