Jared Matthews’s Reviews > Watchmen > Status Update

“The world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget… I forget.

We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another’s vantage point, as if new, it may still take the breath away.”

However, life is shown by these same actions to be of immense value and meaning. Because they are a miracle, even from a supposed scientific or atheistic viewpoint. It is such a miracle, that even someone as emotionally distant as Dr. Manhattan can’t help but recognize it.

Chap 9 is incredible. It has twists, turns and an incredibly meaningful conclusion.

It showcases the complex misery that accompanies human life, with Juspeczyk as a case study. She finds out such dreadful things about her family and where she comes from, that a proper reaction is both horror and empathy at the same people.

Although I have loved the character studies, this issue was a great change of pace in that it finally got the plot progressing a bit more. I loved seeing them break Rorschach out of prison and have some more action occurring.

Honestly, I just don’t like the Black Freightor scenes. They unnecessarily complicate the reading experience, with little to no payoff. Maybe it will pickup at some point in the future, but I see little reason for it right now.

Dan is a scholar, writing articles about birds and their foreign abilities. Fantasizing about their magnificence. The Nite Owl makes these foreign abilities his own.

For Dan, being in costume is the source of his confidence. Without the costume, he’s constantly nostalgic about the old days and trying to downplay how much he misses it. He’s impotent and overthinks everything.

However, when the costume is on hes Nite Owl, always confident. He knows what to do and he does it. He has the ability to change the world. But it’s not so easy to take off the costume once it’s on.

Rorschach’s tormented childhood explains a lot about his occupation. Though comics idolize masked detectives uncovering conspiracies, in real life we all know people who fit that mold. They often aren’t those easiest to be around.

His childhood taught him that everything is black and white. No gray.

The choice/twist revealing Rorschach is the doomsayer was masterful. It reveals that the Doomsayers “true identity” is Rorschach, not the other way around.

Walter Kovacs is a deranged individual, disturbing all he comes into contact with. However, Rorschach makes a difference in the world. He is a man of action, not merely a man with a sign.

His arrest, and loss of costume, make for a loss of identity as well.