Watchmen #1-4

Watchmen #1-4

Originally released in 1986

Written by Alan Moore

Art by Dave Gibbons

Watchmen needs no introduction.

Okay, maybe it does. Set in an alternate 1985, Watchmen is a world where a handful of people in the 1930s and 40s were inspired to become costumed adventurers, and how this (and a freak accident that creates a legitimately super-powered individual) leads to a world where Richard Nixon is running for election for a fourth term and the Cold War is on the brink of turning hot.

One of these adventurers, the Comedian, was thrown from his apartment and killed.  As he had spent the past few years as a government operative, the list of suspects is a long one, but another masked vigilante (Rorschach) believes that this is a plot to target all of the remaining vigilantes whether they've retired or not.

There aren't many left at this point - the original Nite Owl and Silk Spectre (who retired long before the government outlawed any heroes who wouldn't work for them), their successors (Nite Owl 2, who I'll refer to as Nite Owl for simplicity's sake) is Rorschach's former partner, while Silk Spectre 2 (same thing goes for her with dropping the 2) is the daughter of the original), Ozymandias (the smartest man in the world), and Doctor Manhattan. (The aforementioned super-powered person, who can do seemingly anything but is crippled by a fatalistic view of life) To symbolize his growing disconnect from humanity, Dr. Manhattan is completely nude, though I'll avoid anything explicit for the purposes of this blog.

This was one of the first trade paperbacks that I ever bought, which in hindsight might not have been the best choice. It's based around deconstructing superheroes, examining the sort of people who would be messed up enough to put on a costume and try to stop crime by beating people up. (I probably should have read some traditional comics first) Still, it's an intriguing mystery with well-developed characters. At one point, the plan was to use Charlton Comics characters like the Question or Blue Beetle who had been, or were in the process of being, acquired by DC, but it seems like it's for the best that they had to go with original characters.

Each issue has an epilogue with supplemental material, such as an excerpt from the original Nite Owl's autobiography, which help to flesh out minor characters and the world of this comic.

The second issue focuses on the Comedian's funeral, as various characters such as the original Silk Spectre and Ozymandias have flashbacks to key points in their lives where he was involved.  The Silk Spectre's flashback isn't pleasant, as the Comedian assaulted her and raped her, but she seems to view the whole thing as ancient history.

Meanwhile, Ozymandias thinks back to the first and only meeting of the Crimebusters, an attempt at creating a new group of superheroes after the Minutemen disbanded in 1949. This segment seems to be mocking the concept of the Justice League or the Avengers because, as the Comedian points out, a handful of people wearing Halloween costumes aren't going to stop nuclear war or fix society's problems.

One thing I noticed this time around are that some characters really wear their political affiliations on their sleeves.  Rorschach is particularly obvious about it, at least in his journal entries where he comes across as ultra right wing, idolizing the Comedian to such an extent that despite his normal reactions to rapists and sex, he dismisses the Comedian's rape of the original Silk Spectre as "a moral lapse". Even Captain Metropolis (a now-dead hero, unless you believe the theories that he's alive and a background character) seems to have conservative leanings going by what he views as the biggest problems facing America. (Nite Owl 1's biography makes it clear that Captain Metropolis was openly bigoted against minorities, though it's only hinted at in the comic panels)

Dr. Manhattan, on the other hand, has Vietnam flashbacks, though not what you'd expect. By this point, he already had superpowers, so the Vietnam War went very differently in this universe, with Manhattan winning it almost effortlessly. However, this was where Manhattan came to the realization that he was growing distant from humanity, when the Comedian murdered a Vietnamese woman and Manhattan did absolutely nothing to stop it.

While the Comedian is only shown through flashbacks, he's a very cynical figure, with the pseudonym being ironic by the time that most of the cast has met him. However, he's respected enough that even one of his former enemies attends the funeral, discreetly.

When that ex-enemy, Moloch, arrives back home, Rorschach is waiting in his fridge. Moloch explains that the Comedian, while extremely drunk, visited him roughly a week before he died, rambling about an island that had scientists and artists on it, along with a plot against Doctor Manhattan.

In addition to the major ways that the presence of superheroes have impacted the world (Doctor Manhattan is basically a sentient teleporting nuke under US control, which is part of the reason why the Cold War is getting worse), they also impacted it in minor ways.  Due to the presence of real world superheroes and those heroes falling out of favour, superhero comics were a brief passing fad in the late 30s. Instead, comics about pirates are what's popular, with the story making a parallel between one (Tales Of The Black Freighter) and the ongoing events.

Doctor Manhattan is having his first live televised appearance, but shortly before, Silk Spectre (frustrated by him acting as though she isn't even there, that she barely matters to him) walks out on him.  She goes to visit Nite Owl (I suppose I could use their real names, Laurie and Dan, as it feels increasingly silly to refer to them as Silk Spectre and Nite Owl when they're out of costume), and while going for a walk, they're attacked by thugs.

Meanwhile, Manhattan's interview doesn't go great.  A reporter brings up accusations that Manhattan's presence causes cancer, citing Moloch, Manhattan's ex-girlfriend Janey Slater, and an off-screen character named Wally Weaver who seems to be based on Jimmy Olsen as examples of this trend 

This causes panic among the press as Manhattan is swarmed with questions. He heads to Mars to fully separate himself from everyone and everything (aside from a photo of himself and Janey Slater from back when he was a normal human), and with him gone, the Russians are emboldened to attack Afghanistan, taking advantage of the apparent loss of the US military's biggest asset.

For the first time, we see events properly through Doctor Manhattan's perspective, and the non-linear nature that he views time can be jarring with lines like "12 seconds from now, I drop the photograph onto the sand". His entire life, even after he becomes virtually omnipotent by most standards, he has been blindly following what others want for him, from his father to the US government, only objecting to marketers making him wear a gaudy costume.

After the accident, where he had to reconstruct his body meticulously using his experience with making watches (presumably justifying why he's the only person to get powers this way; it would require a very specific background), Jon Osterman becomes Doctor Manhattan, and also becomes acutely aware of everything that he will do for the foreseeable future.  He tells Janey that he will always love her, knowing that in 1966, she will leave him and he will get into a relationship with Silk Spectre, and he shakes hands with John F. Kennedy knowing that he will be assassinated in two years.

I've read Watchmen before, and I've seen the movie, but it felt like I was experiencing it almost fresh. I picked up on details or possible foreshadowing that I had missed before, and taking time to write out my thoughts helped me to appreciate the characters and this alternate world that Moore and Gibbons created. Even though I'm only a third of the way through the story, I feel like I have a better understanding of what is trying to be done with Watchmen than I did the first time around, and I'm looking forward to continuing it in the future.