Writer Of Wrongs wrote:
1. Does Rorschach follow an uncompromising moral code?
His sense of morality towards other people is brutal: beatings, killings, breaking the fingers of people who don't seem to have actually committed a crime just so he can take lazy shortcuts in his investigations... his intention of reporting his landlady cheating on welfare, to track down and no doubt terrorise mere street punks/boys for spraying graffiti on an abandoned building.
But the fact is he doesn't hold himself up to the same light. Adulation of those who are arguably undeserving of such idolised praise is one example; on another level, Rorschach simply takes what he wants/needs with impunity. He breaks into Dan's apartment more than once, takes his beans, his sugar cubes, his cologne without permission. Dan is his friend yet he doesn't ask or apologise; that his actions amount to theft - a crime that he would be all too quick to brutally punish others for - simply doesn't matter to Rorschach.
Why? Because Rorschach is batshit crazy. We know that he will compromise his own morality for a can of cold beans but that he won't do it for the fate of all mankind. He's totally mindfucked.
That, and/or maybe the difference was that Truman was killing foreigners; Japanese civilians, rather than American civilians, to which Rorschach would presumably be biased in favour of. He seems to be somewhat patriotic, admiring the Comedian because he “fought for his country” and we know that the Comedian was generally portrayed by the media as an American hero, as well as that line:
“Was offered Swedish love and French love…but not American love. Like coke in green glass bottles…they don’t make them anymore.”Writer Of Wrongs wrote:
2. Rorschach's voice is only described in the comic as being a "...horrible montone" and "...expressionless", not deep. There would appear to be differences in tone as evidenced in the differing styles of speech bubble used for Rorschach in costume and Walter Kovacs in prison, probably to demonstrate the effect of speaking through a double layer of breathable latex.
As for Rorschach's unique syntax? Dr. Long sums it up best: The cops don't like him; the underworld doesn't like him; nobody likes him. I've never met anyone quite so alienated. Since his complete mental collapse working the Blair Roche case, Rorschach has totally withdrawn from humanity and has had no social contact with other people for a full decade before the story starts. No wonder the conventions and niceties of normal language, both spoken and written, are absent in his voice and his demented journal entries.
Yeah, that makes sense. I guess I always assumed that Rorschach had a deep voice after the Blair Roche case because of the wobbly aspect of his speech bubbles, which I felt was supported by the film. But I know the film changed a bunch of things from the source material anyway.
Writer Of Wrongs wrote:
3. I don't think Rorschach is specifically against homosexuality. This is a man for whom any sexuality - gay or straight - is evil because he only sees sexuality in the context of vice and violence. If he were unable to suppress his sexuality, it seems entirely plausible that Kovacs would have become just the same sort of scum he hated and slew. Rorschach lacks the intellect necessary to subordinate his emotional and sexual identity or to compartmentalise an abusive experience in such a way as to appreciate healthy love/sex.
In the supplementary material of Chap. VI, we read young Walter's account of a dream experienced at age thirteen.
He dreamed of a strange man fornicating with his mother. It is important to note that he has always seen sex as an attack, never bothering to consider that it was consensual. He sees it as a form of violence. He entered the scene thinking his mother to be in trouble and hoping to help her, but he reports that, "I had feelings when I woke up. Dirty feelings, thoughts and stuff. The dream it sort of upset me, physically. I couldn't help it. I feel bad just talking about it."
This is the moment of Walter's sexual awakening... and subsequent suppression. This was a wet dream for Walter who, at thirteen, was slamming into the puberty train with baggage well in excess of the suggested limit.
The result is Rorschach's complete asexuality. But, I would imagine that Walter remained haunted by dreams that he no longer wrote about and that many of the stains on that stinking old mattress of his were the result of his own haunted nightmares.
Yeah, I'd agree with that. I personally believe that Rorschach is less asexual, more a man of repressed sexual ambiguity which he never explored due to his negative and violent experiences of sex from an early age, social ineptitude and his "job" as a crimefighter taking up most of his time.
Writer Of Wrongs wrote:
4. Surely the question of The Comedian's backstory - or lack thereof, as you perceive - was a matter for the creators at the time? Does the character need more of a backstory? Will it make him any more memorable or successful a creation?
Perhaps. It might give us more insight into his character, as to, like I said,
what exactly shaped his sadism and nihilism? People aren't just born sadistic bastards like him. Even my aforementioned example of "V" in
V for Vendetta had some backstory that contributed to his anarchistic personality (e.g. his imprisonment, experiments, Valerie's letter).
Writer Of Wrongs wrote:
5. Did Sally Jupiter ever really spend her costumed career risking death fighting dangerous criminals? Were any of the Minutemen really ever faced with that level of risk... or was it largely a case of a bunch of stylised theatrical goodies versus similarly stylised theatrical baddies? All rather cosy and fun, if the truth be told? If so, then it's understandable that Sally would not have had any significant concerns about her daughter following in her footsteps and so actively encouraged it. It was, after all, a seemingly much more innocent time back in Sal's day, with the greatest dangers arguably coming from within their own little band...
That's true. I think she mentioned in that interview something like, "What else would she be? A housewife? I wanted something better and meaningful for my daughter." But yeah, I guess there isn't that much evidence that Sally herself had much in the way of martial arts expertise. She said herself that it was a money thing (although I think it was both a money thing and a sex thing), but I think people like Hooded Justice (alleged to be Rolf Muller, that strongman), Captain Metropolis and the first Nite Owl (he mentioned a left hook that took out Captain Axis) took it remotely seriously, although maybe it was more innocent "back in the day", even though the threat of war was surrounding them.
But even so, that costume...did she not realize how slutty it'd make her 16-year-old, not-even-legal daughter look? Or perhaps it's just the same projection of herself that failed beauty pageantist/model mothers do to their children who they mould as child beauty pageantists.
Writer Of Wrongs wrote:
6. No question here to answer.
Yeah, I guess I just kind of trailed off from the fifth question into my own thoughts. Do you agree?
Writer Of Wrongs wrote:
7. Ah, human love. Who understands - and can therefore provide an answer - for that?
Mm, suppose so. I guess we'd have to know more about their relationships to even reach remote understanding of it.