Fox Owns Rights to Watchmen - Judge Rules

So seems the judge as finally ruled out that "20th Century Fox should prevail on crucial issues"! So Fox wins and we as happy-movie-goers + watchmen-fans + freakingly-eager-anticipants-of-watchmen-movie-adaptation might all be screwed!!

For those of you who have been happily Oxycodoning themselves to oblivion, there has been this infernal lawsuit going on between 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. 20th Century Fox, being the smart and highly materialistic company (who isn't for that matter) they are, bought rights to Watchmen movie two decades back and now Fox Studios is after Warner Bros just at the opportune moment when Watchmen has turned into the most anticipated movie of 2009!

But we might be screwed though? I'll tell you how - The damn thing says something to the effect of "The parties may wish to turn their efforts from preparing for trial to negotiating a resolution of this dispute or positioning the case for review". In simple English it means that if 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros don't come to a resolution then Watchmen's release date might have to postponed! Yes, if things between Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox don't turn out well then Watchmen will NO LONGER be released on 6th Mar 2009! Go figure!

Why does Rorschach cry before his death

I guess this particular incident in Watchmen (graphic novel) involving Rorschach bursting out in tears just before his death is a very significant one! It's significant not just because this is the first time that Rorschach actually shows some emotions, but also because Rorschach himself pretty much "orders" (or permits, in a way) Dr. Manhattan (Jonathan Osterman) to kill him! The two words that Rorschach speaks before his death - "DO IT" - make him pretty much one of the wisest of the characters in the Watchmen super heroes!

Before I further elaborate on this, let me remind you that Rorschach is the only super hero in Watchmen known for his singular Black & White view of the world. He feels that there is either absolute right or absolute wrong and there are not gray areas! This somehow contradicts the basic theme of Watchmen book that IS pretty much about the gray areas in our lives! You will note that this also makes Rorschach more like DC's Batman whose view of the world, again, is black & white! No wonder, Rorschach is often referred to as Watchmen's Batman or real world Batman (or Batman is sometimes referred to a fantasy Rorschach for that matter)!

Unfortunately, sometimes doing the right thing be bad in the long term and Rorschach's "black & white" ideology proves to be his undoing towards the end when Rorschach's actions fall more into the gray areas! In the last chapter of Watchmen we are confronted with a moral and ethical dilemma - Should a crime be punished if the punishment itself might result in an even bigger crime? (I'll be writing more about it in a separate article). But according to poor Rorschach "wrong must be punished, no matter what". And here I come to the part that literally turns the whole outlook of Rorschach's character from a mindless-psychotic-killer-Rorschach to wise-sentimental-true-superhero-Rorschach.

Rorschach apparently realizes the folly of his "black & white" ideology towards the end and although he doesn't really show it, he is in two minds about whether to go report a crime or not. Reporting the crime committed by Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) means that Rorschach will stay true to his understanding of right & wrong but that also means that Rorschach might be instrumental in even more destruction in the long term! As you can see from Rorschach's past, he would rather not go against what he believes must be done (reporting the crime); but Rorschach also would not want to be the fore bringer of any senseless destruction. A dilemma indeed for someone like Rorschach (or Batman) with his strictly dual view of the world!

So Rorschach has to decide whether he would want to be guilty of not reporting "this" crime or be guilty of reporting and consequently causing a later crime! And finally, as you would imagine (or may be not seeing Rorschach's personality), Rorschach decides to die rather than be guilty of either! Madness, true, but this also shows that Rorschach was the only true "watchmen" so to say. Rorschach's tears (Rorschach never showed any emotions before in life even in extreme circumstances) towards the end followed by his request / demand to Dr. Manhattan to kill him says it all better than what any words would. I think that last panel that shows Rorschach in tears demanding Dr. Manhattan to kill him is the most significant of all the storyline. If there was just one reason to read Watchmen, that panel and Rorschach's character would be it!

To read more about Rorschach's psychology, click - Rorschach's unique psychology among Watchmen characters

To read more about Rorschach and Batman's similarities, click - Watchmen's Rorschach's similarities to DC's Batman

To find if Rorschach is same as SAW movies' Jigsaw, click - Rorschach's and SAW (movie) villain Jigsaw's similarities

To read a funny article on Rorschach, click - Rorschach's superpower - Super Stench

Read about funkiness involving Dr. Manhattan's transformation - Osterman's funky transformation into Dr. Manhattan

Is Rorschach Watchmen's Batman (DC) - Similarities between Rorschach & Batman

So, Alan Moore refers to him as the real life Batman, or in other words how Batman would've been if he were present in our present world! Looking for similarities between Rorschach and Batman might not make a lot of sense initially though because Rorschach is a half crazy homeless dude posing as a superhero in Watchmen while Batman is the millionaire playboy working as the legendary Darknight next to Superman himself in the DC universe!

Let's look at the dissimilarities between Rorschach and Batman though, first, to put things in perspective -

1) Rorschach doesn't use any fancy gadgets while Batman is known for his gadgets (more so in the early Batman TV shows and Tim Burton movies) complete with stuff ranging from Bat-shark-repeller-sprays to Bat-plane (or Batwing as fanboys might call it)

2) Rorschach is a rather short and slightly built guy while Batman is towering at six feet with a superb muscular build.

3) Rorschach is a good hand-to-hand combatant with some very good boxing skills and well thats about it! Batman on the other hand is nothing short of a human killing machine! Bruce (Batman) has perfected his martial arts skills and physical conditioning to an Olympics athletic levels, he's pretty much at the maximum level that a human being can reach!

4) Rorschach (as Kovacs) is a homeless guy with no job who pretty much (seems to) collect garbage and hangs out in the neighborhood as any other borderline crazy idiot. Batman (as Bruce Wayne) on the other hand is one of the richest men in the whole wide world! Just like Rorschach (Kovacs), Bruce doesn't seem to have any day job either (pun intended) but well you can easily spot the differences ;)

5) Rorschach kills. Batman doesn't kill. This is pretty much the biggest difference of all in my opinion. Having suffered the loss of his parents, Batman values life, no matter if it's a criminal or not. Batman never kills (and I must add that that's part of his problems) but Rorschach's goal is to impart justice - punishing the criminal for his crimes and if the right punishment (according to Rorschach) is death then so be it!

So those were the similarities and now you must be wondering why indeed Alan Moore refers to Rorschach as being similar to Batman! Well, this is actually a bit more intricate I believe and it requires the reader to understand Batman and Rorschach at an even deeper level -

Basically, when we get to down to it, Batman is not really about his gadgets or wealth quite as much. Batman's martial arts abilities are one of my favorite characteristics of his character but even they are not *really* what *define* batman if you see what I mean! Bruce Wayne was Batman even before before learned the forbidden Kungfu techniques and certainly much before he got his fancy Bat-mobile! In other words, Gadgets don't define Batman! Kungfu is not what Batman is really all about! Wealth is important for Bruce Wayne but not Batman. These things help Batman to become more efficient for sure but they are not what Batman is all about.

Instead, Batman is about that primitive rage that drives Bruce Wayne. That borderline craziness seeking justice, that view of bringing justice to the (seemingly) rotting world, that outright madness that makes him put his own life on line every night are the things that define Batman! These are the things that turn Bruce Wayne into Batman. And as you would observe, these are the very things that Rorschach shares with Batman (or Kovacs shares with Bruce Wayne depending on your view). Rorschach is borderline crazy about doing justice, about revenge (not as direct as Batman's though) just like Bruce Wayne is and no wonder that the same factors that turn Bruce Wayne into Batman are also instrumental in converting a seemingly normal Kovacs into Rorschach!

Another thing I'd like to note here is that Rorschach is more of a "real world" Batman. The very idea of things like Batwing (Batman's plane) and the possibility of all the other gadgets require some severe suspension of disbelief. I know that the recent Batman movies (Batman Begins and Darknight) have tried to correct this considerably but still in my opinion, the fancy gadgets kinda betray Batman's character (Darknight here, if you may!) or at least act as distractions . Rorschach here comes as a welcome relief as he is simply driven by the rage and emotions, he *will* keep on going, wealth or no wealth. He's the realistic portrayal of a Batman who is not a millionaire (or doesn't have access to any fancy gizmos). This is what Bruce Wayne must've become if he was not, well, Bruce Wayne the CEO of Wayne industries! This is also the main point where IronMan (Tony Stark) differs from Batman (Bruce Wayne) by the way, but that's another discussion.

Another important, albeit not quite as important, personality element that Rorschach and Batman share is their desire to work alone and being somewhat (many times unwarranted) distrustful when dealing with other fellow superheroes. This is particularly evident throughout all serious Batman story lines (even more serious stuff like Darknight and Kingdom Come etc) in the way he doesn't really play with Justice League and all; and it's very clearly portrayed by Alan Moore in Watchmen in the way Rorschach interacts with Night Owl (who is his close ally). What is specially important is Rorschach is all nice and friendly initially, he collaborates with Night Owl in a fun way, attends their "superhero meetings" and does all the good stuff but as soon as he comes across the little girl's kidnapping case, it all changes. I'd like to note that the "little girl's kidnapping" case is what was instrumental in converting Kovacs into the real Rorschach. Once he is at that point, i.e. once he has "become" Rorschach, then on Rorschach is more like real Batman! From that point, he is not part of the superhero crowd that does it just for the kicks (in other words just because of the sense of adventure); rather Rorschach does it because he is "compelled" to do it (in Rorschach's describes himself to Dr. Malcolm Long in Watchmen)! From then on, Rorschach is no longer a costumed adventurer, but from then on Rorschach is a real (street) crime fighter (even if borderline psychotic) just as Batman is. This kinda sets both Rorschach and Batman apart!

Another thing that I feel I should elaborate more on, even if I've grazed through earlier, is Rorschach is a Batman without the wealth! To put it in perspective, I'd like you to think what Batman would have been if Bruce Wayne was not one of the wealthiest men in the world. In this case, the rage (or psychosis, what you may) that fuels Batman is still there but the means to get all the gadgets and stuff, that would help steamline things, are lacking; in this case Bruce Wayne would try whatever he can to *still* go fight crime in the best way he can. And if he's smart enough as well (got to be a bit smarter than average to just sustain the intensity) then he would try to use anything and everything as a *gadget* (gadget being things that help him do his job better), thus displaying MacGyverism and bingo, thats exactly what Rorschach does! Also, given the limited means (and some reality), Bruce Wayne would certainly not be able to master all those eastern-deadly-forbidden-secret-martial-arts skills either, rather he'd master what fighting lessons that he can easily get (boxing of example) very well and as you might have guessed, Rorschach learned boxing very well.

Also, at the risk of nitpicking, I think Alan Moore's decision to portray Rorschach as a shorter and thinner guy also helps make him closer to real life because we are trying to portray Rorschach as a noraml average individual who is doing the superhero / vigilante stuff because of that "compelling rage" and not because he is just stronger and can! Rorschach being shorter also emphasizes the intensity of his "compelling rage" as he is not naturally equipped to physically handle a big part of the tall and strong criminal fraternity! Yeah, Alan Moore knew what he was doing when he was creating his Watchmen characters!

So, well I'm sure that we see now how Rorschach is Batman (Darnight rather if I may) minus the suspension of disbelief!

To read more about Rorschach's psychology, click - Rorschach Psychology Analaysis

To read about how Rorschach shows himself to be a true superhero at the time of his death, click - Rorschach dies as a true superhero

To read something funny about Rorschach, click - Why does Rorschach stink so bad

Read about funkiness involving Dr. Manhattan's transformation - Osterman's funky transformation into Dr. Manhattan

Dr. Manhattan's (Jonathan Osterman's) memorable Quotes from Watchmen (book / graphic novel)

As I commented in my Dr. Manhattan's Origin article, Dr. Manhattan is known for his eccentric view of the world! His unique godlike powers have so removed him from normalcy that Dr. Manhattan can no longer relate to human beings anymore! This supra-human view of the world is reflected in the way he talks and I think Dr. Manhattan's Quotes pretty much distinguish him from everything else in Watchmen.

And by the way, Dr. Manhattan has commented on pretty much everything on the planet even after all the "I'm not human nemore" attitude that he has! Below I present the few most interesting ones -

Watchmen Chapter I:

Dr. Manhattan's observation on death -

"A live body and a dead body contain the same number of particles. Structurally there's no discernible difference."

"Life and Death are unquantifiable abstracts. Why should I be concerned?"

Dr. Manhattan's reply to an invitation to party - ""I'd join..,but I think I'm close to locating a gluino, which would completely validate supersymmetrical theory..."

Watchmen Chapter III:

Dr. Manhattan's excuse for not having sex - ""Laurie, try to understand...my work's at an important stage! It seemed unnecessary to..."

Dr. Manhattan's response to Silk Spectre breaking up with him - "If you think there's a problem with my attitude, I'm prepared to discuss it.

Watchmen Chapter IV:

Dr. Manhattan looking at some photo - "The photograph is in my hand...in twelve seconds time, I drop the photograph ...walking away. It's already lying there, twelve seconds into the future...I found it...twenty-seven hours ago. It's still there, twenty-seven hours into the past...I'm still there looking at it."

Dr. Manhattan decides to look at stars - ""I am going to look at the stars. They are so far away, and their light takes so long to reach us...All we ever see of stars are their old photographs."

Dr. Manhattan thinks of sunlight - ""I am two hundred and twenty-seven million kilometers from the sun. It's light is already ten minutes old..."

Dr. Manhattan predicts past and future - ""Two hours into my future, I observe meteorites from a glass balcony, thinking about my father. Twelve seconds into my past, I open my fingers..."

Dr. Manhattan predicts female orgasms and breakups - ""It's 1959. A pulse flutters in her belly, beneath my cheek. It's 1966...She's crying."

Dr. Manhattan's thanks for a gold ring from his girlfriend (Janey Slater) - ""I like it very much. Its atomic structure is a perfect grid, like a checker board."

Dr. Manhattan's comment on superheroes - ""...friend;y middle-aged men who like to dress up..."

Dr. Manhattan's view on causality - ""I can't prevent the future. To me, it's already happening."

Dr. Manhattan's view of Comedian (Edward Blake) - ""Blake is interesting. I have never met anyone so deliberately amoral."

Dr. Manhattan on sculpting - ""Things have their shape in time, not space alone. Some marble blocks have statues within them embedded in their future."

Dr. Manhattan forgets that he was once human - ""I am tired of this world, these people. I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives."

Dr. Manhattan on being late - ""But it's too late. Always has been, Always will be too late."

Watchmen Chapter IX:

Dr. Manhattan's masterpiece - ""We're all puppets Laurie. I'm just a puppet who can see the strings."

Dr. Manhattan's wonders why humans can't predict future - ""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."

Dr. Manhattan's reply to Laurie's questions -

Laurie: "What's in the bottle?"

Dr. Manhattan: ""What do you want to be in the bottle?"
------

Laurie: "Humanity is about to be become extinct. Doesn't it bother you"

Dr. Manhattan: "All that pain and conflict done with? All that needless suffering over at last? No, that doesn't bother me."
------
Laurie: "Jon, what about the war? You've got to prevent it! Everyone will die."

Dr. Manhattan: "...And the universe will not even notice."

Dr. Manhattan's view of human life - "In my opinion, it's a highly overrated phenomenon. Mars gets along perfectly without so much as a micro-organism."

Dr. Manhattan's sarcasm about environment pollution - (talking of Mars) ""...Giant steps, ninety feet high...A constantly changing topographical map, flowing and shifting...Tell me...would it be greatly improved by an oil pipeline?"

Dr. Manhattan feels quantum mechanics is more important than human life - ""I read atoms, Laurie. I see the ancient spectacle that birthed the rubble. Beside this, human life is brief and mundane."

Dr. Manhattan finally feels that human life is a miracle - ""In each human coupling, a thousand million sperm vie for a single egg. Multiply those odds by countless generations, against the odds of your ancestors being alive, meeting, siring this precise son; that exact daughter...until your mother loves a man ...and of that union, of the thousand million children competing for fertilization, it was you, only you...(it's) like turning air to gold...thermodynamic miracle."

Dr. Manhattan soothes his girlfriend Silk Spectre - ""Come...dry your eyes, for you are life, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg...dry your eyes..."

Watchmen Chapter XII:

Dr. Manhattan coming back from dead - ""Restructuring myself after the subtraction of my intrinsic field was the first trick I learned. It didn't kill Osterman...Did you think it would kill me?"

Dr. Manhattan ridiculing Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) - ""...this world's smartest man means no more to me than does its smartest termite."

Dr. Manhattan's masterpiece - "Nothing ends...Nothing ever ends."

To read more fun stuff on Dr. Manhattan, click - Dr. Manhattan's personal life

To read about Dr. Manhattan's origin, click - Dr. Manhattan's Origin

To find out if Dr. Manhattan can beat Superman and Hulk, click -
Dr. Manhattan vs Superman and Hulk

Is Rorschach (Watchmen) Jigsaw (Saw) gone right?

The way Rorschach killed the kidnapper of the little girl is pretty much how the villain Jigsaw from SAW movies commits his crimes! For those of you who don't know who or what Jigsaw is - Jigsaw is the main villain of a series of movies called SAW who offers "puzzles" that his victims have to solve in order to survive. Please don't confuse Jigsaw with Batman's Riddler though as his puzzles are not the relatively harmless variety. Instead, Jigsaw's puzzles, regardless of the actual solution, have immediate and often horrific consequences for the victims. To explain - most of Jigsaw's puzzles involve some sort of intricate mechanism that the victim is trapped in and in order to survive, the victim has to get out of it. Inability to solve the "puzzle" results in immediate and painful death. So where does Rorschach fit in all this? And isn't Rorschach the good guy (even if an anti-hero)?

Yes, Rorschach is indeed the good guy and doesn't go offering murderous puzzles to anyone. This whole Rorschach as Jigsaw controversy resulted from an incident in Watchmen that is often referred to as "little girl's kidnapping" case. The details can be found here - Rorschach's Psychology in Watchmen

As horrific both the crime and Rorschach's punishement were, they do relate to how Jigsaw commits his own branded crimes. In fact, in one of the SAW movies, Jigsaw offers even the Rorschach's "handcuff-saw-puzzle" with the difference that Jigsaw's victim was not running against the clock to get free. Further, it seems that Rorschach whole point of killing the kidnapper that way is was to make him realize the value of life and the horror of pain. This is again similar to the reason Jigsaw offers - "To help them realize the value of their lives"

But to answer the controversial question - No, Rorschach is not like Jigsaw. Besides the obvious fact that he is a good guy (even if an anti-hero), the main reason is that Rorschach doesn't really care about teaching the criminals about value of their lives or whatever. His core objective is to punish them brutally and immediately instead of causing any reforms or having them atone for their crimes or whatever. This is in stark contrast to Jigsaw's goal of helping the victims realize the value of life. Rorschach's own words (Watchmen book / graphic novel by Alan Moore) "...Stood in street. Imagined limbless felt torso inside; breasts blackening; bellies smoldering;bursting into flame one by one..." indicate that his objective was to kill the kidnapper and not at all letting him live no matter what. Rorschach knew that the kidnapper will never be able to get out and so his offer of that saw was aimed at punishing the criminal psychologically too.

All that said, there is no doubt that Jigsaw (as a character) is actually inspired from Rorschach. Yeah, all the innovations seen in SAW movies are no doubt original (it seems) but the very idea of Jigsaw seems to originate from that part of Watchmen's plot! Heck, even the name Jigsaw has a "saw" in it (saw being the originating from that part of the story in Watchmen)!

To find why Alan Moore calls Rorschach Watchmen's Batman, click - Is Rorschach Watchmen's Batman? Rorschach vs Batman

To read about how Rorschach shows himself to be a true superhero at the time of his death, click - Rorschach dies as a true superhero

To read a funny article on Rorschach, click - Rorschach Watchmen Character

Watchmen Characters Super Powers & Super Craziness

Well, Watchmen being set in a more "realistic" universe, Watchmen characters don't have any real super powers per say (assuming various degrees of idiocies are not considered super powers) with the exception of Dr. Manhattan (Jonathan Osterman) whose super powers seem to be the sum total of all super powers ever created. Other's (Rorschach, Comedian Night Owl, Silk Spectre and previous generation) unfortunately are just normal middle aged gentlemen and ladies dressed up in fancy costumes! But anyhow, let me elaborate both on watchmen character's "super powers" and "super idiocies" -

Dr. Manhattan (Jonathan Osterman)

Dr. Manhattan Super powers

I think we can all forgive Alan Moore for not imparting any super powers to all other watchmen characters just for the fact that he made Dr. Manhattan *this* strong! Yeah, Dr. Manhattan is the major ultra super powerhouse of all comic verses (DC, Marvel, whatever). Think of Dr. Manhattan as someone who can destroy every atom in the bodies of Superman, Hulk and Doomsday across all multiverses in which they happen to exist, simultaneously! Yeah, he is *that* good!

Dr. Manhattan basically controls matter at the subatomic level so he can simply make their bodies' atoms implode just by thinking about it, so he doesn't even need to put up a fight so to say! He knows the future (precognition) so he already knows whatever his opponent is going to do too! I can't think of any super hero in both DC and Marvel universes who can win against Dr. Manhattan! Another good thing about Dr. Manhattan is that he can come back from dead! Yeah, even *if* you somehow (and thats a humongous *if*) kill Dr. Manhattan, he can just rebuild himself! He did this once in Watchmen when Ozymandias removed his intrinsic field. Read more - Dr. Manhattan Origin and life

Dr. Manhattan Super craziness

The good doc has some sort of physics obsession. Please don't mistake it for normal love of physics, I think loving physics and stuff is all cool but when it starts interfering with his day to day activities then it becomes an issue. And in the case of Dr. Manhattan, the physics fetish went well beyond any human being living or dead can imagine, here's my full article on the subject - Did Silk Spectre break up with Dr. Manhattan because of his abnormal physics fetishes?

Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt)

Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) Super powers

Next to Dr. Manhattan stands Ozymandias when it comes to super powers. Ozymandias' "super powers" are more human in nature so no comparison of Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan intended. That said, Ozymandias possesses almost superhuman intelligence and that sort of places him well above and beyond normal human variety super heroes (costumed adventurers / vigilante is more accurate term I think).

Ozymandias stands out among the regular crowd of geniuses because of the fact that he has been able to apply it to all aspects of his life. Veidt has used the genius to secure his future by amassing enormous wealth and develop his physical prowess to the extent that he can even catch a bullet. Yes, Ozymandias can indeed catch a bullet and he has shown this ability in the Watchmen book (graphic novel) when he catches a bullet fired by Silk Spectre (second, Laurie Juspeczyk). But remember that Ozymandias is still a human and him catching bullets doesn't imply that bullets just bounce off him. Instead, he seems to combine his (almost) super human (but result of training) reflexes with his ability to correctly gage things like the path the bullet will follow and when the trigger will be pressed it and things like that. So, he can die if you fire more than one bullet at him or if he is not really ready for that extreme maneuver. Anyhow, bulletproof or not, Ozymandias is still better/stronger/smarter than all super heroes in Watchmen (except Dr. Manhattan). He demonstrated this when he beat up both Rorschach and Night Owl together. Coming to the most important part - Ozymandias is the only human who once first blinded (interfering with his precognition) and then killed Dr. Manhattan! Yes, he killed the most powerful super hero in all multiverses. It didn't mean much though because Dr. Manhattan simply rebuilt himself but still it kinda shows how formidable Ozymandias is. Read more about Ozymandias here - Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) origins and facts

Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) Super craziness

Like I firmly believe, all geniuses are basically crazy at some level or the other! In the case of Ozymandias, his craziness has no bound. Let me ask you a simple question - What would you like to do with the money you inherited from your rich parents? If your answer is something similar to "I will give it all to charity", then my congratulations to you for possessing the extreme levels of craziness comparable to the genius Ozymandias'! Yes, Ozymandias did the same thing - he gave it away to charity. It didn't bother him much though as he amassed even more wealth being the genius that he is but it may or may not work for you buddy if you have similar plans! But Ozymandias has much bigger levels of insanities and not all are as harmless as throwing his money out of the window. His extreme case of insanity revolves around his master plan! Ozymandias decides that the best way to save the world is to kill half a million of Yankees! Told you, his insanity has no bound! But more on that in a post dedicated to the subject!

Night Owl (Daniel Dreiberg)

Night Owl (Daniel Dreiberg) Super powers

Night Owl unfortunately is more at the level of us regular folks - no quantum level matter control and no insane genius! But what he does possess is the immense desire to become a super hero and sh-tloads of inherited wealth! Night Owl has intense geekiness minus a steady girlfriend, and with this combination, you can see, few things can stop you from becoming an accomplished super hero. And that's exactly what Daniel Dreiberg becomes by squandering his parent's hard earner money for building fancy gadgets that even Batman will envy!

Night Owl has all sorts of gadgets ranging from Owl night goggles to Owl laser gun to Owl-freaking-Ship; Night Owl beats Batman when it comes to gadgets!! By the way, thinking of Batman, Night Owl is indeed like a more soft version of Batman. Just like Batman, Night Owl can also kick some serious butt if he needs to and he demonstrates this ability when attacked by a truckload of muggers. Yeah, Night Owl and Silk Spectre were attacked by some serious numbers of muggers when they were hanging out as Daniel Dreiberg and Laurie Juspeczyk. Needless to say, Daniel Dreiberg was still Night Owl and Laurie Juspeczyk was still Silk Spectre (and a really angry and frustrated Silk Spectre at the moment) and they beat up the muggers pretty bad. That fight scene always make me smile for the reason that it must've been a really big shock for the muggers to get beat up by a couple seemingly harmless middle aged man and woman apparently walking home after work!

Night Owl (Daniel Dreiberg) Super craziness

Night Owl doesn't have any serious craziness per say other then a very embarassing ED disorder! Yeah, poor Night Owl generally has trouble getting it up under normal circumstances! But the good news is that, Night Owl becomes all Don Juan as soon as he is dressed up as Night Owl! Yeah, as soon as Daniel Dreiberg puts on Night Owl's costume and saves a few lives, he can get it up and keep it up till eternity with no problem whatsoever! Yeah, weird lol!

Rorschach (Walter Joseph Kovacs)

Rorschach Super powers

Rorschach, again like other 'human superheroes' in Watchmen, doesn't have super powers but he is extremely good at boxing and gymnastics! He can fight and beat the sh-t out of the biggest bouncers but that's not what really sets him apart!

Like Night Owl, Rorschach doesn't even have money to build any gadgets so he improvises! Rorschach has the ability to use household items as dangerous weapons! Yeah, he is very good at MacGyverism! Rorschach is extremely dangerous because he can use anything as a weapon and he demonstrates this ability when Rorschach, armed with common kitchen items, takes on a whole SWAT team! Just sit back and think about it for a second - Rorschach beat up a fully armed and ready SWAT-freaking-team with household items like red pepper, kitchen oil and stuff! If that's not enough for you, Rorschach once used a criminal's own shirt to kill him, while being locked up (the bad guy was standing outside, Rorschach was locked!). So yeah, Rorschach is a very dangerous guy even without gadgets or super powers!

Rorschach Super craziness

Well, Rorschach is actually so crazy that it's difficult to figure out where to start but in my view, his extreme craziness lies in being constantly dirty! Yeah, Rorschach never seems to take a shower and the stinks like an open manhole! Well, I guess that's a fine example of dedication right there! Rorschach is so dedicated towards crime fighting that small things like taking a shower and washing his crime-fighting suit every once in a while are obviously beneath him!!

Silk Spectre II (Laurie Juspeczyk)

Silk Spectre Super powers

Well, again she is the human variety 'super heroine' and doesn't really have any authentic superpowers, per say. She's apparently very good at some martial arts and such and can beat the sh-t out of criminals. As I mentioned before, Silk Spectre II easily beat atleast a dozen of muggers with Night Owl without breaking a sweat!

Silk Spectre Super craziness

Well she doesn't really have any real craziness or "weird characteristics" like Night Owl and Rorschach do! The only thing "crazy" about her is that Silk Spectre is a bit too hot that she drives superheroes around her crazy with desire! But this deserves an article in itself that I'll be writing soon with some good details about how both Dr. Manhattan and Night Owl totally drool over Silk Spectre!

Silk Spectre I (Sally Jupiter)

Silk Spectre Super powers

Yeah, as you guessed she is the first Silk Spectre (there are two of them!). In fact, she is the mother of our own Laurie Juspeczyk (the second Silk Spectre)! She too is just a regular human and has mastered some good martial arts and such to be able to beat the cr-p out of criminal scums. What is interesting about her is her craziness...

Silk Spectre Super craziness

So whats wrong with Sally? Well for one thing she is the super heroine who fights crime not to help the society and stuff but to get some modelling and movie contracts! Yeah, Silk Spectre I thinks that running around after criminals dressed up as scantily as possible will make her a hollywood superstar!! Well, so much for her good intentions! You would think that she might actually get some contracts and you are right, she did get one contract for a hollywood movie! But wait, the movie was a C grade porn movie! Yeah, that made Silk Spectre I a super heroine who is also a porn star! There are many other interesting things too which I should cover in a separate article!

Comedian (Edward Blake)

Comedian Superpowers

Yeah well, again no super powers, nada! It's getting kinda boring ain't it since Ozymandias! Dr. Manhattan turns out to be the one with ultra-freakish-extreme-level-max-powers but after that all superheroes are just boxing experts for the most parts! And well, Comedian is one of them, but again it's not his super powers, its his craziness that sets him apart!

Comedian Super craziness

So, what's so special about Comedian? Well, unlike other Watchmen super heroes, Comedian is the guy who actually IS crazy! Yeah, Comedian nuts! Comedian once killed his own girlfriend just for the kicks! He openly ridicules fellow super heroes, kills mercilessly, thinks he is the savior (in a way) of the already doomed world and well just has fun doing the superhero thing! For the most part Comedian is like Darknight's Joker, but a Joker who decided to become a superhero instead of a super villan! To read more, click - Comedian (Edward Blake) psychology and craziness, comparison with Joker

Rorschach Psychology Watchmen character

Rorschach is perhaps one of the biggest anti-heroes in Watchmen and other comic-verses. So what exactly is wrong with him? What made Rorschach psychology so screwed up? Is Rorschach really a hero or a villain? What is his personality like in reality? Is Rorschach just short of turning into a bad guy?

I guess we all agree that the main reason behind Rorschach's mental instability or messed up psychology is the way Rorschach handled the little girl's kidnapping case. It's only after his failure to save the girl from the kidnapper that we see Rorschach become the ruthless psychotic anti-hero that he comes across as. This is also evident in the way his psychologist Dr. Malcolm Long's is stunned after listening to the girl's kidnapping case details. Remember that Dr. Malcolm Long is more or so apathetic to Rorschach's personality having made the assumption that Rorschach's vigilante (rather as an anti-hero) efforts are just a misdirection of his subconscious rage originating from his bad upbringing and some crime he happened to notice. But after Roroschach explains the girl's kidnapping's details to him, its after that we see a significant shift in Dr. Malcolm Long's own psychology. Dr. Long is evidently affected by the horrid details of the girl's kidnapping case.

This actually brings an important question - Is everyone supposed to be similarly affected by the details of the girl's kidnapping case? I'm sure not! The reason, in my view, Dr. Malcolm Long was so substantially affected by that is because he, being a psychologist, is much more empathic. Yes, I do think that to be a truly distinguished psychologist one needs to have above average empathy. And Dr. Malcolm Long being distinguished enough to be treating someone like Rorschach (Kovacs) does have that trait. Further, he is consciously making an effort to understand Rorschach and that adds to the fact that he somehow internalizes the thing that hit Rorschach himself so hard. Anyhow, I'm digressing, back to Rorschach's psychology...

So what is this little girl's kidnapping case anyway? To summarize - While trying to solve a kidnapping case (a little girl's kidnapping), Rorschach found that the kidnapper had killed the girl in the *most* horrific and inhuman manner (the details of which have been intentionally kept out of this blog) and mentally unstable as Rorschach was to start with, broke down! His anger led Rorschach to try to punish the kidnapper in a rather grotesque way - Rorschach handcuffed the murderer to something in his house and set the house on fire! But the grotesque part of it was that Rorschach also left a hacksaw next to the handcuffed kidnapper as a way to get out of the burning house. Obviously, it was impossible to saw off the handcuffs themselves in time so the whole point was to see if he will saw off his own arm to get free! That's not all though, Rorschach waited for an hour or so outside the house listening to his victim's cries who apparently couldn't find the courage to saw off his own hand and died by the fire.

So, aside from the girl's kidnapping case I guess we all agree that a lot of it stems from Rorschach's childhood and upbringing and his early years with his mother, growing up as an unwanted child too. That said, I think there is a subtle and often unnoticed aspect of the upbringing part as well! Rorschach's personality also reflects the apparent polarity of the perceived (by him) personalities of his mother and father. His mother being a severely abusive and "low" person while his mental image of his father as a true patriot and a gentleman who he never met! Further, Rorschach's tendency to think of president Truman and his own father sharing similar ideals seem to be doing more damage to his (Rorschach's) perception of right and wrong.

The reason that I think that this apparent difference in Rorschach's perception of his parents is a rather huge reason behind his psychosis is evident from Roroschach's view of the world! Rorschach has a very black and white view of the world - Rorschach's sense of "bad" or "wrong" almost includes everything (as is evident from the third panel of the very first page of Watchmen book) but his sense of "good" or "right" lies at the other end of the spectrum (as is evident from his last decision to tell the truth to the world). Observing these facts, it makes sense that his sense of "wrong" comes from the way he learned to perceived the world in his early childhood (primarily his mother's behavior of course) and his sense of "right" comes from his perception of father's personality (and president Truman ofcourse). So, the reality to Rorschach is all rotten and doomed because that's what he has seen in his formative years but his mental image of "good" (that he is trying to do as a superhero) is all sunshine and rainbows! And consequently we notice Rorschach's inclination to view things in a strictly black & white manner. It's like Rorschach has a case of split personality and while dealing with reality his "bad" (mother's) side takes over and while thinking about doing some good his "good" (father's) side takes over. This basic personality characteristic is evident in the way he created his mask - remember that Rorschach's black & white mask existed even before the girl's kidnapping case! He always had this type of psychology and the girl's kidnapping case acted as the final straw that broke the camel's back (turned a more or less good hearted super hero / vigilante Rorschach into a murdered psychotic anti-hero)!

To find why Alan Moore calls Rorschach Watchmen's Batman, click - Is Rorschach Watchmen's Batman? Rorschach vs Batman

To read about how Rorschach shows himself to be a true superhero at the time of his death, click - Rorschach dies as a true superhero

To read a funny article on Rorschach, click - Rorschach Watchmen Character

To learn more about similarities between Jigsaw and Rorschach, click - Comparing Rorschach's psychology with Jigsaw's

Watchmen iPhone iPod Touch App

So finally Watchmen's iPhone and iPod Touch app is out! I just installed and ran it and it seems like a cool idea - As the app starts we see Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) and his cat Bubastis looking at a bunch of tv screens. Some of these screens are on and clicking them shows some Watchmen movie or book (graphic novel) related item. The following are available right now -

1) Screen 1 shows the countdown timer to release date (and time it seems) of Watchmen movie. Similar to the countdown timer you see in my blog on the right panel.

2) Screen 2 shows the latest Watchmen trailer and I must say that it's freakingly awesome. A must watch! Focuses a bit more on Dr. Manhattan (Joanathan Osterman) and shows some key moments in the storyline.

3) Screen 3 (in the front of Bubastis) shows an animated clip of Watchmen graphic novel complete with images and nicely done voice overs. Right now its showing the first chapter of the book and I really liked the succint and well paced way in which it showed the events of Watchmen. The voice of Rorschach reading his journal doesn't reflect the psychotic personality as much as you would expect but given it's not the real thing I'm ok with it.

So, the Watchmen iPhone and iPod Touch app is a must download, find it in iTunes or check out the link to apple's website here - Apple Watchmen App

To Read something funny about Dr. Manhattan click - Dr. Manhattan Jonathan Osterman Watchmen Character's fetishes

Captain Metropolis Watchmen character

Captain Metropolis from Watchmen's minutemen team is another of the Watchmen's super psychotic heroes! As you can see in the pic on the left, his mild psychosis is bursting out from every pore on his body. Don't get me wrong though, he is not psycho enough to be put in a strait jacket (yet), its just that his definition of crime is a bit severely misguided! Here's how, according to him the following activities constitute "crime" that superheroes must fight against -

1) One night stands - Yeah, next time you think about hitting the club on a saturday night, watch out for Captain Metropolis! Cap calls the crime "promiscuity" though so watch out Nelly (Furtardo)!

2) African-American rights - the good Captain Metropolis is also very concerned about our african american brothers, oh don't get me wrong he is concerned just about them asking for their rights! Yeah, the damned Captain Metropolis is very big on racism and he labels this particular "crime" as Black unrest. Goddamit!

3) Anti War Demonstrations - This beats them all, Captain Metropolis firmly believes that any demostrations againt wars are criminal activities! Yeah, let there be a war America!

4) Drugs - Yes, children if you even think about pot, Darknight is gonna come and gonna teach you a lesson.

So, our good Captain once assembled all the superheroes and proposed to create a superhero team called "Crime Busters" showing a chart listing activities that he thought were "criminal" (above four and more). Ofcourse everyone was thoroughly disgusted by the stupid idea and left immediately. Comedian (Edward Blake), before leaving, went one step further and burned the silly chart with his lighter and Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) realized that all these so called super heroes are a bunch of hobos and decided to save the world all by himself!

All that said, what is interesting though, is that Captain Metropolis didn't list homosexuality as a criminal activity (it being considered a taboo too back then). That's because he himself is in a romantic relationship with a fellow superhero called Hooded Justice. They can't just make it public though so Hooded Justice has a sham relationship with Silk Spectre 1 (Sally Jupiter).

Read more about - Hooded Justice's public life and Silk Spectre's 1 (Sally Jupiter) reasons for becoming a superhero

Dollar Bill Watchmen Minutemen character - The most idiotic superhero

So who is this Dollar Bill, why does he deserve a whole new blog entry and most importantly why is he standing in between a couple of hobos? Yeah, the guy on his right is Mothman who was always a hobo in the Watchmen book and on his left is Night Owl 1 aka Hollis Mason (one of my favorite characters and the predecessor of Night Owl 2 or Daniel Dreiberg). I'm ok with Mothman looking like a 16 year old girl because he is too stupid to look otherwise, but Night Owl in his panties with a seemingly engorged member is ridiculously disgusting. Only God knows what Dave Gibbons was smoking when he did this!

Anyhow, back to Dollar Bill. So what is so special about Dollar Bill? Many things really, and all are as silly as the pic on the left but they do make him stand out in the whole comicverse out there (yeah DC/Marvel/more)....here goes -

1) Dollar Bill is the ONLY paid/hired superhero ever in Watchmen and elsewhere - Yeah, Dollar Bill is a "super hero" who was "hired" by some bank! Whatever happened to the good old days when superheroes used to risk their lives altruistically for noble causes. What if Batman started charging money for every hour of his "service"?

2) Dollar Bill is the ONLY superhero ever who had a wardrobe malfunction - Yeah, Dollar Bill actually was killed because of his costume. His big fancy cape got stuck in a revolving door and some lowly bank robber shot him dead. This is ridiculous really! What are costumes for anyway? Going by Darknight's example, every element in a costume has some very important purpose to aid the nightly crime fighting. In other words, costumes are supposed to help save superhero's butt and not kick it! So while Darknight introduced a cape to his costume was when he really needed it to slow down his fall when jumping across buildings, but our good Dollar Bill introduced the cape just for a "good measure"! And look where it got him!

To read more about other funny Watchmen's Minutemen team members, click - Silhouette Watchmen's Minutemen superheroine who was kicked out because she was lesbian

and Silk Spectre 1 aka Sally Jupiter - the Watchmen's Minutemen superheroine who became a vigilante to help her hollywood career

Silhouette Watchmen Character Ursula Zandt

Silhouette (the girl on far left in the pic) is perhaps one of the Watchmen's least known characters. The only things that we know about her are that her real name was Ursula Zandt and that she was part of Minutemen superhero group/team and that she was a Jew escaped from Nazis and her special ability! Yeah, I guess by now you can guess that each of the Watchmen character / super hero / costumed vigilante offers a talent thats missing from the rest of the comic universe (yeah both DC and Marvel comics). So what's so special about Silhouette. Those of you who have read watchmen must be thinking that I'm gonna say "Silhouette is the ONLY lesbian super heroine ever" but no that ain't it! :) What's even more intriguing is that Silhouette is the ONLY super heroine ever who was kicked out of her team because she was lesbian! Can you believe it? Inspite of her superior crime fighting capabilities she was kicked out just because of her sexual orientation....kinda sucks doesn't it!

But wait, there is more to come, and this is something that actually sets the whole minutemen super hero group apart from all super hero groups ever - Hooded Justice (a male super hero, another minutemen member) was not kicked out of the team because he was gay but Silhouette was kicked out because she was lesbian! Hell, they preferred a guy to a girl! And not just that, Hooded Justice (the guy on far right in the pic) was bailed out by Silk Spectre 1 (Sally Jupiter) who pretended to be his girlfriend (she was also part of minutemen) for the sake of public image of the group! The group (minutemen) was dismantled soon....no sh-t people, that was indeed some fu-k-d up group!

To read more about other funny Watchmen's Minutemen team members, click - Silk Spectre 1 aka Sally Jupiter - the Watchmen's Minutemen superheroine who became a vigilante to help her hollywood career

Hooded Justice Watchmen movie and book character

Hooded Justice again stands out in the Watchmen and probably all DC & Marvel major characters as being unique in one way or the other...so what is it this time....Rorschach was a major stinker, Dr. Manhattan (Jonathan Osterman) had a physics while doing threesome fetish and Silk Spectre 1 (Sally Jupiter) liked it violent.....so how does our Hooded Justice stand out? Ok, I'll say it just like that because there is no other way of stating the fact that Hooded Justice is the ONLY superhero ever who is gay! Yeah, can you think of Superman or Spiderman to be gay? Yeah, imagine how Superman Returns movie would have been if Superman had been gay - no Louise Lane, no super-kid, nothing....the movie would have been about Superman coming home to some dude who would be trying to decide between Superman and yet another dude! On the other hand, probably Superman is indeed playing on the same side of the turf observing the fact that he rarely seem to get down to business with Louise Lane similar to how Hooded Justice had a front with Silk Spectre 1 (Sally Jupiter).

Anyhow, enough of Superman, lets get back to Hooded Justice. So, he's the only guy in the whole comics universe who plays on the same side of the turf.....oh waitaminnit, how could he be the only one....doesn't he need a partner? Yeah that makes sense and reading Watchmen again I found that Hooded Justice had a relationship going on with another Watchmen super hero (costumed vigilante) called Captain Metropolis (Nelson Gardner). Seems Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis used to "collaborate" a lot with each other while crimefighting as minutemen! It's bad as it is (for minutemen team) that Hooded Justice was gay but the fact that he liked it violent didn't help much either, more so in the 80s more uptight society. Apparently Hooded Justice had a sham affair with Silk Spectre 1 (Sally Jupiter) to cover up the whole thing but seems Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis were very much in love at the time and it turns out that good old Hooded Justice liked it all a bit on the violent side.

Now please don't think of me as a gay basher at all, I approve of it as it's just what two (or more) people want to do without affecting anyone else in any way so this post is neutral on that front. But the fact that raises some questions is that our Hooded Justice liked it violent, in other words he used to enjoy beating up men (yeah well not exactly but you get the point), so his whole superhero beating up the bad guy deal looks a bit shady! He even "beat up" Comedian once and the astute Comedian commented on the fact that Hooded Justice might just be getting off on it! But well, like I said in the case of Rorschach, nothing is better than having a job that you enjoy doing and if Hooded Justice has such a job then all the good for him!

To read more about Dr. Manhattan's physics/threesome fetish, click here - Dr. Manhattan wants to solve physics problem while having threesomes with Silk Spectre

Wanna read up more on Comedian, click here - Comedian Edward Blake Watchmen Character

Wanna read up more on Rorschach, click here - Rorschach Watchmen Character

Silk Spectre Sally Jupiter Watchmen Characters

Silk Spectre 1 happens to be our hottest-chick-in-watchmen's Mom! Thats right, she is Laurie Juspeczyk's (aka Silk Spectre 2) mother and I daresay a bit less conservative than the good daughter when it comes to her celebrity expose`! But what is absolutely amazing about her is the fact that Silk Spectre 1 (Sally Jupiter) is the ONLY superhero (heroine) in Watchmen (or DC/Marvel) who criminals totally want to be caught by! Yeah, right from the common street muggers to the super villains, everyone has just one dream - to get caught by Silk Spectre 2! Why so though? Because she is HOT, thats why! Villains just love the idea of the hot chick questioning him and handcuffing him and well....thats where it usually ends other then those few, who because of their some slightly differently places pleasure centers, prefer to be beaten up first! The very thought of being apprehended by a beautiful 18 year old beauty is too irresistible to the socially misguided! This is not just limited to super villains though, even super heroes find her irresistible - case in point, Comedian (Edward Blake), who once tried to get a bit too cozy with Silk Spectre and got beaten up by Hooded Justice! Oh don't get me wrong, Hooded Justice is not Silk Spectre's love interest, nothing going on between them whatsoever. What is interesting here though, is that Hooded Justice pretends to be Silk Spectre's boyfriend! Why is that? - Read here - Hooded Justice & Silk Spectre.

But well, for our Silk Spectre its all really cool with all that stuff because she can use some extra publicity to help her modelling career. Yeah, Silk Spectre must be the ONLY super heroine who decided to become the superheroine not to fight crime, but to give an extra push to her modelling & acting career! Silk Spectre 1, her daughter Laurie Juspeczyk's finds the idea absolutely disgusting though. I share her views to some extent. Can you believe it! It's like Wonder Woman fighting battles with those monsters from hell just so some director would give her some role in some movie! Oh well, whatever floats Sally's boat!

Night Owl Daniel Dreiberg Watchmen Character

So whats the deal with the Watchmen's Night Owl 2 and why does he look like a funny version of Batman! I guess the easiest way to explain Night Owl's character is to do compare it with Batman (the same way I did for Rorschach's character) - Replace Batman's psychosis by sheer geekiness and you got Night Owl aka Daniel Dreiberg ! Yeah, take down the martial arts skills by at least half too as our Night Owl dude relies more on gadgets. I mean look at him, he has a super pot belly, can barely keep his "glasses" in place and looks as if he's gonna crumble down below the heavy cape and all! And as embarrassing as it is, our good Night Owl is also probably the only superhero suffering from ED(more on that later) He's pretty much a Bruce Wayne who decided to become Batman just for the kicks rather than to avenge his family and stuff - Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm all for this idea; I mean if I got too much money and I'm too much of a geek to squander it partying in some insane east european clubs with some wild european
girls then why not! Atleast by playing superhero I get to kick some super-villain-ass, try on some insanely cool gadgets, fly around in my Owl-Ship and hangout with cool super-heroins....and for our good old Night Owl it was totally worth it because it helped him hook up with the hottest chick in Watchmen - Ms. Silk Spectre (more on that below)! I also think that Night Owl is the logical end of a typical superhero who is not totally psycho. The guy played superhero, helped decrease crime rate, got some kicks out of it and as he started to get older then got back to his real life! No harm done to anyone and he had his fun while making his "contribution" to the society!

After all, who are we to laugh at that super heroic pot belly after looking at the girl he supposedly dates (pic on right) !Anyhow, back to the post.....so what I wanted to point out is that - Hot chicks for whatever reason totally dig "Geeks" in the Watchmen universe. Case in point - Silver Spectre 2 aka Laurie Juspeczyk! The girl as we know is the hottest chick in the whole Watchmen universe (if not out of it) seems to love geeks for some reason, she hooks up with two different geeks in the Watchmen series - first boyfriend Dr. Manhattan (Jonathan Osterman) and next boyfriend our good Night Owl (
Daniel Dreiberg) ! So well, like I was saying, who cares about
that pot belly if the guy scored the hottest chick in the world! It's a different issue though that unfortunately he can't get done much
with her because of the little ED problem that Night Owl seems to be suffering from! Yeah, the poor guy can't seem to get it up and that's kinda weird given the fact that the guy has always been a total perve when it came to Ms. Juspeczyk and more so because of its the freaking Silk Spectre we are talking about (the pic is that of Malin Akerman, who plays Silk Spectre2 in Watchmen movie)! A new post dedicated to Silk Spectre on its way...

So how does he manage to get Silk Spectre 2? What his dating secret? More on that later in the next post that will be devoted to Night Owl's exotic girlfriends & dating life....for now lets focus on the guy himself! So basically Night Owl is your Batman without bat-psychosis, he's got even better gear than Batman himself for one thing and unlike Batman he doesn't really hat e dating quite as much. Further he loves to associate with other superheroes and thrives on it. He can also kick some serious butt when the need arises and in the Watchmen book once Night Owl and Silk Spectre totally ram through atleast a dozen of muggers. In the movie too seems Snyder has spruced him up quite a bit so Night Owl doesn't
look as pathetic as he does in the Watchmen graphic novel version.



Night Owl and Rorschach are really close buds and hangout together quite a bit! In fact, once when Rorschach is in a real bind stuck in a prison, then Night Owl goes in to help him out (the pic on left from Watchmen movie is from the scene - Night Owl and Silk Spectre in prison helping Rorschach escape).
If you don't happen to know who or what Rorschach is, this is your luck day - Click here for a brief overview of Rorschach in Watchmen
And find more about why and how Silk Spectre Laurie broke up with Dr. Manhattan before hooking up with Night Owl

Comedian Edward Blake Watchmen Character (comic / movie / graphic novel)

When I was reading Watchmen, Comedian (Edward Blake) always reminded me of Joker(as in Batman's villain Joker). Comedian is pretty much a Joker gone right - Think of Darknight's Joker (Heath Ledger, if you are not familiar with the comics version) and think imagine him playing a hero and doing good things but with the same sarcasm and most importantly the same view of the world, yeah thats what Comedian is!

Just like Darknight's Joker, Watchmen's Comedian understands the reality of the world, he knows to what level the human society has degraded, he realizes that people can do unimaginable things to save their own skin and he feels that the world is pretty much going down the drain (nuclear war resulting from USA - USSR cold war) for what it's worth (or not). And he then plays the hero with that understanding! That means that he is overly sarcastic, takes it all as a game, lacks a sense of responsibility (and direction) and doesn't really follow any ethical and moral rules! I guess the closest real life representation would be the typical gluttonous Roman general - materialistic, rotting, given to his desires, lacking an sense of responsibility, observing the world with absolute disrespect and.....oh wait I don't really hate either Comedian or Roman generals hehe, thats just a view of comedian's psychology.

I think in the Watchmen itself the closest character to that of Comedian would be Rorschach. This is because Rorschach also has a very similar view of the world - rotting, diseased, selfish. But the main difference is that Rorschach does have that sense of responsibility that Comedian so sorely lacks. Basically they both know that the world is totally screwed, but Rorschach is able to limit his view to what he must do, playing superhero acts as a temporary vent for his psychological outbursts, guilt, anger and more, he feels compelled because of the state of the world to do what he does. Comedian though on the other hand hasn't internalized it all, the way Rorschach has done, he cheats his emotions by just taking a funny outlook towards it all; in other words, he simply laughs at it all and gets on with his life (while Rorschach is pained by it and vents it by fighting crime). Comedian obviously needs a bigger example to go through the phase that Rorschach went in the time of the little girl's kidnapping case and Comedian gets that example when he learns about Ozymandias' murderous plan to save the world. Perhaps that would have acted as a transition point for Comedian had he stayed alive long enough to come back to the real world (that is, out of alcohol induced forget-it-all phase). We will never know.....

If you don't happen to know who or what Rorschach is, this is your luck day - Click here for a brief overview of Rorschach in Watchmen