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Tom King's Rorschach - a review
Jan. 3rd, 2023 01:16 pmWHAT IS IT?
Tom King's Rorschach is set in the Watchmen universe, in the run-up to the 2020 election. A stand-alone graphic novel, it follows an unnamed detective as he investigates an assassination attempt on conservative presidential candidate Turley. The would-be assassins (killed on Page 1 by Turley's bodyguards) are a teenager named Laura and an unknown 80-year-old man in a Rorschach costume. The man dressed as Rorschach happens to share fingerprints with Walter Kovacs. So who is he, and how did he meet this kid Laura, and why did they decide to assassinate a presidential candidate?
THEMES:
Loneliness, political turmoil, radicalization! How it happens, and who it happens to!
POSITIVES:
First, I loved the art. The style is as close to Dave Gibbons as you can get. The coloring is old-fashioned, lots of earthy tones, not that crisp hyper-realistic splash you see in (for example) Batman comics these days. There's some excellent paneling where the detective interviews three witnesses on the same subject. All three tell their story at once, with panels that mirror each other, and color-coding that lets you know who's speaking, and when. Similar color-coding and mirrored panels are scattered throughout the story, allowing the narrative to switch between flashbacks and present-day ... and sometimes allowing ghosts to cross over from one timeline to the next.
Next, the worldbuilding. "Watchmen" itself is close enough to "our world" that you could get away with a normal real-world 2020 in this. But what we see is more fun. Fashion, hairstyles, technology, politics, spiritualism, comics as an industry, and the makeup of the United States have all been altered by the events of the first book. The 1986 New York massacre has worked as a sort of early 9/11 (and in this story of course, 9/11 didn't happen), with unique effects fitting to the timeline. The threat of a second squid invasion hangs over everyone's heads, and we get to see how it impacts everyone -- from presidential candidates to back-country working class folks like Laura and her father.
Characters: Laura and the new Rorschach (Wil Myerson) are fantastic. Sad, lonely, fun, fucked up, weird as hell, deeply human, always treated with dignity. This same dignity extends to Laura's father, a militia man who's convinced squids are taking over people's brains. Laura's father only appears in one issue, so there's not a whole lot of room for humanizing him and adding depth, but a lot of sympathy leaks through. Same with the strongman Laura cons into becoming Rorschach for a while.
Story: Tight and riveting. Each issue contributes to the overarching storyline heavily, while also maintaining a beginning-middle-end structure of its own, so you don't feel like you're reading filler OR wasting time to meet a wordcount. And at the same time, each issue brings a new enjoyable element of its own, with new characters, new twists, new layers to peel back on the mystery of Laura and Wil Myerson.
NEGATIVES:
I would have to read it again to come up with any. One theme woven throughout the story is pirates (this universe's version of comic book superheroes, culturally) -- the escapism of comics, the way these comics speak to people (shallowly? meaningfully? both? is one type actually more valuable than the other), and the relevant benefits of dark comics vs. light comics. I need to reread the book to figure out if I like how this was handled! But here's the thing: it was either absolutely brilliant ... or it fell a little flat, a little clumsy. That's all.
NOTES:
1) I avoided these comics as they were coming out because I wasn't interested in a Rorschach story that wasn't about Rorschach. I mean, Walter Kovacs! That's my guy, I want to read about him. But now that it's out in trade, I took another look and realized it's by Tom King. King wrote one of my favorite graphic novels, Vision. So I had to give it a try, and I'm extremely glad I did.
2) I haven't reread Watchmen in full since I was probably 21 or 22. I read the Comedian, Rorschach, and Nite Owl segments of "Before Watchmen" (and have even reread the Comedian one a couple of times). I haven't read Doomsday Clock or watched the new Watchmen TV show. I suspect there were some references to Doomsday Clock in this book, but I understood it just fine on its own. I did see one review that claimed you can read "Rorschach" without reading "Watchmen" and I strongly disagree. I mean. I can't even imagine what a mess it would be without that context, holy shit.
3) The worldbuilding is better than anything you're used to from DC, and weaker than anything you're used to in a decent sci-fi novel, so just be warned that the above endorsement of worldbuilding is contextual 😆
4) If you're new here and wondering "Can I trust this guy's taste?" be warned that I loved "The Terror" by Dan Simmons. Yes even the Platypus Pond scene. Shut up. YOUR taste is bad. I happen to think the platypus was hot.
4) This book was hella moving and I feel like when I reread it, all kinds of missed intricacies are gonna punch me in the gut lmao
Tom King's Rorschach is set in the Watchmen universe, in the run-up to the 2020 election. A stand-alone graphic novel, it follows an unnamed detective as he investigates an assassination attempt on conservative presidential candidate Turley. The would-be assassins (killed on Page 1 by Turley's bodyguards) are a teenager named Laura and an unknown 80-year-old man in a Rorschach costume. The man dressed as Rorschach happens to share fingerprints with Walter Kovacs. So who is he, and how did he meet this kid Laura, and why did they decide to assassinate a presidential candidate?
THEMES:
Loneliness, political turmoil, radicalization! How it happens, and who it happens to!
POSITIVES:
First, I loved the art. The style is as close to Dave Gibbons as you can get. The coloring is old-fashioned, lots of earthy tones, not that crisp hyper-realistic splash you see in (for example) Batman comics these days. There's some excellent paneling where the detective interviews three witnesses on the same subject. All three tell their story at once, with panels that mirror each other, and color-coding that lets you know who's speaking, and when. Similar color-coding and mirrored panels are scattered throughout the story, allowing the narrative to switch between flashbacks and present-day ... and sometimes allowing ghosts to cross over from one timeline to the next.
Next, the worldbuilding. "Watchmen" itself is close enough to "our world" that you could get away with a normal real-world 2020 in this. But what we see is more fun. Fashion, hairstyles, technology, politics, spiritualism, comics as an industry, and the makeup of the United States have all been altered by the events of the first book. The 1986 New York massacre has worked as a sort of early 9/11 (and in this story of course, 9/11 didn't happen), with unique effects fitting to the timeline. The threat of a second squid invasion hangs over everyone's heads, and we get to see how it impacts everyone -- from presidential candidates to back-country working class folks like Laura and her father.
Characters: Laura and the new Rorschach (Wil Myerson) are fantastic. Sad, lonely, fun, fucked up, weird as hell, deeply human, always treated with dignity. This same dignity extends to Laura's father, a militia man who's convinced squids are taking over people's brains. Laura's father only appears in one issue, so there's not a whole lot of room for humanizing him and adding depth, but a lot of sympathy leaks through. Same with the strongman Laura cons into becoming Rorschach for a while.
Story: Tight and riveting. Each issue contributes to the overarching storyline heavily, while also maintaining a beginning-middle-end structure of its own, so you don't feel like you're reading filler OR wasting time to meet a wordcount. And at the same time, each issue brings a new enjoyable element of its own, with new characters, new twists, new layers to peel back on the mystery of Laura and Wil Myerson.
NEGATIVES:
I would have to read it again to come up with any. One theme woven throughout the story is pirates (this universe's version of comic book superheroes, culturally) -- the escapism of comics, the way these comics speak to people (shallowly? meaningfully? both? is one type actually more valuable than the other), and the relevant benefits of dark comics vs. light comics. I need to reread the book to figure out if I like how this was handled! But here's the thing: it was either absolutely brilliant ... or it fell a little flat, a little clumsy. That's all.
NOTES:
1) I avoided these comics as they were coming out because I wasn't interested in a Rorschach story that wasn't about Rorschach. I mean, Walter Kovacs! That's my guy, I want to read about him. But now that it's out in trade, I took another look and realized it's by Tom King. King wrote one of my favorite graphic novels, Vision. So I had to give it a try, and I'm extremely glad I did.
2) I haven't reread Watchmen in full since I was probably 21 or 22. I read the Comedian, Rorschach, and Nite Owl segments of "Before Watchmen" (and have even reread the Comedian one a couple of times). I haven't read Doomsday Clock or watched the new Watchmen TV show. I suspect there were some references to Doomsday Clock in this book, but I understood it just fine on its own. I did see one review that claimed you can read "Rorschach" without reading "Watchmen" and I strongly disagree. I mean. I can't even imagine what a mess it would be without that context, holy shit.
3) The worldbuilding is better than anything you're used to from DC, and weaker than anything you're used to in a decent sci-fi novel, so just be warned that the above endorsement of worldbuilding is contextual 😆
4) If you're new here and wondering "Can I trust this guy's taste?" be warned that I loved "The Terror" by Dan Simmons. Yes even the Platypus Pond scene. Shut up. YOUR taste is bad. I happen to think the platypus was hot.
4) This book was hella moving and I feel like when I reread it, all kinds of missed intricacies are gonna punch me in the gut lmao
