Caltrops - Watchmen: The End is Nigh





	[quote name="Jerry Whorebach"]I just finished <i>Watchmen</i> for the first time yesterday, so I thought I'd check out some <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=archive&type=kw&key=re-reading+watchmen">expert commentary</a> to see how much neat stuff I missed out on. Turns out: not much! That's all the expert qualification I need to offer my own commentary on CBR's commentary on Alan Moore's commentary on the sorry state of bird-men in America. [quote]CARR: I'll go back to my theory from last issue. The Kennedy assassination showed Jon he is powerless to change history. Or because he sees a version of history, he doesn't try to change it. Yet he gets involved in the war. It's hard to determine exactly what his powers are. Last issue had the scene where he puts back together the vial he drops. Is he reversing time? If he can turn bullets into flowers and transport people with his mind, why couldn't save Kennedy? That bugs me.[/quote] Asking why J'on didn't prevent the assassination of Kennedy is like asking why Kennedy didn't prevent the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem. Both had foreknowledge, neither particularly cared. J'on got involved in Vietnam because President Nixon asked him to, just like he got involved in atomic science because his dad asked him to, and just like he <i>didn't</i> get involved in Cuba because Kennedy <i>didn't</i> ask him to. It's not like disregard for human life was out of character for J'on. But try explaining that to an American - "He wasn't just a HUMAN, he was the PRESIDENT!" [quote]ATOM!: Now that we’ve seen [Rorschach's] face, I wanted to talk about how individual the “Watchmen” reading experience is for everyone who reads it. As I said earlier, this is the first reading where I was conscious of the symmetrical page layout and story points. I think it was on our last column that one of the comments from a reader obviously hadn’t realized that the red-headed sign carrier was Rorschach. And yet for both of us, I'd be willing to bet, the experience was still pretty full. There’s so much here, that even if you don’t pick up on all of it, you’re still getting more than your money’s worth. GERRY: The unmasking of Rorschach was the first time I think my forward progress in the book was stopped cold. I had to go back and see where else I had seen him. Despite looking for him after the reveal - I'm sure that I missed him on the first page for many years. And the last line of this perfectly symmetrical composition is "Everything balances." Indeed. CARR: Atom! mentioned the trashcan mail drop earlier, and that was a key moment for me. You react by going, “No, it can't be” and then you recognize the red hair and you prove it is Rorachach by backtracking every scene with the End-is-Nigh guy. He follows Moloch from the funeral and all the other background bits. It's another example of the way the movie will be limited. There's an actor cast as Rorschach so unless it's an unrecognizable makeup job, some people will recognize the actor before the reveal.[/quote] I guess I didn't get the full Watchmen experience, then, because I identified the sign carrier as Rorschach way back in issue two. Then I took it a step too far, and as of issue five I was operating under the assumption that hotheaded comicbook scribe <s>Alan Moore</s> Max Shea was Rorschach's mystery dad. The book never comes down one way or the other on this, but I'm going to assume I was wrong, just because having two "Luke, etc." reveals in one book would be too stupid. Speaking of issue five... [quote]CARR: Can I be continuity geek here? The excerpt indicates that "Tales of the Black Freighter" was finished way before October 1985, when the “Watchmen” story starts. The writer quit after issue #31, but "Marooned," the story we are actually reading in the pages of “Watchmen,” was from issues #23 and #24. Maybe what the Kid is reading are reprint comics, like Marvel's ‘70s horror comics and DC's “Strange Adventures.”[/quote] There's no "maybe" about it. The <i>very same</i> excerpt he's talking about also says that DC comics is currently reprinting the issues in question, a quarter-century after their original publication. Hey maybe instead of thinking so hard about comics you might try actually reading them?[/quote]