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popculturebuffet · 2 years

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Watchmen Retrospective: “Absent Friends” (Patreon Review For WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to my Watchmen retrospective! Last month I started a look into what many consider the greatest comic book of all time, courstey of my patron WeirdKev27. If you also have a comic you’d like me to look at, comissions are still open for this month, and if you’d like a monthly review like kev, maybe some one offs maybe have me take a look at a story or run you like, hop over to my patreon. 5 dollar backers get a review every month guaranteed with a spot on my schedule saved just for them. No matter what gets changed or shoved back, this spot will be forever and every tier you hit unlocks more projects. The next time someone joins i’ll be reviewing owl house season 1 and after that my patrons get to vote on one of three Derrick J Watt shows, including Teen Titans. So if you want me to go teen titans without having to suffer through teen titans go, then join today

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Now the pluggings out of the way, we’ve come to our second chapter and the first of several flashbacks as every even numbered issue from here on out is a mix of the present day and flashbacks going into one of the characters. In this case it’s the cast having various memories of the now dead and throughly vile comedian that help both build the supsect list on how who killed him and flesh out the world after the hints given last time. IT’s a great device and one that was brought about.. because the guys realized the story needed more and thus added it.. though they had to add a little something else to help make it to 12 issues, but we’ll see that later. Still it works as the flashback issues fill in the character and even with my vaugest memories I know each one has a unique format and scenario , and every one has a present day storyline that helps move the story along. It’s a brilliant way to keep the pacing up, as no story momentum is lost, while still giving us the vital character information we need for this to be oh so painfully real. So join me under the cut as we salute to an absent “friend” and flash back to how said friend was just the worst. Content Warning: Due to the subject, this review contains mentions of sexual assault and violence. Discretion is advised.

Previously on Watchmen:In a world where superheroes had breifly existed but most had been forced into retirment by the law, A through bastard who likes to wear a gimp suit with an american flag on it got thrown out a window on his off time, leading to an alex jones inkblot to go looking for it, depressing his former best friend, calling a guy gay, breaking another guy’s hand for no real reason and defending a man who raped one of his interviews mother so much she had her naked blue husband shoo him away.

We open with two scenes going simultationously, we see Dr. Manhattan pull up to the funeral, wearing a formal suit suprisingly given how detached he is. Though i’ts likely Alan Moore didn’t want to detract from the solemn, moody atmosphere with a blue man’s glowing junk.

Laurie meanwhile is Calforni MIA as she’s gone to visit her mother, the dialouge of their conversation overlaping with the cold grey new york funeral at times. Sally, Laurie’s mom, also bipasses her daughter’s attempt to sidestep what’s going on, as she knows The Comedian died and suprisingly has forgiven him for nearly raping her, something that baffles Laurie.

From there it’s a decent amount of passive agressive sniping from Sally, who complains about new york, not happy her daughter is living a state away (and got here via naked blue man teleporting), calling Dr. Manhattan a human bomb that just needs to get laid once in a while which while accurate isn’t something you say to said bomb’s wife, and making caughing noises instead of just.. telling her daughter to put out a cigarette she lit in a small cramped room. Outside of the last one.. she’s out of bounds, basically crticizing her daughters life despite not having been the best part of it. She also whips out a tijuana bible, basically a tiny rarely lisecnesed porn comic from the 40′s because it reminds her of being young. But her reason for it is heartbreaking as it reminds her of better times... though reminding her of better times as this world inches closer to armageddon. And given the times we live in where throngs of people actively want an open insusrectionest back in teh white house... I know how she feels. It’s during all this we get our first flashback.. I just held it back as after this the next three are in rapid succesion, each following one of our “modern” heroes, followed by one more that’s incredibly plot important to close us out i’ll get to. As such it’s easier to recap going through the five flashbacks in order rather than having Sally’s intercut then going into three basically in a row. And shockingly not much happens at the funeral despite being a superhero funeral. Whlie there usually aren’t attacks there’s usually more words but here all men just sit solemnly and silently and remember the bastard their mourning. It works though as each flashback shows something Awful Eddie Blake did.. and thus..

As every one of them knew what a bastard he was and even if the flashback in paticular didn’t spring them to action, it could provide some motivation later. Granted i’m sure most of you reading this know who done it, but back then the mystery at the center wasn’t an open secret most comic fans know due to one of the most iconic lines in comic book history. Anyways time for some flashbacks! Sally’s Flashback:

It’s the 40′s or 50′s and The Minutemen are having their photo taken. The Minutemen are like the Justice Society.. though this world’s justice league never got off the ground but we’ll get to that next. We’ll get more into them in this issue’s under the hood chapters, but point is their having publicity photo’s taken and Sally goes to change.. only for Eddie to accost her and say she “wanted it” by dressing that way. before touching her.. and when she fights back.. he overpowers her and prepares to assault her. While we only learned about it second hand last time, and as we see here Nite Owl learned the same way as he wasn’t present, The Comedian DID try assaulting Sally Jupiter, only stopped by Hooded Justice beating the crap out of him . Who then procedes to berate sally telling her to “get up and cover herself” because he was a dick.

I will say this assault scene.. is horrifying. It’s well written, showing Sally’s struggle, and not treating it once for titlation, showing just how violent and horribile it is. But it’s also one done right: it’s necessary to the character, to the plot as Nite Owl went public with this incident in Under the Hood so Dan, Hollis and Sally all have reason to want to cave his skull in: Dan to do what his mentor would “want” to, Hollis to get payback out of love for sally or something, and Sally to get vengance for her mom. And , especially for the time, it dosen’t ignore Sally’s feelings: the art shows how scared she is and the last shot shows her beaten up not for shock.. but to show how horrifically she’s treated for being nearly raped. That somehow to Hooded Justice it’s “her fault for wearing skimpy clothing” even though she just got changed, you sociopath.

I bring this up because I feel a lot of writers after this.. abused women just for shock value or to support a male character. Even Alan Moore himself had Barbra Gordon shot just to motivate her dad after this. But I feel a lot of later writers took the wrong message: that adding assault makes a work edgy and screams..

Instead of you know, ONLY using it if your going to treat such a horrific and nightmarish subject with the utmost grace and care. Invincible is a good example of this in a way I won’t get into as the series will likely cover this at some point and to it’s further credit did so by covering a male heroes assault, as men getting raped is usually treated for comedy or some such crap.

Instead we’ve gotten shit like retconning in Sue Dibny being raped to justify the mindwipe part of Identity Crisis or that time mark millar had a villian character force two siblings to have sex and then wired the uterus so if she aborted it, it’d kill her or render her infertle or some such garbage. And thankfully we haven’t gotten shit like this lately and times have changed, and I don’t put having to put up with this shit for so long on Moore. Alan Moore simply wrote a story that included an assault in it and for the time did decently, showing Sally’s view point as valid: it still effects her but didn’t stop her from living her life. Granted there are elements we’ll get to that aren’t great later but for 1986, this is a great attempt. He was not the first or last comic book writer to do this, I simply feel like with rorschach a lot of writers took it as necessary to be “edgy” instead of you knokw SOMETHING THAT STILL FUCKING HAPPENS WAY TOO OFTEN AND SHOULD BE TREADED CAREFULLY YA DICKS.

Adrian’s Flashback:

Now we get to Ozymandis’.. which is easily the most important out of them and the most iconic as it’s time for the first and last meeting of The Crimebusters, a failed attempt at making a new team after the minutemen. And your probably asking “Wait so then whose the Watchmen if neither superhero group is” the Simple answer

The Watchmen is based on a phrase from an old poem , originally “who guards the guards themselves”, i.e. “who holds those with power acountable.” It’s not a bad title.. but I do see why both the unshot film script from the 80′s and the Snyder film changed the Crimebusters to well.. The Watchmen.. as did one of the greatest videos of all time

youtube

Though I do think the Crimebusters name works in it’s context: It’s goofy and outdated even for the 60′s in which they were almost formed. It’s to show this idea is a relic and unwieldly even from the name. Watchemen sounds just a tad too slick for that, but I also don’t blame adaptations for... actually wanting the name to mean something besides something metaphorical. It’s easier to market and such and makes a tad more sense. But I also can’t blame Moore and Davis in a work tha’ts intetonally subversive.. for subverting expectations by not having a group named the Watchmen at any point.

So the would-be crimebusters are made up of our main cast and lead by.. Captain Metropolis.

Cap was one of the Minutemen and was active till his death, which happened before the Keene Act and before the present day of the narrative, thus he vanished. He’s a corny old man at this point trying to tuck in his paunch who wants to unite these mostly powerless heroes to change the world. He’s also a tad conservative and more than a tad racist and sexist if you take a look at what he thinks society’s problems are.

Out of the four only drugs can be a problem. Being anti-war, having lots of sex as long as your safe or wanting a fair fucking deal in this country.. those are all fair. So it’s not a huge shock he gets laughed out of the room by one of them and even less that it’s the Comedian. Who is a MASSIVE dick about it but again, is doing this to a guy who not only thinks guys in costumes can “solve promiscuity”. Neither of this come out of this with any dignity. WHile the others try to defend nelson they end up leaving as Comedian’s thorughly humilated the guy and proven an organized superhero team.. just can’t fix larger issues. Which is true though they CAN try: Batman may be best known for punching the joker in the groin, but he does spend time as bruce in most iterations donating money to causes, trying to rebuild gotham and help the bigger issues he can’t batman away. Superman is a reporter not to make himself look good (He leaves that to his wife who did so long before she knew it was him), but to help ferret out the injustices superman can’t. Heroes DO try to do what they can in civlian livfes.. it’s just a lot of them, as is the case for most of the cast here are just normal people in costumes. Only Manhattan can really effect change as we’ll learn in a second. and even he more or less just does what he’s asked to. I do feel this isn’t perfect as A) due to the nature of this world superpowers are mostly a non-factor outside of Jon so the major argument against superheroes taking action in the world is moot and B) since them more and more heroes have taken a stance and some don’t simply because they don’t have the time or means to really change the world powers or not. But it’s still an effective scene and it’s ending panel is one of the best in the entire work. And I know i’m rereading it in progress.. but it’s one that sums up the work, has been homaged quite a bit and sums up the work nicely

Also two last notes before this: The focus on Ozymandis.. and the fact Lauries been side eyeing john all night.. in front of his wife. And she’s noticed him looking back.

Jon’s Flashback:

It’s the waning days of the Vietnam War.. and i’ts here we hit one of the more iconic bits of the comic as here.. it didn’t last very long thanks to Dr. Manhattan. Nixon pointing him at the the Vietcong, he blew a bunch of them up and they surrendered so while they were there for at least a few months... it still ended in the decisive win we didn’t get and Nixon becoming president, with the Comedian insuring said presdency as it’s implied he killed woodward and bernstiein. So our heroes CAN impact history.. it’s a question of if it was the right thing. This change was really just so Moore could tackle reganism using a face Regan fans wouldn’t care if he skewered, as talked about last time, but it still works to show the impact these characters had on the world: just because superheroes didn’t last for LONG dosen’t mean they didn’t change the world a lot. It reinforces the point though: they didn’t effect change through being costumed heroes: they effected changes through black ops and having the power of a god.

So Peacemaker wants to skeedaddle as soon as possible and the Dad part soon becomes apparent as a vietamise woman approaches him.. pregnant. Naturally Blake’s quick to abandon them so she rightfully slashes his face with a broken beer bottle.. only for blake to shoot her to death, likely dooming his child. And while he’s an absolute monster for this.. he points out Jon is’nt much better: he COULD’VE stopped it but for whatever reason didn’t. Comedian points out Jon is becoming more distant, cold: he wasn’t there for Jenny before their divorce or whatever, won’t be there for sally forever.. and god help us all when he’s there for no one at all. Still glad he’s dead.. I mean you can be right about a naked superman slowly growing detached from relaity and still be the monster who shot a pregnant woman in the belly. Those two things arne’t exclusive. Anyone with eyes can see Jon’s slowly drifting from humanity.

Dan’s Flashback:

Dan’s takes us to right before the Keene Act: Police are striking in protest over masked heroes.. whcih given they’ll strike over having to take a vaccine or being called out on being racist in present day isn’t suprising. Naturally this forces the heroes into the rough position of holding back people who already hate them. And the comedian showed Dan the dirtier side of costumed hero.. when someone, instead of trying to protect people imposes their will with comedian RELISHING in getting to opress the masses while it nearly breaks Dan explaning WHY he quit: he likely worried about becoming a monster like Eddy the longer he kept the costume on.

Moloch’s Flashback:

So the funeral ends as we get a great panel of Dan throwing the button in the casket.. and see the same end is near pickiter from last issue watching someone leave the funeral.. and we get a pretty clear reveal who he is as next we see the guy Rorschach jumps him, revealing he saw the guy at the funeral.. and given we didn’t see rorschach there it had to be someone we saw. But it’s also clever in that you only notice it if you already know or your paying close attention.

Anyways as for why he’s attacking this guy this guy, as the header I have gives away is Moloch. As for who that is he was a nemisis of both generations of crime fighting whose long since retired and spent the 70′s in jail, and who isn’t sure why he went.. until he reveals the Comedian crashed into his place one night while incredibly drunk.

And so our final flashback is Edward Blake rambling like all hell, talking about “an island” , some sort of conspericy involving Janey Slater, Manhattan’s ex, and how messed up it makes him, the pregnant woman and child killer, feel. And it makes you feel horrified as Blake: after all if someone we’ve seen do the worst a man could do feels bad aabout what this secret conspiracy is planning... just WHAT is at it’s heart. IT’s also a nice bait and switch: before this it came off as revenge: edward blake was a rightfully and widely hated asshole.. but now some like dan drop off. Something bigger is going on that Comedian was let in on and again someone this horrible was freaked out by it.

So the conversatoin ends with Rorshach pointing out illegal drugs.. that turn out to be highly questionable cancer drugs which Moloch explains he needs as he has cancer.. as for what kind..

So Shackers in a rare show of decency lets the guy go and heads off into the night for another rambly monologue. But we do get a hell of a moment as he explains who Blake is..

It dosen’t make him a good person.. but it makes him understandable, a man who saw society was broken and decided to treat it like a joke and help break it more instead of trying to make it any better. Life was a joke.. and the jokes on him.

So with that we get one final solemn shot as Shack Attack takes a rose from the grave and puts it on his lapel in memory.

TO BE CONTINUED...

“Absent Friends’ is a wonderful second chapter, adding a lot of depth and shading to the world and to who Edward blake does while ramping up the mystery: what bigger scheme is at hand and who wanted him dead bad enough to keep a lid on it? or did he know something and the death was just a concidence? Find out next month.. well okay don’t because obviously they aren’t going to reveal who killed him two issues in , but do come back to watch some more watchmen.. but first as always

Under the Hood Chapters 3 and 4:

So more of Hollis’ career. The third chapter is intresting to read, just not to recap: Hollis spent several months training, picking up the “nite owl” moniker from a mocking co-workers, and having to use Spirit Gum, a thetrical glue , to keep his mask to his face after someone nearly killed him putting it down and obscuring his vision. It’s good stuff showing how a 40′s era hero would get started.

The meat though is in chapter 4, where we get the formation of the minutemen. More Masked Heroes had been showing up so Captain Metropolis, much like his failed attempt in the 60′s, decided to form a team and called the only one he knew who had a public phone number: silk spectre, since her husband had set up her career as a publiclity shoot. As such the heroes of the time: Captain Metropolis, Silk Spectre, Nite Owl, Moth Man, Silhoutte, The Comedian and Hooded Justice became the Minutemen and fought crime and caught publiclity. But eventually.. the group fractured: Dollar Bill died due to getting his cape caught in the door, Siloutte was drummed out thanks to her sexuality and murdered by an old foe(Something Hollis and Sally both deeply regret) and Sally eventually retired, leaving the group to quitely disband.. and to inspire another generation to Hollis’ regret.

Some small stray notes here: HOllis also points out the team were some degress of messed up the worst of them being Captain Metropolis, who as I pointed out earlier was racist and was apparently open about that and Hooded Justice who supported the nazis apparently. Though one of the sequels would take him in a decidly non racist direction. But that’s not for here. Point is it’s another good pair of chapters of intresting stuff

And if you want more intresting stuff please consider joining my patreon. I have exclusive reviews, 5 dollar patreons like Kev get a review a month with a gurantted spot on the schedule (though if you’d like to comission just hit up my ask box and i’llmake room where I can), and patrons of any stripe not only help me hit stretch goals (current one as of this writing is the owl house) as each person joining means I hit a goal and thus start a new project when there’s room, but get to pick something when I do a poll. So sign up today the link

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#watchmen #rorshack #alan moore #dave gibbons #dc comics #dr manhattan #the comedian #silk spectre #nite owl #hooded justice

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