Continued from part 4, book 7...

Book Eight

As the series moves on we find the newly paired Owl and Spectre now looking into Rorschach's mask killer theory and beginning to try and put the pieces of the mystery together.
As that unfolds, on page 4 is a panel with a newspaper headline yelling out that the Russians have, indeed, invaded Pakistan. Here appears another example of the writer being ill informed on the politics of the 1980s, politics that he is attempting to allegorically comment upon.

As mentioned, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in our real world to shore up a Marxist puppet regime, thereby extending their sphere of influence, and also in an effort to get closer to the oil fields of the Mid-East. Pakistan was neither a Marxist regime in the 1980s nor was it an oil producer and it just doesn't make any real sense for the Soviets to invade Pakistan. There just wasn't anything in it for them to do so. But, Moore seems to be saying that the Russians would just begin invading nearby nations indiscriminately which strains credulity and shows he had no real grasp of the political situation then extant, the same lack of understanding many with his particular political outlook then shared.

In the story we are given no real idea why the Soviets are doing all this invading except the fact that Dr. Manhattan is now gone freeing the Russians to do whatever they want to do. Moore's use of the Russians ends up being vague and undeveloped damaging the so-called seriousness of his work.

But permit me to make a supposition here. Perhaps there is another motive for using the Russian threat. Moore may have been using the "paranoia" of the Russians in a sort of political double entendre. From the Red revolution in Russia all the way until the C.C.C.P. failed, the left claimed the right cynically attempted to keep the threat level of Russian aggression forever on an upward climb to influence the public to their point of view. During the 80s the intelligencia of the University left always held that the Russians would never "invade" anyone, and posed no particular threat to the west. Constantly ignoring writers like Robert Conquest 11 who wrote of the millions killed by Stalinist Russia and dissidents like Andrei Sakharov 12 who confirmed such, the left always claimed the Soviets were "just like us" and really just wanted peace. The left indulged in constant pains to explain away Soviet aggression and oppression.

Possibly Moore is tying into the fear felt by the average American over "the bomb" but slyly saying that the fears of the Soviet threat is unjustified by deliberately under developing the reasons the Russians are invading nearby countries in his story. After all, he seems to have little sympathy or respect for either the American political scene or the common American citizen, his story filled with commentary on the downfall of the US because of its decadence. It is possible he was pushing the underlying idea that Americans were totally unjustified with their fears of the Soviets in the 1980s by purposefully under developing the reasons the Russians were invading Afghanistan and Pakistan in his story.

Knowing Moore's political persuasion, it is hard to imagine he felt the Soviets were truly a threat to anyone unless it was in response to an over active west -- most Leftists placed the "fault" forever on the west then as now. It is possible, however, that the Soviets real life invasion of Afghanistan shook Moore's political surety in the early 80s. Perhaps he, too, had joined the average westerner in fear of "the bomb" and no longer was as sure that the Soviets were "just like us" when he wrote Watchmen? That can only be speculation, though, since the book really isn't clear on his thoughts about the Soviets, nor have I ever seen a Moore interview where he addresses this point.

This murky use of the Russian threat undermines the ability of an informed reader to take the political underpinnings of the story seriously, unfortunately. As I said previously, it makes the reader wonder what else the writer had gotten wrong and throws into doubt the whole concept.

As book eight continues, Owl and Spectre determine to break Rorschach out of prison to help them continue the mask killer investigation. Tension rises for Rorschach in prison, though, as fellow inmates threaten him, one of them an old foe serving time there.

Then the Owl is called upon by the local police who are on to him about the illegal super-hero rescue he had made the day before, he realizes he has to move quick before he is taken into custody himself.

Sadly, Moore cannot force himself to ever show a super-hero doing something that isn't breaking the law, either morally or legally.

In a 6-panel aside we see the supposedly missing artist discussing a giant monster prop he has designed for a movie production on a desert island. This movie prop somewhat absurdly figures into the ending of the series.

Things now begin moving quickly in the story here. Owl and Spectre start to break Rorschach out of jail as Rorschach is engaged in a particularly brutal series of fights with other inmates. As Moore presents the further breakdown of society an old man (Hollis Mason) who used to be the original Nite Owl is murdered in his apartment by drug addicts on Halloween. Lastly, Spectre is teleported away by Dr. Manhattan at the end of the book, his magical abilities used to whisk her away to join him on Mars.

Click to continue to book 9...

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