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The details are VERY subtle. I actually only found these after I got my hands on some high-resolution scans of the GN and, even so, it was only by accident that I stumbled on the one where Rorschach leaves the Guga Diner. After that, I just canvassed the images looking for RR on the background, finding the other 5 frames. I really love these tiny little visual cues. It is the sort of thing that, along with many others, make David Gibbons as much of an author of the story as Alan Moore himself, and not merely an "illustrator".

Trying to be as thorough as possible, below is a view of Rorschach's apartment (Watchmen 5, page 11, frame 1), where we clearly see a table with several dirty plates, cuttlery, a couple of open cans of food, etc.



What is that all about? He gets meals somewhere already on a plate and brings it home, only to repeat later on? He got those plates from the trash? Doesn't seem to make any sense.

Those dishes look old and chipped. Maybe he's had the same dishes since the '70s.

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"Under no circumstances should anyone encourage the ordinary person to be funny."
--Bob Mackey

I don't think he would have ever purchased or somehow acquired such a large set just for himself, especially given that he does not have anything else of the sort in the apartment, not even a cupboard to keep the dishes in.

Looks more like salvaged them from somewhere, but I can't think of a place that makes sense. Maybe from the trashcans themselves?

He could have nicked them from an alley dumpster behind a Gunga Diner. Or, and this is HIGHLY unlikely, maybe he inherited his mother's possessions when she died and only took what was useful: tableware and cuttlery.

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The idea that they were chipped or otherwise damaged items from the Gunda Diner was initially very tempting, until I noticed on several frames in Watchmen 5, pages 10-11, that they use cardboard boxes and cups at the diner.



I do agree that it is HIGHLY unlikely. I don't think he inherited anything from his mother, as there is no mention of that on his case file (he was already in the Lillian Charlton Home for Problem Children when she died).

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LOL People Must Be Told, you're right that's really fitting and subtle. I like it.

As for the plates, he did have a job at some point that paid money. It could be that he bought plates then. And not everyone gets plates at fancy places, they're really cheap at the thrift store and Good Will.

And I have plates older than 1970s. And they still work great.

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Biosynth. Rorschach Fangirl.
http://rorschachsjournal99.blogspot.com/
http://gothicdragon99.blogspot.com/

Don't worry, my boyfriend has plates he got out of a dumpster. They rock (they have unicorns on them).

Rorschach totally could have dumpster-dove for the plates, too--he was still poor even when he had a job--I just don't think he would get the idea to get a bunch of plates (which need to be rigorously washed before use) out of the trash after he totally flipped his lid in '75. At that point he suddenly has a lot fewer friends and probably less inclination to eat off plates at all.

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"Under no circumstances should anyone encourage the ordinary person to be funny."
--Bob Mackey

Very well put. I had noticed some of it, but not as much as you did. You gotta love the irony. Amazing how much stuff is in this GN. It just gets better and better the more you look at it. And the way this particular set stands out, with frames spread so apart frome ach other, it's almost like the Bible Code. Truly the work of genius.



What bothers me is that the apartment has one bed with a mattress and a pillow, one table, a chair, a windows, drapes, and the mysterious plates and cuttlery, besides the Frontiersman issues and the End Is Nigh signs. Even if some former means of living let him afford to buy more things than he currently can as a dumpster-diver, why was that particular choice of items the only one that survived? It's not like he even values dishes all that much, given the way he eats beans off the can, as well as the fact that all the plates portrayed are piled up and dirty.

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Okay,

Food and Rent are fixed costs. Rent costs the same every month. He needs to eat at least one meal per day.
Rorschach is strong, has good stamina and high endurance for pain, temperature and fatigue (can go for 3 days without sleep.)

He's pretty healthy. You need food everyday for something like that.

Besides Food and Rent, Rorschach has to obtain enough cash to afford the following items on a regular basis.

* A daily copy of the New Frontiersman
* Occasionally a copy of the Gazette
* Batteries for his Flashlight
* Large numbers of CO2 Cartridges for his Grappling Gun. (Where does he keep that thing any way ?)

In addition to the normal ways in which vagrants commonly get money, such as dumpster diving and donations in change, we have one additional clue.

Dan tells Rorschach "You live off people while insulting them, and nobody complains because they think you're a god-damn lunatic."

This begs the question.. who are "They"

When Rorschach stops over at Dan's for food, there's an implication that they haven't seen each other in a while.
This of course means that Rorschach is not there every other day, nor does he seem to visit Moloch so often.

When Dan makes the above quoted remark, he seems to exclude himself. (As he does not think Rorschach is a Lunatic. and IS complaining).....

So who are these people that Dan accuses Rorschach of ungratefully living off of?

_________________
Biosynth. Rorschach Fangirl.
http://rorschachsjournal99.blogspot.com/
http://gothicdragon99.blogspot.com/

This is, of course, a very good question. Perhaps this is a reference to something that happened in the past? Maybe from the days that Note Owl and RR fought crime together? I can see Kovacs "freeloading" on Dreiberg's dime (meals, snacks, consummables...), especially before the Roche girl murder. Maybe RR also acted similarly towards the resources of others? One must have in mind that Kovac was a young man of extremely modest means when he started fighting crime, unlike his "colleagues" who were all very well-to-do.

I'm also still baffled by all the dirty dishes...

Good Point....... But....

"You live off people while insulting them, and nobody complains because they think you're a god-damn lunatic."

VS.

"You liveD off people while insulting them, and nobody complainED because they think you're a god-damn lunatic."



The present tense that Dan uses would imply that not only is this NOT in the past, it is an ongoing issue.

The fact that He mentions that "Nobody complains" implies that these are people who under any other circumstance would complain, but simply humor him instead because they think he's crazy.

Does Moloch look like he's simply "humoring" Rorshcach? Of course not... Moloch is terrified.

Ergo... THEY refers to people Rorschach is probably familiar with.






Something else to consider..... When Rorschach visits Laurie and Jon... theyre not surprised, certainly not "I havent seen you in 6 years ...Surprised....

Instead they seem impatient and annoyed.... the kind that says "Christ !... Not Again..."

In fact, Laurie says to John that she shouldnt let something small like Rorschach's Visit bother her.... but immediately says that she hasnt seen DAN in years....



Hurm......

You are quite correct on your grammar, but maybe not on the interpretation... It seems to be a safe assumption that, when they meet in Dreiberg's kitchen, Dan and Rorschach haven't seen each other in about eight years. Nite Owl quit being a masked hero when the Keene act was passed in 1977, while RR never did, and I don't see them having any reason to meet after that (it's not like they are going to sit around, drink beers, and exchange stories like it is with Hollis Mason). Thus, whatever statement Dreiberg makes regarding RR is actually an extrapolation based on the past, no matter how the verb is flexed when he says it.

The lack of surprise on Dr. Manhattans's behalf is explainable simply because of his particular relationship with time, which makes his "unsurpriseable" (at least when no one is shooting tachions around). Laurie, on the other hand, does seem at least somewhat surprised by seeing RR show up, even if she is not in any way freaked out by it (she just doesn't like him - and the comment on the Comedian didn't help).

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just another shirt ripping sig

I don't think Rorschach would deliberately steal. He may borrow things occasionally from people who allow it like Dan does. I can also see him being a penny pincher and saving all his money from his tailor days. He may also intimidate his landlady so much that she charges him hardly anything for rent. But he is way too conservative to accept welfare or any kind of public aid/

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Been lurking a while, but this is my first post.

Really interesting, thought-provoking comments here. The most plausible source of cash I could see for Rorschach (post-Keene Act, anyway) is from the criminals he fights. Like others have pointed out, I don't think Rorschach would have any problems with taking cash off 'bad guys.'

Previous to that, though, I wonder how much Dan supported Rorschach financially.

I don't think she's intimidated by him--the one time we see her before Rorschach goes to prison, she's bitching at him about rent and the fact that he stinks. His comment indicates that both gripes are "usual" on her part. If he was really intimidating to her, I don't think she'd openly insult him on a regular basis.

In his "disguise" as Walter, he struck me as kind of mild-mannered, like he takes all manner of shit from people and just kind of puts up with it. I don't doubt that his landlady thought he was kind of a creep, but I don't think she was scared of him until he showed up back from prison (covered in blood) and confronted her.

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"Under no circumstances should anyone encourage the ordinary person to be funny."
--Bob Mackey

i wonder how anybody can be mystified by rorschach/walter owning plates.
he is, and has always been (since he left the charlton home - at sixteen), a single man living on his own. his lifestyle has always been modest, and his descent into the near-vagrant state at the start of the GN has been gradual. i can perfectly see plates and maybe a simple stove as the usual outfit for a room that´s meant to be let to a worker who has to care for himself. there´s definitely nothing fancy going on in the cooking department (the empty can is testimony for that), and plates are used as long as there are clean ones left. i imagine during the years the cooking and cleaning has became less and less regular (hence the complaints of the landlady re hygiene), accompanied by walter picking up more and more irregular eating habits.
i think it is likely that he has occupied the same room for a long time, and has taken care of it less and less, leading to the run-down state of things (broken crookery etc) of the GN present.