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| The Watchmen |
Watchmen is perhaps the greatest Superhero story ever told. It is written by Alan Moore and art by Dave Gibbons. It is held in high regard in mainstream literature as it is the only graphic novel included in Time Magazine's 2005 "100 Greatest Novels of All Time." It can be largely credited as the book responsible for raising up the standard of modern comic books. It brought a mature, smart, and emotionally resonant narrative. Making comic books more widely accepted in the mainstream market because it brought comic books out of the box from the usual perception that comics (or funny books as it was called then) are just for kids. It also cleverly utilizes a story (Tales of the Black Freighter) within the main story (Watchmen) that mirrors the events/predicaments of the characters in the main story. Watchmen is written in a nonlinear narrative. Intertwining back story to the current setting as it slowly builds to expose the motivations of each character and why they are in their current state. Watchmen became so popular that a live action movie (and an accompanying toy line courtesy of DC Direct) was released in 2009 to mixed reviews. Though I personally enjoyed watching the movie because it stayed true to the source material, my wife and a lot of our friends disliked the movie because they viewed the story as too complex to enjoy. The movie also changed certain plot elements from the comic books, though granted that it was not too far off. Though I think having able to read the graphic novel would give you a better understanding of the movie. I'll revisit the Watchmen story (movie version that is, as I would recommend you to read the Graphic Novel personally to appreciate the whole Watchmen story) along with a toy review of the DC Direct Watchmen toy line in this blog entry.
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(Left to Right) Nite Owl, Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan,
Silk Spectre, Ozymandias, and The Comedian. |
Set in the 1980's during the height of the Cold War, the story opens when a retired costumed vigilante named The Comedian was assassinated in his condominium unit. The Comedian (along with Rorschach, Nite Owl, Dr. Manhattan, Silk Spectre, and Ozymandias) was part of the last remaining masked vigilantes before the U.S. Government outlawed and forced them to reveal their secret identities due to the public's growing distrust over them. After the unmasking, The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan would continue to work for the U.S. Government as their government sanctioned agents. Rorschach meanwhile continued to fight as a vigilante outlaw, while Nite Owl and Silk Spectre retired their superhero persona. Displeased by the police's investigation of The Comedian's murder, Rorschach started his own investigation and came into conclusion that someone was out to murder them one by one. Rorschach warned the remaining masked vigilantes including the skeptical Nite-Owl who relayed it to Ozymandias. Ozymandias (now a successful businessman) dismisses it. After The Comedian's funeral, Dr. Manhattan was accused of inflicting cancer to his ex-girlfriend and others whom he spent some considerable time with. Because of this, he exiled himself to Mars leaving behind his lover The Silk Spectre (with whom his relationship was deteriorating). The loss of Dr. Manhattan would leave the U.S. government without a strategic advantage in the looming nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Dr. Manhattan was to be the government's secret weapon in the impending nuclear war. Losing him left them vulnerable to Soviet Union's nuclear threat.
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| Nite Owl and Silk Spectre |
With Dr. Manhattan no longer around, The Silk Spectre seeks Nite Owl to catch up with each other and then one day decided to don their costumes again to fight crime. They eventually grew closer and became lovers. Ozymandias at this time was attacked in his office and was nearly assassinated before he managed to overpower and kill the assassin. Not soon after, Rorschach was framed for the murder of their former villain called Moloch while he was seeking him out to shed some light into The Comedian's murder (after following a lead that days before The Comedian's death, he visited Moloch). This convinced Nite Owl that there was indeed a conspiracy behind everything that is happening to his former team mates and with the help of Silk Spectre, decided to break Rorschach out from prison. After the break out, Dr Manhattan suddenly teleports Silk Spectre to Mars and revealed his intentions of leaving Earth for good (despite Silk Spectre's pleas to help save the world) because humanity no longer interests him. During the course of the argument, Dr, Manhattan reveals to Silk Spectre that The Comedian was actually her biological father. This development would cause Dr. Manhattan to change his mind and regain his interest in humanity. He recommits himself to Earth and return with Silk Spectre to try to save it.
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| The Comedian and Rorschach |
Dr. Manhattan's revelation to Silk Spectre about the identity of The Comedian as her biological father would shaken her. She had always wondered why her mother (the original Silk Spectre) never hated The Comedian despite his past transgressions toward her when they both were still with the superhero group The Minutemen. The Comedian nearly raped the original Silk Spectre. But years later would be forgiven and the two became lovers. As this development happened, Nite Owl and Rorschach would find mounting evidence that Ozymandias was behind the plot to neutralize them all. Rorschach writes this conspiracy in his journal and drops it off in a local office of a right-wing tabloid called the New Frontiersman in the hopes that if something happens to them in their confrontation with Ozymandias, someone would be able to expose the conspiracy. Nite Owl and Rorschach then located Ozymandias' base in the Antarctic. They confronted Ozymandias and made him admit that it was him who was behind the actions to neutralize them. Ozymandias admits that he was responsible for the murder of The Comedian, the cause of the cancer that led to Dr. Manhattan's self-exile, the murder of Moloch which led to the framing of Rorschach, and the staged failed attempt to murder himself in order to avoid suspicion. He explained that he did all of this because he wanted to protect his plan from being exposed.
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| Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias |
Infuriated by this revelation, a fight breaks out with the both of them unable to defeat Ozymandias. Suddenly, Dr. Manhattan and Silk Spectre appears to join the fight. But before the fight could be resumed, Ozymandias shows them a video of the death of thousands of civilians and the destruction of two key cities in the U.S.A. and in the Soviet Union. He had already activated the exploding energy reactor that Dr. Manhattan was tricked into creating to destroy both of the cities. With Dr. Manhattan's energy signatures looming in the destructed cities, both countries would agree to unite to face a new common enemy, Dr. Manhattan himself. Realizing that the peace forged by this tragedy would be jeopardized if they reveal Ozymandias' involvement in the destruction of the cities, Dr. Manhattan, Silk Spectre, and Nite Owl decided to keep this a secret. Rorschach on the other hand refused to keep quiet and decided to leave and reveal Ozymandias' involvement. Dr. Manhattan tries to convince Rorschach to let this one go for the common good. But Rorschach refused to relent and challenges Dr. Manhattan that the only way to prevent him from revealing what he knows is to kill him. Dr. Manhattan reluctantly vaporizes him, keeping the secret safe. Meanwhile back in the Antarctic base, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre leaves Ozymandias alone to contemplate for his sins. Dr. Manhattan bade Silk Spectre goodbye as he leaves Earth to start anew in the unknown reaches of space. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre would live their remaining lives together as Silk Spectre reunites with her mother and fixes their broken relationship with the new found knowledge that The Comedian was her father. The movie ends with a New Frontiersman staffer reaching for the mail (which included Rorschach's journal) in search of a story to publish.
Character Bios/Toy Review:
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| Edward Blake a.k.a The Comedian |
The Comedian/Edward Blake Bio: The comedian is one of the original members of the Superhero/Vigilante Group called The Minutemen. During his stay with the team, he nearly raped the original Silk Spectre (Sally Juspeczyk) before he was caught by Hooded Justice and got a beating from him. The Silk Spectre though forgave him and eventually had a sexual relationship with him that bore them a daughter, Laurie Juspeczyk, the 2nd Silk Spectre. When the government outlawed the costumed vigilantes, The Comedian (along with Dr. Manhattan) worked for the U.S. Government as their secret agents. He is a ruthless, cynical, and nihilistic figure that views life as just one big joke. Because of these views, he kills without reservation. Making him the government's perfect killing machine. He stumbled upon Ozymandia's plot to commit mass murder and was later on assassinated in his condo unit in the opening scenes of the story. His assassination would set the motion of the book's entire plot.
Toy Review: I got this DC Direct Watchmen Movie Action Figure set (except Nite Owl) loose and without accessories from ebay. The Comedian action figure that I got lacks the shoulder pads that featured the Star Spangled Banner's colors and the accompanying hand guns that was supposed to come along with this figure. The figure also is supposed to include a connecting foot base (see photo of Nite Owl above standing on his foot base). There were two figures released for this character, the other one was a masked less variant. Both figures shares the same points of articulation. It features a ball-jointed neck, ball-jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, swivel hips, hinged knees, and swivel calves. This is one of the better articulated figures (along with Nite Owl and Ozymandias) in this line. The sculpts are also spot on. The face sculpt closely resembles that of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the actor who played The Comedian in the 2009 Watchmen movie. The gun holsters are also a cool addition as you can store the hand guns that came along with this figure. The paint job is also quite decent. I'm thinking of hunting down the variant (along with the variants of Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan, and the classic versions of Nite Owl and Silk Spectre) with complete accessories so that I could supplement this one with the missing accessories and use the variant for a classic Watchmen display.
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| Walter Joseph Kovacs a.k.a Rorschach |
Rorschach/Walter Joseph Kovacs Bio: Rorschach is a son of an abusive and condescending prostitute. At a young age of 10 years old, he was involved in a brutal street brawl where he partially blinded one of his attackers using a cigarette and bit off the cheek on another. Because of this, his poor living conditions was discovered and he was removed from his mother's care and transferred to a home for problematic children. At the age of 16, he was freed from the home and found work at a dress shop. It is here where he would find the fabric that he would be using to fashion himself a face mask as inspired by Dr. Manhattan. This fabric contained two heat and pressure sensitive fluids between layers of latex that creates a shifting color of black on white color effect without mixing to form gray. This fabric was scavenged from an order of an Italian sounding woman that Rorschach would later on discover to have been raped and murdered amidst her cries for help to the apathetic neighbors. This would inspire Rorschach to become a costumed vigilante and take matters in his own hands as he had grown sick of the apathetic nature of humans. His vigilante activities would grow more brutal through the years. He initially just beats up criminals badly until the police comes to arrest them. But because of his deep hatred for immoral behaviors, he eventually decided to eliminate the criminals once and for all by killing them. He had forged a successful alliance to combat crime with the second Nite Owl before the government's outlawing of costumed vigilantes. While the others hanged up their costumes, Rorschach continued on with his masked vigilante activities, making him an outlaw. Rorschach (like most of the other characters in Watchmen) does not possess any powers, but is a skilled and resourceful fighter. He also possesses good detective skills. He does not possess any special weapons except for the gas powered grappling gun which was designed by Nite Owl. He was the one who investigated The Comedian's death and deduced that someone was after the Watchmen. Rorschach is extremely "right wing", and morally uncompromising. This trait would cause his death later on in the story because of his refusal to heed to Ozymandias' pleas to not reveal the orchestrated mass murder that he created in exchange for the common good.
Toy Review: DC Direct action figures are commonly regarded for their highly detailed sculpts but lacking in the articulation department. Many toy collectors regard DC Direct action figures as statue like in quality. This Rorschach figure (and the unmasked variant one) is one of the best examples. I got this figure lacking in accessories as it actually should have come with an interchangeable extra right hand that can hold an accompanying grappling gun and a base similar to the other bases that came in this toy line. This is one of the least articulated figure in this toy line as it only features a swivel neck, swivel shoulders, hinged elbows, swivel wrists and a swivel thigh underneath the undercoat. But what it lacks in articulation, it makes up for it's finely detailed sculpts, most notably the realistic creases it sports in it's trench coat and trousers. The face mask's painted blotted black ink is also nicely rendered to form a face (as do the unmasked variant figure which nicely presents Jackie Earle Haley's facial features). This figure's appearance could have been perfect if only DC Direct included a shifting black on white color effect in it's face mask just like in the movie. By the way, there's also a Toys R Us exclusive "Prisoner" variant of this figure which is similar to the unmasked variant but having the face sport some cuts and wounds coming from being brutally beat up by the police. That figure also comes with a prisoner name plate.
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| Adrian Veidt a.k.a Ozymandias |
Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias Bio: Adrian Veidt was born a genius and to a wealthy family. He had the best of what life had to offer but decided to donate his inheritance to charity. His rationale of his actions is that he wanted to rid himself of the riches that he inherited because he wanted to start from nothing and build something for himself on his own. He embarks on a quest to follow Alexander the Great's route but discovers that Alexander the Great was just a pale imitation of Ramesses II. Making Ramesses II his new hero, he returns to America and began his career as a costumed vigilante and called himself Ozymandias. He earned the reputation as the "Smartest man in the planet" and would later foresaw the government's plan to outlaw costumed vigilantes. He retired his vigilante activities before the government enacted their plan. After revealing his secret identity to the general public, he would build a business empire based on his superhero image selling assorted merchandise and became the richest man in the world. He became involved in humanitarian activities while at the same time secretly planning to commit mass murder in order to prevent nuclear war by uniting America and the Soviet Union. His plan was discovered by The Comedian. He silences The Comedian by murdering him, setting in motion the events of the story. Ozymandias does not possess any special powers. But he possesses extreme level of intelligence as well as extremely enhanced level of fighting skills. His intelligence would corrupt him and lead him to think of himself as highly superior than the human race. This trait would lead him to believe that he can single handedly decide the fate of humanity. Thus, the plan to commit mass murder in hopes of attaining everlasting peace.
Toy Review: Personally, I think Ozymandias is one of the better figures released in this toy line. I've always been a fan of action figures with good articulation. Though this figure is not as highly articulated as the Mattel DC Universe Classics or Hasbro's Marvel Legends, Ozymandias sports the standard DC Direct articulation. This for me is decent enough for an action figure because I'm also a big fan of DC Direct's nice blend of detailed sculpts and good enough amount of articulation. Ozymandias' articulation is composed of a ball jointed neck. ball jointed shoulder, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, swivel hips, and hinged knees. These are all pretty standard for a DC Direct action figure. Meanwhile the sculpt gives the figure a good muscular look. The figure has a rubbery cape along with that rubbery piece on the figure's crotch that does not hamper articulation on the hips. The paint application of the figure also looks cool as I pretty much like the metallic look that it sports. The face also is not that far off from Matthew Goode's (the actor who played Ozymandias). Yeah, I pretty much like this figure despite the lack of accessories (not counting the foot base that came with).
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| Daniel Dreiberg/Nite Owl |
Daniel Dreiberg/Nite Owl Bio: Nite Owl is actually the second Nite Owl in the story. There was an original Nite Owl by the name of Hollis Mason. Because of his obsession to the original Nite Owl, Dan Dreiberg succeeded Hollis when Hollis retired his Nite Owl persona. He possess more modernized owl related gadgets than the first Nite Owl. Chief of this is his airship that he calls Archie. He was a successful crime fighter before the outlawing of the costumed vigilantes, forging a successful partnership with Rorschach. When he hanged up his costume, he had a hard time refitting into society as a normal citizen. His miserable life was only changed when Laurie Juspeczyk (the second Silk Spectre) re entered his life. Finding no work, the both of them decided to don their costumes and fight crime again. This partnership would cause the two of them to fall in love with each other. Nite Owl mostly relies on his owl related gadgetry that he uses in fighting crime. He is quite similar to DC's Batman in terms of his modus operandi.
Toy Review: I got this figure separately from the other Watchmen figures, so I managed to get it complete with accessories. It comes with the foot base and his crescent dart. The crescent dart can be detached from his belt and use as a weapon in the same way Batman uses his batarangs. I pretty much like this figure because it reminds me a lot of Batman. It has Batman's aura written all over it even though he was originally based on Blue Beetle. It sports the same standard articulation as Ozymandias'. The sculpting details of this figure is quite awesome. You could feel the scaly complexion of the costume. The figure has a rubber cape similar to Ozymandias'. I pretty much like the head sculpt. It looks quite similar to the movie's headshot. The painting details are also applied brilliantly. It balances the brown hues and the bronze look of the costume evenly. This is one of my favorite figures in this toy line. There's also a Classic version of Hollis Mason's Nite Owl that was released by DC Direct. I'm still hunting that one along with the variants and the classic Silk Spectre.
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| Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre |
Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre II Bio: Laurie is the daughter of the original Silk Spectre. She got into crime fighting behind the prodding of her mother who wanted Laurie to succeed her. She had a successful crime fighting career and was involved in a romantic relationship with Dr. Manhattan. When the government outlawed the costumed vigilantes, she was kept on retainer by the government because of her romantic relationship with Dr. Manhattan. This relationship would help keep in check Dr. Manhattan's attachment toward Earth. But when Dr. Manhattan left Earth for Mars, the government cut off her retainer allowances. She was forced to look for a new home and sought out a former colleague, Dan Dreiberg (Nite Owl). Moving in with him, this would mark the beginning of their romantic relationship (as Dan had unrequited feelings for her). They also resumed their crime fighting activities together out of boredom for the normal lives they had. She also initially didn't know who her biological father until Dr. Manhattan revealed it to her while she was trying to convince Dr. Manhattan to return to Earth and help save it . The Silk Spectre is a highly skilled gymnast and combatant.
Toy Review: I really dislike this figure because DC Direct didn't do justice to it by not giving it better articulation. They could have opted instead to give it the standard DC Direct articulations. The figure only sports a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and a swivel thigh (which is useless by the way). The sculpt is good enough though. But I think the face is kinda off a bit. It misses Carla Gugino's (the actress who played Silk Spectre in the movie) likeness. The paint on the other hand looks good. I like how the yellow part blended with the black parts. The original costume on the graphic novel was more revealing than the movie costume. But I think they have cleverly updated Silk Spectre's costume without losing it's sexiness. This translated well in action figure form. The figure also does not come with any accessories except for the foot base. There was also a classic Sally Juspeczyk Silk Spectre figure that was released. I think that one is a better figure because it sports DC Direct's standard articulations.
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| Dr. Jonathan Osterman/Dr. Manhattan |
Dr. Jonathan Osterman/Dr. Manhattan: Jon was a physicist who was transformed into a blue-skinned superhuman with God like powers during a freak accident in one of his experiments. He originally was blown into atoms and only had his consciousness exist before he found a way to reconstruct a physical body. As Dr. Manhattan, he was immediately drafted by the U.S. government to work under them and became their secret weapon in the Vietnam Wars. He also became the U.S. government's primary weapon against the nuclear threat of the Soviet Union in the cold war. Dr. Manhattan had a brief crime fighting career where he fought crime alongside the second Silk Spectre. He had a long standing relationship with the her before he drifted away from humanity after being tricked into believing that his existence on Earth is a threat to humanity. He spends most of his idle time doing advance technological research and development, and dabbles into Physics. He finally grew disillusioned over the fate of humanity when he perceived that the fate of humanity is already predetermined, and that there is nothing he can do to change it's course. Dr. Manhattan is the only super powered being in the group. He possesses superhuman strength, telekinesis, teleportation, control over matter at a sub atomic level, and a near perfect clairvoyance.
Toy Review: There are two versions of this Dr. Manhattan figure, the regular one and the variant translucent one. I think I got the variant translucent one. I got this figure lacking in accessories. I think this is one of the coolest figure in this toy line because it features interchangeable legs. The one that I got has the main legs attached which is the unarticulated one. The extra lower legs featured swivel hips and hinged knee articulations. The upper body features a ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulder, and hinged elbows. This figure is also supposed to include a support base to make this figure do a floating stance for the unarticulated leg. For the articulated legs on the other hand, it comes with a foot base. The variant translucent one is made up of a clear bluish plastic, with black paint applied for his brief and the atomic structure of hydrogen on the forehead. The figure has some nicely detailed muscle sculpts. I'm on the look out for a complete non variant one though. I think it's nicer if I could find that one to complement the classic Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Variant The Comedian, and Unmasked Rorschach.
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| The Watchmen Graphic Novel and Movie |
The Watchmen graphic novel is truly a revolutionary comic book. Apart from the unorthodox way of telling the story, the characterization also revolutionized our perception of Superheroes. Before Watchmen, comic books simply had the premises of a hero out to save the world against a megalomaniacal super villain who either wants to rule the world, or rob a bank. The motivations as to why they do it is quite basic. But when The Watchmen came, it shook the foundations of comic book superheroes. Each of the characters in the book are called Superheroes but their methods on how they do their jobs leaves us wondering if indeed they are who they seem to be. Take for example The Comedian. He's in the superhero business not because he wants to save the world or fight crime, he is in the Superhero business because to him life is just one big joke. He treats his job as a playground where he could waste a life of a worthless human being. The character Ozymandias depicts a superhero trait that says he can save the fate of the world. He commits mass murder to attain world peace. It gets you thinking, does the end justify the means? Ozymandias became this book's super-villain. But to some of us, we don't see it that way. Some of us believes that the end does justify the means. Ozymandias sacrificed lives in order to save more lives. How could it be any more heroic than that? And if we take in reality, the lives sacrificed are what we would like to call as collateral damage. How many times have we heard of this word when someone tries to justify his actions in the hope of attaining something for the common good? Rorschach on the other hand depicts a superhero trait of moral uprightness. He looks at things either black or white. No middle ground. So it's either you are good or you are evil. He looks at Ozymandias' mass murder as immoral despite Ozymandias' end goal of attaining world peace. He is the exact opposite of Ozymandias but it also gets us to think, If Rorschach was able to reveal to the public that the mass murder was orchestrated by Ozymandias, and that the perceived threat was not a threat after all, and the world goes to war because of this; will we think that Rorschach did the right thing? The Watchmen graphic novel is the coming of age for comic books. Gone were the days when brainless fantasy filled the comic books. Our comic books are no longer funny, it has matured with us. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons brought our superhero to reality and put them in a setting where we (devoid from the perfect world that we read in fantasy books) reside. Thrust in a real world where there is moral ambiguity, what will our superheroes do? That in a nut shell is what Watchmen is all about. They became a reflection of our society. Are they still the heroes that we thought them to be? The Watchmen truly is a literary masterpiece.
