Rorschach lashes out because his ideas are too 'out there' and he is too socially insecure to convince anyone that he is right. He is unwilling to question himself, and so becomes a force of his own violent affirmation. Most who sympathize with him are like him: short-sighted and desperate, unable to communicate with or understand their fellow man. Many are unwilling even to try. Rorschach becomes a satire of the super hero code, which says that as long as you call someone evil, you are justified in beating him to death.
This same code is also commonly adopted as foreign policy by leaders in war, which Moore constantly reminds us of with references to real world politics. The rest of the characters take on other aspects of violent morality, with varying levels of self-righteousness. Like the British government of the 's, which inspired Moore, or the American government of the beginning of this century, we can see that equating physical power with moral power is both flawed and dangerous.
Subjugating others 'for their own good' is only a justification for leaders who feel entitled to take what they can by force. The only character with the power to really change the world doesn't do so. His point of view is so drastically different from the common man that he sees that resolving such petty squabbles by force won't actually solve anything.
It won't put people on the same page, and will only create more conflict and inequality. Manhattan sees man only as a tiny, nearly insignificant part of the vast complexity of the cosmos.
Though he retains some of his humanity, his perspective is so remote that he sees little justification for interference, any more than you or I would crush the ants of one colony to promote the other. The ending presents another example of one man trying to enforce his moral solutions upon the entire world. Not only does this subvert the role of the super hero throughout comic book history, but reflects upon the political themes touched on throughout the book. Man is already under the subjugation of men--they may not be superhuman, but still hold the lives of countless billions in their hands.
It is no coincidence that Moore shows us president Nixon, a compulsive liar and paranoid delusional who ran the most powerful country in the world as he saw fit. Moore's strength as a writer--even more than creating flawed, human characters--is telling many different stories, which are really the same story told in different ways, all layered over each other. Each story then comments on the others, presenting many views. His plots are deceptively complex, but since they all share themes, they flow one into the next with an effortlessness that marks Moore as a truly sophisticated writer.
Many readers probably read right across the top of this story, flowing smoothly from one moment to the next, and never even recognizing the bustling philosophical exploration that moves the whole thing along.
The story-within-a-story 'The Black Freighter' winds itself through the whole of Watchmen, and for Moore, serves several purposes. Firstly, it is another subversion of comic book tropes: Moore is tapping into the history of the genre, when books about pirates, cowboys, spacemen, monsters, and teen love filled the racks next to the superhuman heroes before that variety was obliterated by the Comics Code yet another authoritarian act of destruction by people who thought they were morally superior.
But in the world of Watchmen, there are real superheroes, and they are difficult, flawed, politically motivated, and petty. So, superhero comics are unpopular in the Watchmen world, because there, superheroes are fraught with political and moral complexity. These are not the requisite parts of an escapist romp.
We don't have comic books about our politicians, after all. We may have political satire, but that's hardly escapist fun. So, instead they read about pirates. Beyond referencing the history of comics, 'The Black Freighter' works intertextually with Watchmen. The themes and events of one follow the other, and the transitions between them create a continuous exploration of ideas. Moore never breaks off his story, because even superficially unrelated scenes flow from one to the other, in a continuous, multilayered, self-referential narrative.
I continually stand in awe of Moore's ability to connect such disparate threads. Many comic authors since have tried to do the same, but from Morrison to Ellis to Ennis, they have shown that striking that right balance is one of the hardest things an author can do. Most of Moore's followers end up with an unpalatable mish-mash instead of a carefully prepared and seasoned dish.
Unlike most comic authors, Moore scripted the entire layout for the artist: every panel, background object, and action. Using this absolute control, Moore stretched the comic book medium for all it was worth, filling every panel with references, allusions, and details which pointed to the fullness and complexity of his world. Moore even creates meaning with structure, so that the size, shape, and configuration of panels tell much of the story for him.
One of the volumes is even mirrored, so that the first page is almost identical to the last, the second page to the second last, and so on. That most readers don't even notice this is even more remarkable. That means that Moore used an extremely stylized technique so well that it didn't interfere with the story at all. But therein lies the difficulty: if a reader isn't looking for it, they will probably have no idea what makes this books so original and so remarkable.
This especially true if they don't know the tropes Moore is subverting, or the allusive history he calls upon to contextualize his ideas. While many readers enjoy the book purely on its artistic merit, the strength of the writing, and the well-paced plot, others disregard the work when they are unable to recognize what makes it revolutionary. One might as well try to read Paradise Lost with no knowledge of the Bible, or watch Looney Toons without a familiarity with 's pop culture.
It is not a perfect work, but there is no such thing. Moore's lead heroine is unremarkable, which Moore himself has lamented. He did not feel entirely comfortable writing women at that point in his career, and the character was forced on him by the higher ups.
Luckily, she's not bad enough to ruin the work, and only stands out because she lacks the depth of his other characters. His politics sometimes run to the anarchic, but often this is just a satire of violence and hubris.
Moore gives no easy answers in his grand reimagining. His interlocking stories present many thoughts, and many points of view. In the end, it is up to the reader to decide for himself who was right or wrong--as if anyone truly could be. Moore never insults the intelligence of his readers, and so creates a work with more depth than anyone is likely to plumb even after numerous readings.
Likewise, he does not want you to 'hold on for the ride', but expects that you will engage and question and try to come to terms with his work, yourself.
No one is necessarily the hero or villain, and many people find themselves cowed and unsure of such an ambiguous world, just as we do with the real world.
Watchmen is not instructional, nor is it simply a romp. This book, like all great books, is a journey that you and the author share. The work is meant to connect us to the real world, and not to let us escape from it.
This is Moore's greatest subversion of the superhero genre, and does even more than Milton to "justify the ways of God to man", for many men delude themselves to godhood, yet even these gods cannot escape their fundamental humanity. My Suggested Readings in Comics View all 47 comments. I didn't read this until last year.
I saw the film about six months later. I'm a new convert still radiant with that 'just converted' glow. Along with the Sandman graphic novels this is my favourite work in the medium Zenith and Preacher get honourable mentions.
Watchmen wins over all of the other candidates in ambition. This is a work of vast ambition. It doesn't deliver on every level, it isn't perfect, but it contains so much that succeeds, and comes so close to fulfilling its promises that I didn't read this until last year. It doesn't deliver on every level, it isn't perfect, but it contains so much that succeeds, and comes so close to fulfilling its promises that it would be churlish to mention any failings.
Alan Moore is a great writer. He's not a great writer for comics, he's a great writer period, who happens to have made the graphic novel his medium. Watchmen is at times literary, funny, erudite, tragic, exciting, intriguing This is a deconstruction of the superhero, an examination of the overlap between man and Superman, a recognition that we're none of us capable of handling the responsibility that comes hand in hand with power, and that talent, or strength, whether human or superhuman do not somehow erase or overcome the moral and mental frailties that are a part of the human condition.
The plot sprawls, it's convoluted, it spans generations and a large cast. What keeps it together are the deeply personal stories on various scales. Its scope was what kept it from the big screen for so long, and in truth the movie whilst good fun and well done, I thought is just a 2D projection of this complex multi-dimensional work.
That same complexity is stopping me from doing it justice in this short review. Rather than try I'm just going to back off the grandiose praise and return to the punchline: This is a fun read. It's exciting. It's as deep as that hole Alice fell down, but you never notice you're falling. Pick it up. Read it with pride. If someone sneers at you for reading a comic-book It's nice and fat! Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter prizes View all 32 comments. View all 17 comments. Maybe I didn't have enough experience with all the actual garbage out there and couldn't yet appreciate Moore's genius.
Now, after slogging through his masterpiece with more than a few comics under my belt, I feel confident when I say that I don't like this all that much.
The art is horrible and almost every panel is crammed with words. Most of them me Coronavirus Review I originally thought that Watchmen didn't initially impress me because it was the first graphic novel I'd read as an adult. Most of them meaningless ramblings that sound like something your drunk uncle spouts at the family reunion when he's trying to sound deep and thoughtful.
Everyone else heads back to the kitchen to get more potato salad, leaving Uncle Alan with whatever poor nephew he's cornered to be harrassed with reminisces of back in the day and observations on why the world has gone to shit. But worse than the panels of art packed with wordy musings are the straight-up book pages.
Page after page of a bio about the 'comic' that the kid at the newsstand is reading? Why is there a backstory about the writer of a fake pirate comic that is being read inside another comic? Then 3 pages on some guy Dan?
Moore is bordering on abusive with this sort of thing. Some of it was mildly interesting, however, none of it ultimately pushed the plot forward. I didn't mind the stuff about Sally Jupiter but it could have been cut in half. I didn't need all of that nonsense.
The last pages pick up the pace a little. Which means that it's almost as interesting as any decent comic you pick up today. Not a good one. A decent one. And the conclusion is so unbelievably underwhelming. It had been so many years since I'd read it that I couldn't quite remember how it all went down, so there was still an element of surprise.
And yet That was it? I don't think it has aged well. Yes, people can be awful. But there's no one in this story who wasn't gross or pathetic. That's not any more realistic than a story that has only sunshine and unicorn farts.
People are not as bad as all this. But beyond this unrealistically gloomy look at humanity, my main issue with the comic was just simple boredom. Not much actually happens that would support this book being so long. Ok, now before anyone gets their panties in a twist, this is just my experience reading rereading this book. That doesn't mean I think anyone who loves this is silly or stupid. It just wasn't my cuppa.
Original Review view spoiler [ Ok, first let me say that I have never read a graphic novel. I apologize in advance to all those who will be offended when I make this next statement. I thought it would be a nice easy read that I could finish in a few hours. What can I say, I figured it was just an adult version of some comic book. Boy, was I wrong. This thing took me days to finish!
It was an in-depth, gritty, dark, mostly sad look at an alternate world a lot like ours. The "superheroes" were just dysfunctional guys and gals running around in tights. None of them seemed very heroic when it came down to it, and the only one of them with actual superpowers didn't care about anything at all. I still don't know if I like it, and it certainly wasn't enjoyable to read. Most of the time it made me feel slightly nauseous, but I think that was what the writer and artist were going for.
I am, however, glad that I read it. It was different and I can see why this thing has been talked about so much for all of these years. I think it stands the test of time as something unique. View all comments. Oct 07, Sean Barrs rated it it was amazing Shelves: comic-graphic-novel , 5-star-reads. Morality is a fickle bitch.
This is, simply put, iconic. I think there is a strong reason for it. It made me question morality on a scale rarely seen in fiction. Indeed, when considering the characters it is incredibly hard to consider any of them truly good or truly bad. They are simply people who are convinced that they are right. Take Rorschach, he follows the law to the very letter, but nev Morality is a fickle bitch. He works outside the law to bring the law in a strange sort of way.
Then is he not worthy of the justice he administers? Does he go too far? Is he, too, not worthy of punishment? These are hard questions to answer because there are no real answers. There is simply opinion and debate; it all depends on how you view the world. One thing remains certain though, the characters in here are so devastatingly flawed. On the other hand, you have Ozymandias who looks at the big picture. He sees the world for what it is, and tries to plan accordingly.
Except, unlike Rorschach he attempts to tackle the bigger problems. To many, he is simply the villain. In reality he is as obscurely heroic as Rorschach and just as morally grey. Who has the right to sacrifice life? Who has the right to dictate people and make such a monumental decision?
Well, nobody really. Who can question his results? His methods are clearly debatable, though it was the only route open to him. There is simply no quantifiable right or wrong in this world; there is only neutrality and hypocrisy. This is where the self-actualised Comedian comes in. Unlike Rorschach, he is fully aware of his faults and corruptness.
Unlike Ozymandias, he perceived that the world has no hope. So, what does he do? He embraces himself and indulges in his own overbearing personality. He knows what he is, and what he reflects, so he relishes in his own nature.
So, why not enjoy it? There are so many conflicting and self-defeating morals in here. Never before have I read something in which so many people have been wrong, but at the same time so absolutely right. He is something else entirely. He could have changed everything.
His power was practically limitless, but he barely lifted a finger until the last possible moment. And the pointing of that finger was an action that was both terrible and completely necessary. The answer became clear as to the question of his inaction: why should he bother with man? Rorschach saw it too, but he still tried to salvage the remnants of society through brutalising the brutalisers. Dr Manhattan, however, was simply too complex and too important to waste his time on the common man.
He came through in the end though, surprisingly. Well, kind of. Parts of this felt too intricate to put into words. This is a complete subversion of the entire genre and a full questioning of the flawed, and hypocritical, nature of humankind.
It is a piece of work that will, simply put, never be forgotten by those that have experienced its mortifying splendour. So I ask you this: what comic book should I read next? Can any other comic really compare to this? View all 19 comments. Mar 16, Will Byrnes rated it it was amazing Shelves: all-time-favorites-fiction. I reread this in anticipation of seeing the film in Rorschach Watchmen is one of the all-time great graphic novels. Someone is killing the costumed adventurers and the very dark Rorschach, our guiding Virgil into this Inferno, is trying to get to the bottom of it.
Moore has constructed an alternate history, one in which Nixon remains president for a third term, one in which the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan continues on in to Pakistan and threatens nuclear war with the USA.
These are not exactly the nicest superheroes. Rorschach is a psycho, a bloody vigilante, fierce, damaged, with a need for vengeance that often exceeds what is absolutely necessary.
The Comedian is a nihilist who has committed an unspeakable crime against one of the other superheroes, as well as plenty of crimes against the non-hero community. Doctor Manhattan, the only character with super powers, and boy o boy what super powers, may not even care about the survivability of humanity any more. Billy Crudup as Doctor Manhattan - from the film So what is this all about? One central concern is action versus inaction. Faced with a world approaching the brink of nuclear annihilation, is it better to act or not act?
If one is to act, how far can one go to save the earth? Acting in the service of larger causes has implications. Is murder in the service of country ok? If it is ok in war, how about in preventing war? The Comedian Is Moore a fan of the right-wing or a critic? My take is the latter.
On the surface we hear Rorschach droning on about the moral depravity of the city a la Travis Bickel, while practicing his own form of depravity on any who get in his way. The right-wing, rabble-rousing newspaper in the book certainly has plenty of parallels in our world. I do not think he was flattering in his view of them.
Moore was writing in response, I believe, to Thatcherism, when creatures like Maggie and Reagan were seen as heroes by their fans, to the detriment of most of us. I read that Moore set Watchmen in an alternate reality so as not to turn off Reaganistas.
Who is watching the leaders? And who is watching the watchers? Nite Owl - from the book and as portrayed by Patrick Wilson in the film If these are the heroes we get, who needs heroes? Unlike the dominantly rose-tinted superheroes of the past, the Watchmen heroes are far past flawed. What actually do these characters value? Doc Manhattan struggles even with the notion of valuing the continuation of the human race. The Comedian thinks that life is a big, bloody joke, G.
Gordon Liddy with a special outfit, and Rorschach sees filth everywhere. Unlike most superhero tales, this one lacks a super-villain. So the heroes have to deal with less simplistic challenges. It takes more to be a superhero than merely the ability to beat up the baddie.
They have to use their brains, figure things out, struggle with very difficult moral choices. One annoyance here was that I felt the females in the story tend to serve as plot devices for the development of the male characters rather than as fully realized characters in their own right. Silk Spectre - pen and ink, and Carly Gugino in the film Watchmen is part Batman, part noir detective story, part cold war crisis of nerves.
It represented a sea change in the presentation of graphic heroes, from a more innocent time in which good was good and bad was bad, for the most part, to one in which the distinctions are much less clear. Watchmen resonates on many levels and remains, on re-reading, a powerful tale.
Review re-posted October in anticipation of the upcoming HBO re-boot - This will not be a re-make of the film, but uses the graphic novel as a starting point, branching far from the original material.
Should be interesting. View all 23 comments. Jul 23, Nicole Prestin rated it did not like it Shelves: graphic-novels. I realize that what I'm about to say is as close as you can get to comic book blasphemy, but I think that 1 Alan Moore is the most overrated comic book writer ever and 2 this graphic novel is overblown, pretentious and most unforgivable of all, boring. To be fair, I'm somewhat of a snob when it comes to my reading habits.
First and foremost, I want to be entertained. If the story happens to be deep, thought provoking or groundbreaking as well, that's icing on the cake. And the bottom line is th I realize that what I'm about to say is as close as you can get to comic book blasphemy, but I think that 1 Alan Moore is the most overrated comic book writer ever and 2 this graphic novel is overblown, pretentious and most unforgivable of all, boring. And the bottom line is that this book simply did not entertain me.
It was too busy trying to be Deep and Meaningful and Teach Us A Lesson to actually do anything as lowbrow as make compelling characters the reader can identify with and have them do interesting and entertaining things. While I love characters who are sucky human beings in small doses, stories where damn near everyone sucks like this one get on my nerves. I don't like reading stories filled with a bunch of irredeemable emo asshats who do shitty things to each other and to humanity in general , and where the the themes of the story are pounded into your face with the delicacy of a sledgehammer.
So clearly not my cup of tea, but I'm obviously in the minority on this one. View all 56 comments. Aug 11, Schmacko rated it it was ok. Mason, a cop in the '30s who caught criminals at night. The second iteration of the hero made more use of technology and even had his own owl-shaped flying vehicle called Archimedes. Once the Keene Act of made heroes illegal, Daniel lived life as a civilian until Rorschach paid him a visit to talk about the death of the Comedian.
The Comedian: Edward Blake's murder starts the events of Watchmen. He's a cynical hero who's brash and abusive to both the good guys and bad guys. The Comedian worked extensively with the US government and supposedly is responsible for various black-ops assassinations including John F. In the film, it clearly shows he did.
However, in the Before Watchmen comics, a series of comics released in acting as a Watchmen prequel, he's seen as being friends with the Kennedys and shocked when JFK is killed. He also gave him a look similar to Marvel Comics' Nick Fury. Ozymandias: Adrian Veidt was born into a wealthy family but gave up his fortune at the age of 17 to discover himself.
He went to Egypt and learned of Rameses II, who became his hero. He then came to the US and started to train himself physically while also building his own fortune. She was forced into the hero business by her mother and eventually met up with the previously mentioned characters.
There she struck up a relationship with Dr. Manhattan and the two are living together. In the comics, a memory of Laurie meeting The Comedian and the ending to the book confirmed that her real father was The Comedian. Sally was almost raped by him when they first met, but at some point in the past, the two were together and she still loved him.
An aging hero known as The Comedian is killed in his apartment in A former cohort of his known as Rorschach investigates the scene and figures someone is killing costumed heroes. He goes to find other heroes he worked with: Nite Owl, Dr. Manhattan and Silk Spectre. They ultimately discover that another former teammate, Ozymandias, was behind an elaborate plot to save the world by his own terms. He had a team of scientists create a giant squid-like creature that was transported to New York City, killing millions.
His plan was that the strange monster would convince the US and Soviet Union to announce a peace treaty to fight off what would be considered aliens, thus saving the world from possible nuclear Armageddon between the two superpowers. Ozymandias had to keep his plan a secret leading him to personally kill The Comedian, who had stumbled across an island where he saw parts of the ultimate plan being worked on.
Manhattan eventually appeared, but he saw the benefits of the plan so didn't see a reason to interfere. Rorschach, with his sense of justice, wanted to tell the world of the crime but was killed by Dr. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre were at a loss over the whole ordeal and fell in love. The two went on their own to be regular civilians with new names. Manhattan left Earth permanently for Mars. Rorschach sent a written account of the whole plan to a news outlet thus ending the comic on the question of whether the public would learn the truth.
This plot summary, of course, doesn't portray the sheer amount of character development, themes and nuances Moore included in 12 issues. However, it does give a bite-size synopsis to better understand the show.
Watchmen was one of those properties that always seemed impossible to make, but Zack Snyder gave it a shot in Depending on your devotion to the comic, it was either incredibly faithful or a complete hack job. The film had much of the dialogue and scenes taken directly from the comic, but there was one big change made to the ending.
Instead of a squid-like creature created and sent to New York, Ozymandias planned for several attacks across the globe to appear to have come from Dr. Snyder says the reach for this change was how long it would require to explain the plan. Because of this change, however, the movie is not canon in regards to the Watchmen TV series. In the first episode, there was a sudden downpour of small squids that was considered more of an annoyance by the characters rather than something to be concerned about.
This implies that since the squid attack of , there has been some sort of ongoing operation to fool the people into thinking squid-like aliens are still attacking the planet. HBO's Watchmen takes place in , 34 years after the squid attack, now referred to as D. To help flesh out the Watchmen world in the comics, Moore added additional readings at the end of each comic in the form of memos, newspaper articles and book excerpts.
After each episode, the website adds links to additional content to read. Some have spoilers for the previous episode. Here is a rundown of each week's extra reading material and its relevance to the show's episodes:.
A memo by FBI Dep. Director Max Farragut discusses how the agent is no longer with the agency. It seems Petey failed to follow an order to suspend his activities in Tulsa, and he's now missing, likely to continue investigating the events in the city. This memo has a few interesting points to it. First off, Petey's office was filled with comic books to which the director asked how people are obsessed with pirates.
In the Watchmen universe, because there are superheroes in the world, the comics were more focused on pirates similar to how prior to the first appearance of Superman, comics in the US were all about Westerns. Second, the director also mentions there was a jug of oil leftover, thus adding more proof that Petey was Lube Man. The final point, and the one of most interest, is that the director says Laurie Blake is being debriefed at the time of the memo.
He also goes onto to shoot down rumors of a conspiracy linking President Robert Redford to the hoax created by Adrian Veidt. The director even reminds agents to remember the oaths they took. It's clear that the US government could continue to help cover up the squid attack even with Adrian in custody.
Memo: Fogdancing -- Fogdancing is a book that made multiple appearances in the show. Written by an author named Max Shea, Fogdancing is considered a counter-culture book popular during the Nixon administration and among masked vigilantes. Petey was also a big fan and even entered a contest on what was the plot of the book, which he ended up losing. The memo gives some subtle hints that Fogdancing is what inspired him to make his own hero persona of "Lube Man" from episode 4.
One thing not mentioned in the entry is that Shea -- who also wrote the Black Freighter in the Watchmen comics -- was picked by Adrian Veidt to help come up with his world-saving plan. He, like the others who were part of the team, was killed by Adrian shortly before the attack happened. Clipping: "Nothing ever ends" December, -- Unlike previous weeks, both Peteypedia entries are directly related to each other.
This clipping is Petey's submission for the contest mentioned in the memo, and it was published in a magazine dedicated to the book called Nothing Ever Ends, named after a quote one of the characters says in the book. According to the summary, Fogdancing is about a former soldier named Howie McNulty. He was part of a group of super-soldiers called Fogdancers, but that was years ago.
Howie is suffering from what appears to be post-traumatic stress disorder and took an experimental drug called Shut-Eye to help with it. He meets up with a woman who's part of an anarchist graffiti group. As the two fall more in love, Howie wants to help take down the American empire, so so he leads a group to destroy a facility that makes Sunset Haze, the Watchmen universe's version of napalm.
The group planted bombs in the facility and escaped only to find out the explosion spread out for miles, killing thousands. Howie then finds out he was used by a wealthy industrialist, and Shut-Eye was a mind-control drug. He forms another group with his former Fogdancer partner Rawhide to take down the mastermind. They end up causing Sunset Haze to rain down on the lair, destroying it but also killing his love. Howie then wakes up and realizes he's in a military hospital with his partner Rawhide, and a doctor and nurse who were the mastermind and his lover.
Confused on what's real, Howie finally understands what he needs to do and grabs a gun, and it's suggested he shot himself. Going by the summary, Fogdancing shares the same themes as the Watchmen story, with heroes thinking they're doing good but only causing more harm. It's no wonder both Adrian Vedit and Doctor Manhattan were known fans of the book, according to Petey's memo. Speaking of the FBI agent, the description for the Fogdancing outfit makes a clear connection with his hero persona Lube Man.
Rawhide's outfit is described as a "pearly haz-mat jumper and signature combat goggles. The memo starts off with a little explainer on how the Tulsa Police Department requires its detectives to wear a mask. In the case of Angela, she says "watch the movie. The film is part of the Watchmen universe's take on blaxploitation films, called Black Mask, where the movies star black versions of well-known heroes.
In the case of Sister Night, she's a take on the Minutemen female hero, Silhouette. The movie came out in in Vietnam and is about a devout nun in Hell's Kitchen, New York, who takes down criminals at night. The film also has its own theme song, which appears to be similar to the famous theme song to 's Shaft. Agent Petey adds another quick note that the film was played in a theater in Harlem owned by Will Reeves every Sunday until when Angela became a detective, though there's no explanation of why, considering Angela hasn't been to New York and the two don't know of their relationship yet.
Thus, Dr. Manhattan's flashback to the Vietnam War highlights how both his and the Comedian's existence altered their world's history in comparison to our own. In the comic, they refer to themselves as "costumed adventurers" or less frequently, considering its comparatively negative connotations, "masked vigilantes". The Comedian Edward Blake is based on the Peacemaker. A do the same for Rorschach Walter Kovacs.
Finally, the first and second Silk Spectres Sally Jupiter and Laurie Juspeczyk are roughly analogous to Nightshade , but only in that they are female.
An introductory narrative and investigation by a pair of police detectives named Joe Bourquin and Steven Fine yields nothing conclusive: Blake, formerly affiliated with the United States government, might have been murdered by Communist Russians , but this could be suicidal considering America 's current superiority in the arms race; also, Blake kept himself in excellent physical shape, raising the question of who could have overpowered him in the first place.
The detectives conclude that, above all, they want to keep the murder quiet, for fear of attracting the attention of the last " costumed adventurer ", the vigilante Rorschach. Rorschach does investigate, however, and discovers that Blake was also a costumed hero known as the Comedian, one of only two costumed adventurers who accepted government patronage under the Keene Act , which otherwise forbade costumed adventuring from onward hence Rorschach's status as a vigilante.
Believing that Blake's murder is part of a greater plot to eliminate "masks", as Rorschach calls them, he warns others: Jon Osterman , also known as Doctor Manhattan the other government-sponsored hero and the linchpin of American nuclear superiority ; Dr.
Manhattan's lover, Laurie Juspeczyk the second Silk Spectre ; Daniel Dreiberg the second Nite Owl and Rorschach's former partner ; and Adrian Veidt Ozymandias, reputedly the smartest man in the world, who retired in and built his commercial empire, Veidt Enterprises.
Within the fictional context of the story, the United States and the Soviet Union have been edging toward a nuclear war since the nuclear accident that transformed Osterman into the super-powered Doctor Manhattan. Manhattan had disrupted the mutually assured destruction doctrine by possessing the power to neutralize most of the Russian nukes in mid-air.
With this trump card in hand, America has enjoyed a distinct strategic advantage, allowing it to defeat the Soviet Union in a series of proxy wars, including victory in the Vietnam War. Richard Nixon used this success and, unmarred by Watergate in a flashback, the Comedian alludes to having assassinated Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein , encouraged a repeal of the 22nd Amendment, removing presidential term limits, allowing him to serve an unprecedented fifth term in office during the events of Watchmen.
Manhattan's existence has accelerated the nuclear arms race and dramatically increased global tension. In seeming anticipation of global war, American society has assumed a general sense of fatalism about the future.
Signs of this in daily life range from " Mmeltdowns " candy to graffiti inspired by the Hiroshima bombing to the designation of many buildings in New York as fallout shelters. As Rorschach continues his investigation, he is framed, captured by the police, jailed and subjected to psychiatric examination. Meanwhile, Adrian Veidt is attacked by a gunman in a public assassination attempt that he survives. Manhattan, though supremely powerful, suffers from a decreasing ability to relate to normal humans.
He accidentally upsets his lover, Laurie, and she leaves him. Soon afterwards, evidence comes to light that a number of his co-workers, including his former girlfriend Janey Slater , have come down with terminal cancer. Manhattan feels that he poses a threat to others and exiles himself to Mars , in a chapter revealing that he experiences time in a non-linear fashion.
His break with the U. These events are colored by commentary from a bevy of secondary characters, such as a teenage reader of the Tales of the Black Freighter comic-within-a-comic, the newsstand vendor from whom he purchases said comics, the psychiatrist evaluating Rorschach, the police officers from the first chapter and others. Dreiberg, who harbors an initially unrequited attraction to Laurie, offers her room and board. When a tenement building catches fire, the two resume their costumed adventuring ways to save its residents.
Dan has begun to believe in Rorschach's theory that an unidentified assassin is attacking former costumed adventurers and he insists they break Rorschach out of Sing Sing. Unfortunately, the news that formerly retired adventurers have gone rogue leads to the hate-crime killing of the retired first Nite Owl, Hollis Mason. Manhattan briefly returns to Earth to bring Laurie to Mars, as a discussion between them which he has foreseen is scheduled to take place at this time.
In this conversation, she begs him to return to Earth and save humanity, an effort in which she is successful. This discussion also turns Laurie's life inside-out: She realizes that the Comedian, whom she hated for attempting to rape her mother , was later her mother's consensual lover and, in fact, Laurie's own biological father.
Meanwhile, the reunited duo of Rorschach and Nite Owl prowl the New York underworld, searching for hints on who commissioned the hit on Veidt. The trail leads to none other than Veidt himself, who has been orchestrating events all along.
The company which commissioned the hit, owned by Veidt, also employed every associate of Dr. Manhattan's that had developed cancer. In a lengthy monologue, Adrian explains his early worship of Alexander the Great , which later turned to admiration of Ramesses II whose Greek name was Ozymandias ; his realization that the current arms race and disregard for the environment would lead to cataclysm by the s ; his belief that someone must save the world, and that only he could do so; and finally, that the crux of his plan is to teleport a genetically engineered telepathic monstrosity into New York City, a process that will kill the monster and cause it to emit a massive psychic shockwave that will kill half the city and drive many of the survivors insane.
Adrian believes that America and Russia, perceiving an extraterrestrial threat, will abandon their arms race and unite in defense of their planet. The Comedian, Veidt also reveals, was killed because he happened to stumble upon the island where the creature was being bred; the murderer is revealed to be Veidt himself.
Finally, Ozymandias establishes that he is not prey to one major weakness of arch-villains: the tendency to ramble about their plans before they are executed. At the end of his explanation he reveals that the monster has already been teleported as intended.
At PM Eastern Standard Time, the monster arrives in New York, creating a cataclysmic shockwave which kills millions, among them most of the secondary characters. Laurie and Dr. Manhattan arrive in the devastated city and then teleport to Karnak, where Veidt watches the news and exults as his plan comes to fruition. Only these five former costumed adventurers know the truth of the matter, as Veidt has killed everyone else who knew anything incriminating about the project. Dan, Laurie and Jon agree to keep silent, sickened by the deaths of millions of New Yorkers but willing to countenance it for the sake of averting nuclear holocaust.
Only Rorschach, who does not believe that the ends justify the means, refuses to comply, and he prepares to return to America. Jon attempts to dissuade him, but Rorschach makes it clear that he will not compromise and demands that, if Jon wishes to stop him, Jon must kill him too. Jon does, then returns to Veidt's fortress. After destroying Rorschach, Dr.
Manhattan talks briefly to Veidt. He plans to leave Earth for the time being to go to another galaxy for unknown reasons when asked about his newfound respect for life, he hints that "perhaps I'll create some". Professing his guilt and doubt, Veidt asks Manhattan for closure: "I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end. Manhattan, standing within Veidt's mechanical model of the solar system, smiles and replies: "In the end?
Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends. The ending of Watchmen is ambiguous about the long-term success of Veidt's plan to lead the world to Utopia. Prior to confronting Veidt, Rorschach had mailed his journal detailing his suspicions to The New Frontiersman , a far right-wing magazine he frequently read. The final page of the series shows the New Frontiersman editor contemplating which item from the "crank" to which Kovacs' journal had been consigned to use as filler for the upcoming issue.
The final line of the story is that of the editor's superior, indifferent as to which piece from the crank file is selected. He tells his subordinate — who has been established as not particularly bright — "I leave it entirely in your hands.
The subject of anti-veneration explores superheroes who are treated as veritable gods to be worshiped at one point with Dr. Manhattan taking on the literal manifestation of a deity and then are deconstructed in order to reveal flaws, which makes them less worthy of hero worship in the eyes of the public.
In one of the epistolary essays at the end of each chapter, Osterman's former mentor, Milton Glass , repeats his first reaction to a newspaper reporter on learning of Dr. Manhattan's transformation: " God exists, and he's American "—a thought Glass confesses to be terrifying. Interestingly, he reports being often misquoted as, " The superman exists, and he's American. Carlyle developed a concept of hero worship that was meant to overlook human flaws, as he contended that there was no need for "moral perfection.
Along these lines, Rorschach dismisses what he terms as "moral lapses" when discussing the Comedian's past acts of sexual assault.
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