Before Watchmen: The Comedian #1

[cyberghostface]

"DC came to me with Rorschach. And I went back with The Comedian. Arguably Rorschach is the face of The Watchmen. But, Comedian's the balls, man." -- Brian Azzarello

"[Comedian] is such a complex character. He can seem like a really jaded, hard-assed, indifferent character, yet, in the Watchmen graphic novel, he is the impetus for the whole story. If he had not reacted to Ozymandias' plot in such a human way, he would not have been killed, and Rorschach would never have investigated his death, unraveling the whole ball of yarn. He is more complex character than the simple cartoon good or evil, and we wanted to explore how he became so jaded and willing to do the horrible things he does, while still maintaining a hidden core of humanity. A Vietnam tale seemed the right way to look at his hardening and the building of his facade." -- J.G. Jones

NSFW for nudity. Warning for drug overdose depiction.

Comments

[lordultimus]

I'm not pretending that the Comedian didn't have his moments of humanity, but doesn't this kind of overlook the fact that it was heavily implied that he was Kennedy's killer in the Watchmen universe?

[cyberghostface]

Azzarello discusses it here but I guess it's one of those things is open to interpretation.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/redeye-brian-azzarello-c2e2-dc-comics-geek-to-me-interview-20130423-story.html

[alicemacher]

While the movie (in the opening historical montage) certainly made it explicit that the Comedian was the one who pulled the trigger, in the original work it's far from clear. True, there's the 1973 flashback in which Blake, schmoozing with Nixon's cronies, denies any responsibility for the recent murders of Woodward and Bernstein, then says, "Just don't ask where I was when I heard about J.F.K."

However, Veidt, who had kept an eye on the Comedian ever since the latter kicked his ass, says that on the day of Kennedy's assassination, Blake was in Dallas, "minding Nixon." Now while that doesn't exclude Blake being somehow involved in a conspiracy to take JFK off the board (which his later quip pretty much confirms), if he was with Nixon all that day he couldn't have been at the site of the assassination, let alone the one who personally committed it.

[lordultimus]

Context wise, it sounded a lot like Veidt thought Blake did it. Just randomly bringing up "Blake was in Dallas (the city where JFK died) with Nixon on the day Kennedy was shot, no one knows why" doesn't sound like an exoneration no matter how you spin it.

[shakalooloo]

If the Comedian hadn't reacted in such a human way, Rorscach would not have begun his investiagtion and Ozymandias' plan would have gone ahead without a hitch! Just like it does anyway.

[cyberghostface]

It didn't go without a hitch given that Rorschach may have exposed the entire thing with his diary (and succeeded if you consider Doomsday Clock to be canon with what Moore wrote).

[deh_tommy]

Or HBO’s Watchmen miniseries.

[reveen]

I do like the sentiment, that both of them can be effected by such a massive historical turning point. That Moloch despite being some weird super criminal is still an American. And the comedian without has massive nihilism still has something of a core of stars and stripes eagle screech sentimentality. It also does a bit of setup for Comedian turning to Moloch to vent his emotional breakdown.

It's just that, like, Comedian shot Kennedy. That just perfectly matches his role in the Watchmen universe. I see no reason why he wouldn't have been the guy to pull the trigger regardless of his feelings on it.

[tinygaylaura]

I didn't think it was possible for me to hate the Comedian more than I did in the original Watchmen graphic novel but this comic proved me wrong right from the very first issue

I will say it does make the scene in the movie where Ozymandias beats him senseless and then yeets him out of a window even funnier to me.

So I guess that scene is also the one time where the Comedian lived up to his name, because it certainly made me laugh