Watchmen, A Comic Book

Evidence of Walter’s anger toward society occurs when Walter reads about the Kitty Genovese’s story in the newspaper. "Some of them even watched. I knew what people were, then, behind, all the evasions, all the self-deception. Ashamed for humanity." (pg. 10, chap. 6, panel 8) Kitty was raped and murder. He formed an opinion about society that they were inhumane and cruel. Walter lashed back at the rapist. While talking to the psychologist it is revealed that Walter found the rapist who had murdered the girl. The rapist had fed Kitty’s flesh and bones to his two German shepards. Rorschach murdered the dogs. "It was Kovacs who said "Mother" then, muffled under latex. It was Kovacs who closed his eyes. It was Rorschach who opened them again." (pg. 21, chap.6, panel 6-7) This is a major turning point in the story. By saying that he opened his eyes and he was Rorschach his created alter ego could now flourish and develop. When Rorschach murdered the dogs he thought of his mother. When Walter lashed out he was doing it to his mother not the dogs, this is displayed when Walter mutters mother before he slays the dogs. Because of this incident and his mother, he took it out on the community and became Rorschach. "I went home. I took the remains of her unwanted dress and made a face that I could bear to look at in the

In this paper I argue that Alan Moore's Watchmen uses its dystopia to critique the selfish nature of humanity that abandons morals to achieve one’s goals and a society that trusts superheroes without legal and moral authority to oversee their power. By depicting each superhero’s violent actions and their moral decisions, it criticizes the consequentialist’s argument that “the end justifies the means” . Watchmen features superheroes that are normal humans who don’t possess super powers except Dr. Manhattan and struggling for their moral standings from their past. After Adrian Veidt destroys the half of New York, he asks, “I did the right thing, didn't I?”. Although other characters do not directly ask, we can see that they all ask the question

As the film progresses we see Moore display himself as the “common man” in an effort to appeal to the audience the genuineness of his own character – his ethos. He is casually dressed wearing only jeans, T-shirt, and a baseball cap. His message is more acceptable to the audience when he is perceived as an everyday type of guy. The audience’s guards are down. Where if he was dressed in a suit, the audience would surely view him differently, possibly feeling more distant and requiring Moore to defend his viewpoints. Instead, Moore’s stories are believable because he makes the audience relate with him and his storytellers.

Throughout the comic’s history, traditional superheroes are depicted as perfectly moral characters, who save innocent people from the villain and sacrifice themselves for the greater good. From 1930’s to 1940’s, iconic and nationalistic heroes were born; Captain America and Superman, who are dedicated to fighting for the nation, are still beloved by all over the world (Comic Book Confidential). However, in Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, this convention is broken; the main character, Rorschach challenges the readers to reconsider what it means to be heroic. Unlike classic superheroes, he has moral flaws and as humane as the readers themselves so that they easily sympathize with the character. After reading Watchmen, they may recognize

When all hope seemed lost, his friend helped by giving him a job as a newspaper delivery man. All the drug therapy he took didn’t help him as well as this job did. Every day when he goes out to deliver his newspaper he becomes aware of all the little joyful things life has to offer. He interacts with store owners, by passer and jogger who run a

This is one of the key themes from Watchmen. The Watchmen, who use their time and effort attacking people who they believe to be the cause of the recent murders, make hasty determinations of culpability and impose their vigilante execution without any foresight were doomed to make mistakes. And, in defending the innocents, this raises the questions: how many mistakes will be tolerated before one is considered villainous? How many innocent civilians can one harm without becoming the very monster being fought against? Moore and Gibbons were using the Watchmen not as a case for the necessity for people to take justice upon themselves but to show the idea that vigilantes are essentially destined to turn into the villains they fight against.

The first time we get to see how Walter becomes the “dark” hero Rorschach is in Chapter 6 according to the notes of Dr. Malcolm Long (Rorschach’s narrative). The picture of the third panel on the page 10 is a beautiful dress formed like a face with fluids which implies it would be Rorschach’s another face (his alter ego), and it was verified in following “And made a face that I could bear to look at in the mirror. (ninth panel on page 10)” In another hand, the patterns of this dress is “Black and white moving. Changing Shape… But not mixing no gray.” which

A member of that once wealthy family an honest man that can’t help but relive the good days that his family had being well respected has decided to take action into his own hands to put his family name back on top by any means necessary. The pressure that he faced from the local in town made him even more eager to bring respect back to his family name. So one day he creates a plan that involves really negatively impacting people in order for his family to become rich and respected like they used to. After he succeeds in getting his family rich again and respected the things he did to those began to get the better of him. He starts to feel guilty and began realizing that everything he did was wrong from the start. Eventually he has his own family. One day his son wins an essay contest, but soon finds out that his soon won because he plagiarized the

A little while later, Mrs.Maloney looked at her daughter trying on dresses for the her prom. Her daughter known as Adeline looked at her mother questionably, her mother gave the weirdest looks especially her brother. She picked out a dress and on the way home, she told her mother about her newest class, government. They were learning about homicides and their first one was the cold case of

Through the analyses of the superheroes portrayed in Miller’s, The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore’s, Watchmen, …. Jointly

Watchmen is different from most superhero stories. For instance, the superheroes in Watchmen can be considered outcast, unenjoyed by the people of the city. They have a much different reputation from other superheroes we hear about, such as Batman and Superman. For example, this outcast theme is seen when the citizens of the city throw shade at Dr. Manhattan for causing cancer (Moore 89-91), and the constant fear when Rorschach appears (Moore 23). Furthermore, the government passed a law that forbids them from existing in their superhero state. In other words, they are not glorified as seen in other superhero depictions. After reading and seeing this within the first chapters of the graphic novel, we must ask ourselves: Are the characters of

What constitutes a hero, and likewise, what characteristics describe a villain? Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons explore these constructs in their graphic novel, Watchmen, where a dystopian, red-scare America faces potential Armageddon due to an impending nuclear war. The work introduces two potential paladins, depending on one’s moral values, Rorschach and Ozymandias, placing the motifs of categorical imperativism and utilitarianism at odds with one another. Rorschach, a “categorical imperativist,” holds an unconditional moral obligation to what he deems just, even when confronting his own mortality. On the other hand, Ozymandias, a “utilitarian,” believes in actions that benefit the majority, though in this work this ideology signifies sacrificing

In “A Life Revealed,” Sharbat Gula tells her story through her few, carefully chosen words and fierce eyes. When we hear about her life, we instantly feel compassion for the terrible events she and her family has gone through. However, when we hear the exact same stories on a larger scale, we typically ignore them and even blow them off as “necessary evils” in an “unfair world.” By doing so, we dehumanize these people and are less likely to give the help we should.

The graphic novel Watchmen by Allen Moore paints a picture of an alternate history. There are many differences between our history and the history of Watchmen, the first being that superheroes exist. Other differences such as Nixon being the president in 1985 and the United States winning the Vietnam War all contribute to Watchmen’s alternate history. In our history by 1985 the communist paranoia, and threat of nuclear war in America was winding down. The United States president and the leader of the Soviet Union were in talks to reduce nuclear weapons. In Watchmen, however, society’s attitude, the presence of Dr. Manhattan, and Adrian Veidt’s actions indicate that communist paranoia and the threat of nuclear war are at an all-time high due to the presence of Dr. Manhattan.

The short story “Diary of a Parish Clerk” begins with an introduction of a pastor, the pastor’s son, and a peasant boy. The peasant boy’s father dies shortly and the