Reading The Watchmen!

There is no question that Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is among the finest comic series of all time. The story was a blockbuster when it was first published forty years ago and has remained in print ever since. Moore and Gibbons created an alternate dark universe in which it was always 1985 and Richard Nixon was still president of the United States, victorious in Vietnam, but still in a grisly world over which loomed the threat of nuclear war. It was almost as if time had stopped. 

(Ozymandias, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl, Rorschach and The Comedian)

In this alternate universe there were superheroes. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were not to be seen, but instead this world had heroes such as Nite Owl, Rorschach, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre, The Comedian and the supremely powerful Dr. Manattan. There had been another generation of heroes in years past, but these five are the ones who we focus on in this story and it is these five who will decide the fate of the planet. But who are these heroes? 

It seems that at first Moore and Gibbons had been given the Charlton Action-Heroes which had been recently acquired by DC as a present for Dick Giordano who had once edited the heroes in the late 60's. But then DC smartly decided to keep the Charlton heroes aside for future exploitation and so Moore and Gibbons had to create new heroes using the Charlton heroes as templates. The first among these, and in many ways the most crucial was The Comedian, a hero based on The Peacemaker. People have long thought Peacemaker by Jim Boyette and Joe Gill to be an absurd hero, a hero who fights for peace. I don't share this opinion but nonetheless The Comedian is presented as a somewhat foul fighter for justice, a man who sees the joke behind the way the world works. He is closely allied with the U.S. government and one of only two superheroes who are allowed to work in the country since the passing of a law forbidding masked vigilantes. It is the Comedian's murder which triggers the story. 

The threat of nuclear destruction loomed large in the 1980's. I felt it myself as a young man as we fretted who might push the almighty button first, us or the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union finally collapsed the threat seemed lifted though the weapons still exist. 

A symbol of nuclear power was Dr Manhattan, the other legal superhero. Manhattan was based on Captain Atom created by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko. Atom was caught in a nuclear explosion and reconstituted his demolished body which was infused with radioactive might. Dr. Manhattan was also victim of a nuclear accident and the was "gifted" with a wide range of atomic powers, not the least of which was a strange ability to live in all moments of his life simultaneously. Part of a deadly scheme which started with the murder of Comedian demanded that Dr. Manhattan be driven from Earth, thus setting in motion events which would result in nuclear holocaust. 

The hero who is looking into the murder of The Comedian is the enigmatic Rorschach. When everyone else is content that it was a simple crime, he searches for the story beneath the obvious. His mission is what drives the story and gives it a sense of coherence. 

Rorschach is based on Steve Ditko's The Question. (Mr. A is another more extreme version of the Ditko character and seems also a clear influence on Rorschach.) The Question was Ditko's mainstream creation which most vividly evoked his Objectivist attitudes. In Rorschach there are conspiracies everywhere and even in his unmasked identity the search for the dark secrets is evident. 

The hero most closely linked to Rorschach is Nite Owl, the second hero who bears that name. Both Nite Owl and Rorschach have been banned by law from being vigilantes. Rorschach continues as a criminal while Nite Owl retired. Nite Owl is based on Blue Beetle, most vividly Steve Ditko's revised version of the character who is very much dependent on technology to pursue his methods of crime prevention. 

There are two Nite Owls in this saga, one the ally of Rorschach, the other a retired hero who runs a garage and who famously wrote a tell-all book which uncovered some of the darker aspects of the heroes who preceded the Watchmen. This first Nite Owl is based on the classic Blue Beetle from the Golden Age. 

Silk Spectre is the singular female hero in this bunch, and the youngest of the lot. She's a second-generation hero, following in the footsteps of her mother who groomed her to replace her. She is the paramour of Dr. Manhattan as the story opens and together they form a key chapter of the story, but her relationship with the second Nite Owl is really at the center of the Watchmen saga. Silk Spectre is based on Nightshade, another creation of Steve Ditko who debuted in the pages of Captain Atom. 

The final member of the Watchmen is Ozymandias, the smartest man on the planet. He is based on  Thunderbolt created by Pete Morisi. Ozymandias is a man who started as a hero but finds that fighting crime is a limited effort and so focuses on his many business interests and philanthropy. He has a base in the Antarctic which plays a key role in the story as it unfolds. 

Of the five key Watchmen characters three were created or co-created by Steve Ditko. His fingerprints are all over his story. It's a grim look at a scary time in human history when we all thought doom was just around the corner. 

I've intentionally been vague about key details of the story as not to spoil the story for anyone who might not have yet enjoyed it. It took me some years to realize its greatness as I was away from DC when it first rolled out. But there's no denying it's a classic and deserves a close reading by all comic book fans, especially those who love the Charlton heroes as I do. The story itself takes place mostly during the month of October and the climax is on November 2nd, the birthday of Steve Ditko. Whether that's intentional or a fluke it's still remarkable. Personally given Moore's attention to detail I doubt it's a coincidence. 

The story has been reprinted many times now and can be found in both expensive tomes and cheap versions. I own it three times. More on the Watchmen tomorrow. 

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