Rorschach - Tom King, Jorge Fornes, Dave Stewart

 

Of course, I'm a big fan of the Watchmen comic and the Rorschach character was one of the more charismatic of that team, in a truly twisted way. He was a highly capable detective, but essentially insane, seeing right-wing, nutjob conspiracy theories everywhere. Eventually, he turned out to be right, even though the public never knew that - and never knew what happened to him.

This book takes place 35 years (man, how is that possible?!) after the Watchmen saga, with a re-emergence of Rorschach, now with a female companion, a sharpshooter simply known as The Kid. Although decades have passed, people are still (understandably, I suppose) obsessed with Ozymandias' creation, an interdimensional "squid", which killed thousands as it died upon its appearance in Times Square. Ozy's planned this incident in order to unite the world and stop our insane wars, and while that seems to have worked, some of the populace believes that the "squids" will return and these conspiracists will go to any lengths to stop the imaginary invasion. The Kid is one of these, who enlists an 80 year old comic book writer/artist (who has been an inspiration to her through his creations) to assassinate the conservative front runner for the next President, for vague, conspiracy-theory-laden reasons.

The Kid, indoctrinated by her father, also believes that the heroes that disappeared after the "squid" appeared have been reincarnated by Dr. Manhattan into other people, and has convinced her comic book friend that he is Rorschach. Of course, as per any conspiracy theory, the "logic" behind these beliefs is very flimsy, but that's why it's called faith, right?

Naturally, since this is based on the Watchmen, nothing is truly what it seems and as a private investigator/detective delves into the background of the would-be assassins, he gets drawn into their story far beyond his job and he, too, becomes obsessed.

The storyline is definitely worthy of the Watchmen series and even the artwork has its nods to that world, although with its own flavor. This alternative universe in some ways is superior to ours (9/11 and the following wars never happened, there is a popular, liberal president, etc.) although the crazies still exist, even in this imaginary land. The twists'n'turns continue until the end of the saga and, in proper Watchmen story-telling, the lines between heroes and villains blend'n'blur as does good'n'evil.

Once again, thank you to Henderson's Cemetery Pulp for hipping me to this release - you need to check out their store whenever you're in the area for all your comic book'n'oddity needs!