In chapter 7, there is a a strong connection between Rorschach and the Night Owl in regards to their true identities. Though in an earlier reading, Rorschach’s capture and de-masking is as dramatic as it is influential to the character development of all the superheroes we have come to know in Watchmen. Rorschach happens to be the only character that openly admits to being his persona rather than his day to day being, Walter Kovacs.

In regards to Night Owl, Moore basically gives us an entire chapter showing Dan accepting the fact that he feels impotent in his normal skin. He literally uses the word impotent while wearing nothing but his owl goggles. The fact that he admits his own inabilities not only while completely exposed in his normal skin is a quiet admission to feeling only himself when in the skin of the Night Owl. This happens also after his dramatic dream of peeling back the human form to expose the true form of the superhero underneath.

We shouldn’t forget his sexual impotence. This is indeed a difference between Rorschach and Night Owl because of Rorschach’s disgust toward physical intimacy of any kind. Before he puts on his owl skin we see an unsuccessful attempt at physical intimacy between Night Owl and Laurie. After they put on their superhero skins, they save a burning building, and lo and behold sexual success. When asked if the costumes helped Night owl says yes, “It just feels strange, you know? To come out and admit that to somebody. To come out of the closet.” (VII, 28)

It’s interesting to see Laurie’s reaction to this experience. Maybe if it were looked at more closely we could argue she is maybe accepting her superhero skin more than she did before. This I think has something to do with the fact that she was there to see someone she respects openly accept his position as a superhero and admitting that it makes him feel powerful. This is definitely a complete opposite to what Laurie says her mother makes her feel about the superhero world.

Chapter 7 of the watchmen shows an interesting turn of events. Two people who seemed to be most free from their mask through out the book, were shown that they too are the captives of the mask Identity.

Dan Dreiberg and Laurie are the two people through out the previous chapter, shown as people who live their normal life after retiring mask hero life. However, chapter 7 too shows that they both were never truly free from the disturbed internal struggles that most masked heroes (comedian, Rorschach etc) seemed to exhibit. Previous to their mask adventure, Dan seems so unstable and nervous and unsure of himself. (For exaple, page 10 of chapter 7, 6th box, Dan is unable to evenput his hands slightly n Laurie from lack of confidence).

Contrastingly, on Page 26 of Chapter 7, we are shown of dan on the rooftop of his airship, He is drawn as confident and even smiling. His face is portrayed from as if the viewers are looking up to him, making him look more confident and higher being. He is also able to command people and keep them relaxed as he releases the people he rescued from fire.

Dan Dreiberg was unstable and unsure without the mask, however with his mask, he is sure of himself and carries himself with power and control(example he is able to reach to Laurie after the masked adventure).

It is truly interesting how, noone, seems to be truly free from their masked identity after the years have passed.

 In Watchmen the divide between art/time/memory and reality is so blurred the notion of “life imitating art” is visible on nearly every page.  On page 14 of Chapter 7 when Dan and Laurie first make love an ad for “Nostalgia” perfume is on the television in the background (“Unforgettable you”. Even the slogan is a line from a song about memory- Nat Cole “Unforgettable”). “Nostalgia” perfume is featured in several panels thereafter, page 25 in Chapter 7 a large billboard is visible in the background that reads “Oh, how the ghost of you clings….Nostalgia”. In Chapter 8 “Nostalgia” appears again on the cover page of Chapter 9 and on page 24 Laurie breaks a bottle “Nostalgia” destroying the complex structure that Jon built on Mars.  It’s interesting that this product appears throughout the novel as a piece of the reality of their world, along with The Black Freighter. The reoccurence of these images ties in the emotional and violent turmoil of the characters. The Black Freighter, the ship of death, seems to parallel the nuclear holocaust lurking on the horizon. Memories also play a vivid role in Watchmen. Laurie realizes who her real father is in Chapter 9 as she re-lives a moment with a snow globe in her childhood.  Memories have a real, however, abstract root in reality. On page 6 of Chapter 9 Jon explains that: “There is no future. There is no past. Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet.”  The memories of the past still exist in their own tiny worlds, like time capsules that re-play at the first suggestion of nostalgia.

Chapters 7 through 9 really delve into Laurie’s emotions and push her to the limit and expose some of her grittiest character flaws.

In chapter 7, she practically throws herself at Dan because… he looks good without glasses?

In chapter 9, she is visiting/being held captive by Jon on Mars, and fails again and again to understand a damn word that he is saying. This bothers me because I understood what he was saying, and so did pretty much every other woman who has ever read it… so how does that represent “real” women?

It just made her seem unintelligent and completely irrational to me. She also failed to realize the point she herself had proven to Jon at the end of their conversation that convinced him to return to earth.

I completely lost touch with the character at that point.

I have two takes on her disposition —

1 (my initial reaction):

Alan Moore is sexist and wrote only weak, annoying, stupid, slutty female characters into The Watchmen. >.<

2 (my conclusion after a little more reflection):

As I stated in a previous post, The Watchmen seems to be an analysis of what would happen if real people were to try to be superheroes. In doing this, it explores various character types and their defects. For example, on the male side, you have an overly aggressive character (Rorschach), a cynical character (Comedian) , a self-doubting character (Nite Owl 2), a power hungry character (Ozymandias), and an indifferent character (Dr. Manhattan). This stretches into the Minutemen as well with insanity, etc.

The primary female flaws are shown through the fewer female characters. Three dangerous/tragic paths and faults that women are often accused of are: becoming whores (Silhouette), having illegitimate children and losing careers as a result (Sally), and making decisions based on wild, random, and unchecked emotions (Laurie).

So, considering Laurie's annoying character flaws alongside the other characters' flaws, she is a little easier for me to swallow. I do maintain, however, that such a woman – as well as the type of woman that Sally was – would not have been drawn to being superheroes in real life. Perhaps the fact that Laurie was “forced” into it has something to do with her disposition?

I also wonder what kind of social experiment the book would have been if a woman had been thrust into Jon's omnipotent superhero position rather than a man.

When reading The Watchmen, the thing that jumped out at me was that Laurie (the Silk Spectre) was everywhere, both physically and emotionally. In the physical sense she was in various places. She was in New York, then she went to Mars with Jon (Mr. Manhattan). Emotionally, she could not keep herself together. She had just left Jon and she goes to Dan (Nite Owl) and sleeps with him then goes to Mars with Jon as soon as he shows up again. All the while trying to figure out what she wants. I think a reason why she is everywhere is because when she was growing up she could not be herself. She was groomed to follow her mother’s footsteps even though she did not want to.

Since Laurie was unable to choose want she wanted to do when she was growing up, she does almost anything she wants now that the Keene Act forced her to retire. She choose to stay with Jon. She choose to break up with him. She choose to go to Dan and many more choices thereafter. Even though she makes all these choices, they seem to lead her to trouble. To me it almost seems as if she can’t make a decision on her own without getting into some sort of emotional trouble. She’s a thirty-five year old woman and I see a teenager that thinks she can do anything but pays the price for it. As I said before I think the fact that she could not make her own decisions when she was younger effects the way she is now. Now she can make those decisions but they are immature decisions.

-Kimberly Stokes

Reading through Chapter Nine, I found myself particularly interested in the developments of the Comedian as a character. Since it is his death that starts the book and his image (the smiling pin) that graces the cover, we know right off the bat that he’s obviously of paramount importance to the story, though he is dead in the comic’s active plotline–a fact that is mostly negated by the prevalence of flashbacks throughout the book anyway. Chapter Nine, however, reveals a side of him you haven’t gotten to see before this point.

Early in Watchmen we encounter Edward Blake as a symbol of a lot of the things that are frightening about superheroes: a power-hungry, forced-based individual with little qualms doing things that make him seem far more like a super villain than a hero. Now, though, we get a chance to see another side of him. He’s capable of what appears to be at least rudimentary fondness towards his daughter, and even perhaps the woman he tried to rape earlier in the story. His repeating of the “you’re beautiful… like your mother” line gives the sense that he holds Sally in some regard still, though their actual interactions are always rough in the books. Sally herself defends him some to her husband, saying that he was capable of gentleness towards her.

Edward Blake is not a sympathetic character. His insistence that he tried to rape a woman “only once” cements this again in the moment you might be tempted to waver a little and forget his horrific crimes. He is, however, a complicated one and an interesting one, striking a chord of reality that is a bit disconcerting. There are levels to him that his chapter makes you explore that make him less comfortable to hate him, and that just goes along with the genuine theme in Watchmen of nothing being entirely black and white… as much as Rorschach may see otherwise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FddtfNWJ0E

Sorry I’m not really sure how to post youtube videos as videos,  just copy and past the first 2 urls.

Basically, these are videos from conventions ( I suppose)  and this artist is amazing! He is creating a watchmen mural in chalk. His attention to detail is amazing. Anyway, that’s just something I wanted to share.

This however, is my related pick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zPIJhtYo8k

This is clips of panels set in soundtrack to a Bob Dylan’s song. It’s relevant because the lyrics correspond with some of the panels and our book does have little panels with lyrics “at midnight all the agents”, etc.  There is a parallel between the song and the graphic novel, and I think the story’s progress is shown through the song.

-laura kelly

It is apparent that the “Under the Hood” excerpt is almost as important to the world of the Watchmen as the panels are, which just might partly explain the quasi-failure of the film adaptation which could not contain the writings of Hollis Mason for obvious reasons. Although they serve as great stories on their own merit, they also manage to enhance the effect of the main text. The story Moe Vernon in the first chapter of “Under the Hood” is one of the saddest things I ever read. Moe was known for his sense of humor, which included props—even a pair of rubber bosoms that he happened to be wearing when he discovers that his wife has been having an affair with his trusted friend and employee, Fred Motz. When Moe informs everyone of this, they break out laughing, mostly to the juxtaposition of Moe, the breasts, and the “Ride of the Valkyrie,” and later Moe commits suicide.

Moe Vernon serves as a parallel to Eddie Blake, who has been murdered in the issue preceding the excerpt. Both are tragic comedians in a dark and hollow world that needs laughter more than ever before but will not be around any longer to provide it.

I agree with Moriah’s evaluation of the characters and morals (or lack there of) of the “heroes” in the first few chapters of The Watchmen. I also find it very interesting that, in most cases, the characters admit to their flaws. I think that their biggest weakness is that they put themselves in the shoes of superheroes but still view themselves as “only human”. Rather than accepting responsibilities as true “watchers” of and examples for the human race, they pretend to be superheroes because it makes them happy and then whine about the consequences.

Some of these human flaws are spelled out very directly on page 30 of Chapter 2 in an excerpt from the original Nite Owl’s book. He describes the various flaws of the team including sex fetishes, insanity, political extremity, etc. “… we were crazy, we were kinky, we were Nazis, all those things that people say.”

Overall, I think this book is a great study so far on what the world would be like if people tried to act like superheroes, but I do not consider it to be a book about actual superheroes. Perhaps one could even use this book as a study on why super heroes cannot exist.

Even Dr. Manhattan with his real “super” powers is an example of the improbability of super beings as heroes. Like we talked about in class on Tuesday, his omnipotent powers left him bored with humanity and even the rest of the universe. The idea that such a being would waste his time on Earth is not probable in the “real world” – a world in which The Watchman is clearly based.

I’d like to agree and build upon what Moria mentioned in her First Readers message, that Rosarch closely resembles Batman. I’d like to push this idea a little more, and say that a number of characters have resemble certain aspects of Batman.  While Batman’s true element and most well known characteristic is fear, there are a number of other aspects that complete him. The costume as well as the gadgets, the heavily conditioned and near perfect body, and last but not least the mind; let’s not forget that Batman is one of the comic book world’s greatest detectives.

Niteowl is most closely related to Batman when it comes to costumes, (I mean come on, they both represent winged animals of the night), and they both have highly stylized vehicles. Batman has the batmobile while Niteowl has Archie; both of these vehicles are outfitted with a nice array of weaponry. Another connection between ‘the Owl’ and ‘the Bat’ are their bank accounts. Wayne inherited Wayne Enterprises from his father, while Dan’s father was a banker who also left him a large inheritance.

Ozymandias or Adrian Veidt is a combination of the other two characteristics, he is incredibly smart as well as well conditioned. The media calls him, “The World’s Smartest Man”, and in his chamber he is sometimes seen watching more than 2 dozens televisions at once. He has built an incredible powerful financial empire which he seems to have a steady rule over. Batman, or Bruce Wayne rather has an empire and according to the DC Wiki  (http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Batman_%28Bruce_Wayne%29) he is a genius who is a master of numerous languages. Ozymandias is also world renowned for his physical prowess, in one scene he is seen performing acrobatics, later he catches a bullet with his bare hands, and towards the end he is seen easily lifting a full grown man over his head. Batman is an example of physical perfection, even for a fictional human some of his achievements seem superhuman, as we’ve witnessed time after time, Batman single handedly takes down a mob of men, beating people twice his size, and even healing from a broken back.

I’m not here to say that any of the Watchmen’s characters are a rip off of Batman, but that they have small similarities which connect them.  I think these connections are just qualities that most human super heroes. If you’re human super hero character doesn’t have any flash gadgets, a nice vehicle, an incredible intelligence, or a great body, what makes them so Super?

I think the moral statement Watchmen tries to make is fascinating. I could discuss the city. Watchmen is based out of New York City. But  then again New York City being the gross underbelly of a society doesn’t really surprise anyone. Throughout these beginning chapters it is highlighted how much the city and the people need to be saved.

The main person narrating this point is Rorschach. His opinions and thoughts on the city are made clear from the first panel he steps into. I mention the moral decay of the city to the end of talking about its hero’s. The “heroes” in Watchmen, at least the ones presented to us in these early chapters, seem to be more parts villain than they are hero. First we have Rorschach who in my personally opinion is so blinded by disgust and hate that he is no longer fit to do the job. He in my opinion has lost sight of the people who are the heart of the city, and if you are no longer working to save them but are fighting to maintain a standard, how can you carry on the fight in a humane way? He puts my in mind of a Batman without hope who has no rules and crosses whatever lines he wants to get the job done. Rorschach is an extreme example. Any one can look at him and see that he has lost sight of the true mission and has been blinded by the desire to purge. But aside from him there is the Comedian. A man responsible/entrusted with saving people and yet he attempts to rape a fellow teammate! In Watchmen even the heroes need to be saved. On page pg 5 in the Hollis Mason Pages he is talking about how in comics the line for good and evil is defined. there are no questions of right and wrong and justice is served. Moor and Gibbons seem to be conveying that the exact opposite is the truth. No given situation is as pretty and simple as right and wrong. But each choice, each hero, each villain even, is filled with shades of gray.

The characters in Watchmen are all based on those of a publisher, Charlton, that (at the time) had been newly acquired by DC. As Alan Moore’s original draft would have left many of these characters dead or indisposed, he was asked to create new characters instead. Although they didn’t get used in Watchmen, many of the Charlton characters are still in use by DC today.

In context to my current rereading of Watchmen, I am incredibly happy that The Blue Beetle, The Question, and Captain Atom (their doppelgangers are Night Owl, Rorschach, and Dr. Manhattan, respectively) did not find their way into the story. Although this is partly because of a sort of protectiveness I have for the characters, it is also because would also ruin the integrity of the work itself. Alan Moore brings these new characters to life (if it can be called that) in a cold, dark world, which requires them to behave a certain way; if they had even a tiny bit of back story prior to page 1 of Watchmen, it would be hard to take this attitude for granted. By choosing to use fresh characters, Alan Moore is granted infinitely more control over his entire universe. As a result, there is a cold underlying feeling that runs through the story, and each of its characters. As a reader, this ‘chill’ is constantly reinforced by the characters behaving as if something major is about to break; we believe this sentiment so much so, that when it actually happens, it isn’t completely out of left field (even if it is in the form of a space squid).

Ultimately, the DC comics, Alan Moore, and the readers got so much more from his creations than they would have if he had chosen to keep his original roaster of characters. For the Charlton characters, their purity was kept intact even as they all got to live another day, while Alan Moore got to make his world as dark and gritty as it absolutely needed to be.