Watchmen: Waiting for the End of the World

The Watchmen: Silk Specter II, Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl, Comedian, Ozymandias, Rorschach. 

It's crazy that I've gone this long without writing about what is probably the most influential Graphic Novel of all time: Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's seminal Watchmen.  The 1980's were a great decade for epic comic books if not for particularly epic music.  Among other works, that decade
gave us masterpieces such as Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns as well as his and Chris Claremont's four issue miniseries Wolverine.  Yet, amidst all the revolutionary books that were coming out in that decade, one of them still seems to rise above all others.  Watchmen may well be the comic book equivalent of Punk Rock; a book that shattered just about all of the pre-established conventions that had rigidly defined comics up until that point.  Watchmen was one of the first self-aware, self-referential comic book series, at once paying tribute to the rich legacy of the genre while also unapologetically deconstructing the entire format by giving us deeply flawed characters grappling with real world issues.   The Watchmen world is essentially an altered version of our world, complete with it's problems and grim realities, but with the addition of real masked vigilantes inspired by comic book heroes such as Superman and Batman.  Watchmen asks a crucial question: what would the world be like if costumed heroes really existed?  How would their presence change our world?  Watchmen take place in 1985, when costumed heroes who first appeared around WWII have been outlawed under the Keene Act.  Those who were active at the time were forced to retire or else work for the government.   
Many of the Watchmen heroes embody archetypal superhero qualities.  Even so, these characters are far from flawless.  In fact, most of them are defined exclusively by their flaws.  Characters such as the Comedian, one of the first masked heroes, are shown to be sadistic, amoral sociopaths who reflect the dark underbelly of humanity's nature.  The Comedian has no problem killing, not only criminals but just about anyone who gets in his way.  Back when he was part of the first group of heroes, the Minutemen, he tried to rape the first Silk Specter.  Later heroes like Nite Owl, are essentially failures stuck in the past, dried up and useless after retiring.  Even Dr. Manhattan, a physicist who is granted god-like powers due to a freak accident, is apathetic to the human condition.  The only one who profited from retirement is Adrian Veidt a.ka. Ozymandias, who runs a billion dollar company.  What Alan Moore sought to do was examine the true motives of so called superheroes and challenged the notion that people who feel compelled to dress up and go around beating up thugs were well adjusted, grounded people.  If anything, the fact that ordinary people would trust their safety to these self-appointed protectors is pretty insane, hence the book's memorable tagline: Who watches the Watchmen?  What's to stop these people from enforcing their own brand of "justice" upon whomever they deem deserving?     
Undoubtedly, the book's most popular hero has always been Rorschach, the gruff, trench coat and fedora wearing vigilante with Batman's personality and a shape shifting ink blot mask.  Unlike the others, Rorschach refused to retire when President Nixon (now in his fifth term after America won the Vietnam War thanks to Dr. Manhattan), outlawed vigilantes.  Rorschach's worldview mirrors his ink blot mask: black and white, no shades of gray.  He carves the world up into two categories; good and evil.  This is a reflection of the simplistic world outlook of most early superhero stories; Lex Luthor's evil, Superman's good, case closed.  Even so, Rorschach has a touch of sociopath.  He's seemingly devoid of empathy, is self-righteous and plays judge, jury and executioner when he deems it necessary.  In a way similar to the Comedian, Rorschach is a by-product of our cruel and vicious world.  Rorschach's interesting because while he seems to be morally clear-cut, he does have some contradictions.  He despises people on welfare who don't make what he considers an honest living, but he works no job, has no legitimate source of income and lives off people such as his ex-partner Nite Owl.  Rorschach is a vestige of an old worldview in a world of increasing ambiguity and confusion, one on the verge of nuclear war between Russia and the U.S. which makes these former heroes feel just as useless as everyone else.
The book's Superman is Dr. Manhattan, the only one with superpowers who can bend matter to his will, among other things, but is apathetic to the seemingly inevitable war.  He demonstrates how even someone with god-like power can't be relied upon to fix everything and shouldn't be seen as a deterrent to war.  Even with tremendous power at your disposal, whether a Dr. Manhattan or the atomic bomb, it's not a means to safety or peace, not as long as there's darkness in men's hearts.  Dr. Manhattan says towards the end of the series that although he can do almost anything, he can't change human nature.  Given that he can travel anywhere in the universe or walk across the sun, Dr. M grows tired of the petty squabbles and tangled issues plaguing humanity and spends much of the series in self-imposed exiled on Mars, contemplating the nature of existence and the role of fate in his life. 
Aside from focusing on superheroes, Watchmen explores deep concepts such as the relativity of time, the nature of physics, memory and consciousness and how they relate to the interconnected lives of our heroes.  As the world inches closer to annihilation, symbolized by the doomsday clock, one of the book's many recurring visual motifs moving closer to midnight, the retired heroes are reunited by the murder of the Comedian, leading Rorschach to believe someone's out to kill former vigilantes.  Portions of the story are told through Rorschach's journal as he tirelessly investigates his mask killer theory.  The rest of the story jumps from past to present, showing the long and connected history of the characters as well as the larger social and political climates in which they operated.  What stands out in the Watchmen world is how these costumed heroes didn't really make the world a better place, despite their good intentions.  The world is still barreling full steam into oblivion while the heroes keep playing cowboys and Indians, as the Comedian once said.  Years before his death,  he says that once the nukes start flying, it won't matter what side you're on or whether you're just or unjust; everyone's going to be dust.  This sentiment is echoed many times in the book; the fact is clear that it doesn't matter what kind of weapons, technology or superheroes people have at their disposal; these will not solve the essential problems continually plaguing humanity because the problem lies within our hearts.  Whether they fight with sticks or bombs, unless people are willing to fundamentally change their hearts and minds to root out the darkness that dwells within, there will always be conflict.   
Dr. Manhattan expresses this idea, believing that it's too late for humanity to avoid its own destruction.  Without giving away the book's ending, Rorschach and Nite Owl, who ultimately suits up again, find out who killed The Comedian and discover a larger and much more terrifying plot orchestrated by one of their own that'll change the world forever.  The conclusion is epic because it defies just about every formulaic comic book ending that preceded it.  For a story about the lives of comic book heroes, Watchmen doesn't read like a comic book and that's what's so refreshing.  It's more a commentary on how superheroes influence our view of real world issues, painting an honest picture of heroes as real, multi-dimensional people by lovingly deconstructing them and taking a close look at the facets that make them up (much like Dr. Manhattan does).  The irony is that Watchmen's deconstruction and re-assemblage of basic superhero archetypes makes you appreciate Superheroes even more when they suddenly seem all too complex and human.  I believe Alan Moore's mission in Watchmen was to show that people, both in our world and the comic book world, shouldn't look exclusively to so called saviors to fix their problems.  No one man, even a Superman or one group of people can do that, they can only attack the symptoms, not the cause of these problems.  To do that, all people must find the potential for goodness in themselves and share it with others, not look towards others with fear and hatred.  Watchmen illustrates that fixing the problems of our ravaged world doesn't require the power of Superman or Dr. Manhattan, but demands the efforts of regular people taking decisive steps and working together to make a stronger, loving world...even though having Superman around would still be pretty cool.