"Never despair, never surrender." - Rorschach
Sure, he reeks, he's psychotic and highly right winged but who does not love it when Rorschach breaks a few fingers and much worse on the bad guys? To me, this masked vigilante is one of the most intriguing "super heroes" featured in Watchmen for his twisted dedication and logic to solving the Comedian's murder.
Watchmen writer Alan Moore based Rorschach on existing characters of the now defunct Charlton Comics line. He is loosely based off of The Question and Mr. A, both created by Steve Ditko. Rorschach is not the only masked adventurer who is based on existing characters from other comics as the two Nite Owls, the two Silk Spectres, the Comedian, Ozymandias and Doc Manhattan are based on existing characters.
Rorschach is a grim protagonist, whose methods of absolute justice are not only shunned by the underworld but also by the law and ex-vigilantes he used to work with. He keeps a journal which reveals his motivations, thoughts and personality. Rorschach makes his mission and philosophies clear from the beginning:
"The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth and all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and
politicians will look up and shout 'Save us!'...and I'll look down and whisper 'No.' Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into bloody hell, all those liberals and intellectuals and smooth-talkers...and all of the sudden, nobody can think of a thing to say."
Being the only vigilante among his kin who was too stubborn for hanging up his blot mask and calling it a day, Rorschach continued working right up to the Comedian's murder. Aside from excellent tactical abilities, cold-edged cunning and ruthlessness, Rorschach is proficient with makeshift weapons (also known as MacGyverisms) and excels in the areas of hand to hand combat, unconventional combat (using a broken toilet as a weapon...just read on and see!) and dramatic usage of torture (see Moloch the Mystic for that department!).
The most defining feature of Rorschach is his mask, or as he refers to it, his "face." The shapes on his mask almost always change from panel to panel, reflecting his thoughts and feelings akin to the Rorschach inkblot test that complement his monotone voice. Rorschach possesses a "black and white" worldview, that "good" must prevail and "evil" much be punshed by any means necessary. The black shapes on his white mask never
blend; hence, Moore literally and metaphorically established Rorschach's "black-white" attitude. The shapes on the mask not only resemble Rorschach's thoughts, they represent the chaos in an ever changing world. The chaos represented on his face reflects the horror his alter ego witnessed, causing him to flee and Rorschach to surface.
As I was reading Watchmen, I could not help but make comparisons to another of Moore's creations, V, from V for Vendetta. Rorschach's face represents chaos and how a viewer might interpret it (or how Rorschach might interpret it). V's face is a Guy Fawkes' mask, representing 400 year old anarchy against European rule. Both are strange figures but with two completely different ideologies.
Rorschach bends on the right winged level with strong, nationalist and reactionary feelings to the world around him, absorbing the darkness and hatred he hunts down. V on the other hand is left winged, dabbling in absolute anarchy and chaos he creates to improve conditions in the world.
Both their alter egoes disintegrated enduring the horrors of reality with one pessimistic and the other full of hope. The differences and similarities bounce off one another. For a more in-depth analysis, check out the link titled "Two Vigilantes Walk into a Bar..."
Between the two, V would be more fun to hang out with it despite his terrorist motives of blowing up Norsefire's inhabited buildings and willingness to torture people to madness and/or death. His hideout is more stylish that Rorschach's!...but I better carry on with Ol' Blotface, huh?
Rorschach can be denounced as a fascist prick but ironically, many people like myself agree he's one of the greatest characters in Watchmen and one of the best comic book creations ever! For Zack Snyder's 2009 production of Watchmen, the first character photo released was Rorschach. Online casting debates revolved around-who else?-Rorschach. And what character has been in more fan art, more fan videos and more analytical discussions of Watchmen than any other character?
Sure, he reeks, he's psychotic and highly right winged but who does not love it when Rorschach breaks a few fingers and much worse on the bad guys? To me, this masked vigilante is one of the most intriguing "super heroes" featured in Watchmen for his twisted dedication and logic to solving the Comedian's murder.
Watchmen writer Alan Moore based Rorschach on existing characters of the now defunct Charlton Comics line. He is loosely based off of The Question and Mr. A, both created by Steve Ditko. Rorschach is not the only masked adventurer who is based on existing characters from other comics as the two Nite Owls, the two Silk Spectres, the Comedian, Ozymandias and Doc Manhattan are based on existing characters.
Rorschach is a grim protagonist, whose methods of absolute justice are not only shunned by the underworld but also by the law and ex-vigilantes he used to work with. He keeps a journal which reveals his motivations, thoughts and personality. Rorschach makes his mission and philosophies clear from the beginning:
"The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth and all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and
politicians will look up and shout 'Save us!'...and I'll look down and whisper 'No.' Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into bloody hell, all those liberals and intellectuals and smooth-talkers...and all of the sudden, nobody can think of a thing to say."Being the only vigilante among his kin who was too stubborn for hanging up his blot mask and calling it a day, Rorschach continued working right up to the Comedian's murder. Aside from excellent tactical abilities, cold-edged cunning and ruthlessness, Rorschach is proficient with makeshift weapons (also known as MacGyverisms) and excels in the areas of hand to hand combat, unconventional combat (using a broken toilet as a weapon...just read on and see!) and dramatic usage of torture (see Moloch the Mystic for that department!).
The most defining feature of Rorschach is his mask, or as he refers to it, his "face." The shapes on his mask almost always change from panel to panel, reflecting his thoughts and feelings akin to the Rorschach inkblot test that complement his monotone voice. Rorschach possesses a "black and white" worldview, that "good" must prevail and "evil" much be punshed by any means necessary. The black shapes on his white mask never
blend; hence, Moore literally and metaphorically established Rorschach's "black-white" attitude. The shapes on the mask not only resemble Rorschach's thoughts, they represent the chaos in an ever changing world. The chaos represented on his face reflects the horror his alter ego witnessed, causing him to flee and Rorschach to surface.As I was reading Watchmen, I could not help but make comparisons to another of Moore's creations, V, from V for Vendetta. Rorschach's face represents chaos and how a viewer might interpret it (or how Rorschach might interpret it). V's face is a Guy Fawkes' mask, representing 400 year old anarchy against European rule. Both are strange figures but with two completely different ideologies.
Rorschach bends on the right winged level with strong, nationalist and reactionary feelings to the world around him, absorbing the darkness and hatred he hunts down. V on the other hand is left winged, dabbling in absolute anarchy and chaos he creates to improve conditions in the world.
Both their alter egoes disintegrated enduring the horrors of reality with one pessimistic and the other full of hope. The differences and similarities bounce off one another. For a more in-depth analysis, check out the link titled "Two Vigilantes Walk into a Bar..." Between the two, V would be more fun to hang out with it despite his terrorist motives of blowing up Norsefire's inhabited buildings and willingness to torture people to madness and/or death. His hideout is more stylish that Rorschach's!...but I better carry on with Ol' Blotface, huh?
Rorschach can be denounced as a fascist prick but ironically, many people like myself agree he's one of the greatest characters in Watchmen and one of the best comic book creations ever! For Zack Snyder's 2009 production of Watchmen, the first character photo released was Rorschach. Online casting debates revolved around-who else?-Rorschach. And what character has been in more fan art, more fan videos and more analytical discussions of Watchmen than any other character?
I'll let you take a guess...3...2...1...Rorschach!
To prove his relevance further, Empire Online picked Rorschach as #16 of "The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters."
So yeah...love him, hate him, Rorschach will be stalking the alleyways of graphic novel lovers' imaginations for years to come.
- Kristopher
- Kristopher
2 comments:
I really enjoyed your take on this character! The psychology behind the mask is very intriguing indeed. He is completely ruthless and driven by anger but at the same time strives for truth and justice. I think this is why many are drawn to his character. He is almost villainous in his en devours, creating a revolutionary-like hero within the story who maintains his own love/hate relationship with the reader and fellow characters.
We've had a lot of satisfied customers in 2012; we plan to close out the new year by offering some really cool stuff Watchmen Rorschach Mask.
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