Continued from part 4, book 1...

Book Two


As book two begins we are treated to a full-page close up of the face on the Statue of Liberty as rain begins to fall. Predictably, the rain makes it look as if Lady Liberty were crying... not very subtle, that. I suppose we can only presume she sheds her tears for the downfall of America.


In book two we begin to get into the political aspects of the Watchmen universe, a commentary on the real world as far as writer Moore is concerned. But not before it is revealed that The Comedian tried to rape Silk Spectre's Mother in the days before the passing of the Keene Act. Silk Spectre's Mother, we are told, was also a super-hero using the same super-hero nom de guerre.


After that little episode, we are exposed to the paranoia of "the bomb" and we find that the USA had won the war in Vietnam due to the help of Dr. Manhattan. We also find out The Comedian acted somehow as a covert warrior during the war, during which he is depicted as killing Vietcong with relish. He even murders a Vietnamese woman who is carrying his baby after she cuts his face when he refuses to help her with their child. And Rorschach isn't forgotten in book two, either. As Rorschach displays more of his heartless pursuit of the clues to The Comedian's death, he attacks a sick old man who used to be a villain the heroes faced in the past, a man frightened and weak and who is dying of cancer.


It strikes one that we are never treated to the character called The Comedian being funny, as one reads onward. Though it can be surmised that the extremist psyche they developed for the character is the reason. We know of The Comedian's mental unbalance because as the character turns angrier and more callous, his costume reflects that transformation. Between his murder in book one and the end of book two we can see, through a series of flashbacks, a transformation from a 1950s era super-hero clad in a loose representation of a yellow clown suit, to a darker, more menacing skin-tight suit in the 60s, to one in the 1970s that is more akin to an S&M extravaganza, replete with leather face mask.


Since the passing of the act outlawing super-heroes, The Comedian seems to be working for the US government in black ops style operations, presumably for the CIA. I guess we are expected to believe that a guy can carry out black ops programs deep in South and Central America or Vietnam while he is dressed in a super-hero costume, too. This, of course, strains credulity and shows that the writer doesn't really know what it is that black ops operatives might do in foreign countries because calling attention to themselves with outlandish costumes would certainly not be a help to their operations.


In any case, we are just scratching the surface of the pessimism of the series in book two. We are treated to heroes that aren't heroic, right and wrong are blurred to the snapping point, and the American dream is sullied and cast into doubt. Things get darker still as issues roll on.


I remember eating this all up as a 24 year-old. It seemed exciting and was confirming my youthful feelings that times had never been so bad even though I was beginning to feel that changes were possible. Ronald Reagan was bringing some much-needed light to the country and awakening my nascent conservatism. So, my politics were just coming at odds with my youthful angst as Watchmen began. I still felt pretty discouraged by our America in 1986. But Watchmen made me feel that angst all the more keenly just as it was designed to do.

Click to continue to book 3...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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