Rorschach In Alan Moore's The Watchmen Essay

Who chooses our heroes? Who watches our heroes? Who watches the Watchmen? Over the course of history, many public figures have been scrutinized for heroic actions that some have deemed controversial. Charles Darwin dismantled theories of Creationism with his discoveries in evolutionary biology. President Harry Truman single-handedly ended World War II by authorizing the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, killing thousands upon thousands of civilians. Gangster John Dillinger

Watchmen is a revolutionary piece of literature. It is technically a comic book, some prefer to call it a graphic novel. There is a negative connotation that goes along with that. Graphic novels are frequently presumed too childish and fantastic to actually teach any insightful lessons or even make you ponder them at all. Watchmen is a graphic novel that transcends this undue criticism of comic books. It is, “One of the first instances ... of [a] new kind of comic book ... a first phase of development

How Alan Moore Changed the Superhero Genre Alan Moore is seen as a titan among comic book writers. Throughout his lifetime he has produced many great works that include From Hell, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, and many others. I will focus on the Watchmen comic in particular because it can be considered rooted firmly in the superhero genre. Watchmen is the only comic, and only example of the superhero genre, to make it onto TIME’s list of 100 best English-language novels. This deserves some explanation

Alan Moore’s Watchmen graphic novels have been the subject of much scrutiny since their release in serial form from 1986 to 1987. The DC published series had much political and social relevance in the time that they were published and often still can be said to reflect society and politics today, as well as differing greatly to the typical superhero mould readers are often given. Readers are given the story of a second-generation superhero group made up of The Comedian, Nite Owl II, Silk Spectre

and later influenced a comic book artist by the name of Steve Ditko. Ditko created two comic books portraying Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Mr. A and The Question. Alan Moore grew up reading Ditko’s work and created a comic of his own. Rorschach in Watchmen embodies what objectivism is while being illustrated as realistically as possible. Rorschach reflects Ayn Rand’s philosophy by living his life using logical reasoning as well as viewing the world metaphorically in black and white as seen through Steve

Alan Moore’s, Watchmen Rorschach: Hero or Villain? Leslie O’Sullivan 2. The conflict between good and evil has been a prominent aspect of literature, and society itself, for ages. Many popular stories are based around the hero succeeding in their endeavours by defeating the arch nemesis; good conquers evil by performing in a manner that is deemed morally right. However, in Alan Moore’s, Watchmen, the notion of morality is questioned, suggesting

wrong. Alan Moore’s, “Watchmen” set in an alternate 1985 follows the story of “superheroes” from their beginning to their possible demise as a group. Beginning with the murder of the Comedian, Rorschach sets out to tell the other Watchmen of his conspiracy theory behind the murder, and that he believes they are all in danger. The novel ends in bliss and yet tragedy. Rorschach staying fixed to his values decides to rather die than live with the truth behind saving the world. In Alan Moore’s “Watchmen”

Subsequently, while most superhero plots involve an element of fantasy, the characters in Moore’s graphic novel are, for the most part, embedded into pessimistic version of reality with only lifelike traits. Obviously, the one glaring exception in Watchmen is Doctor Manhattan, who is transformed into a being capable of a number of otherworldly abilities. However, the other five heroes in the story are regular humans who take the initiative to aid in the protection of society. This is unlike most

Dictionary defines a superhero as, “a fictional character who has amazing powers (such as the ability to fly)” or “a very heroic person”; yet, many of the characters in Watchmen have no supernatural power and are immoral by most precedent societal standards. Alan Moore, in the graphic novel Watchmen (1986-1987), asserts Rorschach as an example of deontology. Moore supports his thoughts through dialogue and illustration. The author’s purpose is to juxtapose philosophical beliefs by comparing their

these meanings will reflect an embrace or a rejection of the common symbols and ideology of it’s source culture. In the case of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s 1987 graphic novel, Watchmen, the second approach is used, as Moore’s writing draws upon the common cultural understanding of superheroes and exaggerates or tweaks them, exposing their underlying ideals. In this way, Watchmen functions not only as a