Plot Summary

Watchmen opens to the murder of Edward Blake by an unknown assailant^[1]. The case is investigated by local detectives but, unable to find any leads or reasonable motives, they choose to try to let the case "drop out of site"^[2]. Rorschach, a masked vigilante, investigates the murder and discovers that Edward Blake's true identity was the Comedian, a fellow masked fighter and colleague of Rorschach's.

Rorschach continues to warn all of the other still living masked heroes due to his beleif that the Comedian was killed by a "mask killer". He first talks to Daniel Dreiberg (a.k.a. Nite Owl) who dismisses Rorschach as paranoid^[3]. Feeling depressed by his former partner's disregard for his warnings, Rorschach leaves to talk to Adrian Veidt the former masked heroe Ozymandias and now successful businessman. Rorschach meets Adrian in his office where Adrian gives Rorschach possible reasons for the Comedian's death refering to his strong right-winged agenda as being "practically a nazi"^[4]. Rorschach, frustrated by his first two visits, leaves for the Rockefeller military base to warn the last two heroes, Laurie Juspeczyk and Dr. Manhattan. He breaks into the facility to find Dr. Manhattan at a huge size working on a large machine. Manhattan is not surprised to see him saying that he knew Rorschach was going to be there at that moment. Laurie is angered by Rorschach's arrival and commands Manhattan to teleport him away^[5].

Next we jump to the funeral of Edward Blake. Dr. Manhattan, Dan Dreiberg, and Adrian Veidt are all present^[6]. During the procession each of the three characters experience flashbacks of the Comedian remebering times they had worked with the Comedian.

Laurie Juspeczyk, former masked heroe and Dr. Manhattan's girlfriend, leaves Dr. Manhattan after an argument and goes to stay with Dan^[7]. While she is gone, Manhattan goes onto a talkshow where he is accused of giving former colleagues, lovers, and enemies cancer^[8]. He teleports himself to mars in self-exile because he no longer wishes to deal with human issues and social codes. This sparks a potential world war with the Soviet Union. The US had always used Dr. Manhattan as a detterent for nuclear war as his god-like control of matter would allow him to stop any nuclear missiles mid-flight. With Dr. Manhattan gone the Soviet Union invades the Middle East threatining the United States with each step^[9].

During Rorschach's quest to uncover the conspiracy behind the Comedian's murder he begins to press Moloch, an old adversary of Blake's, for information^[10]. He returns to find Moloch murdered with the police outside of the building^[11]. After a failed attempt to escape Rorschach is arrested and imprisoned at Sing Sing. During Rorschach's stay a psychologist named Malcolm Long attempts to understand Rorschach's psyche^[12] ultimately causing his own mind and mood to deteriorate in the process^[13].

Dan feeling too "impotent" dawns his Nite Owl costume again^[14] in an attempt to recapture the glory of his old life. With the help of Laurie, the pair save people from a burning tenement building in downtown New York and expose that the masks are back. In the aftermath of their daring rescue the two decide to free Rorschach from prison. After fighting their way into the building they discover Rorschach finishing up business with an old enemy, Big Figure^[15]. They return to Dan's house where they discover Jon waiting for them. Jon and Laurie leave to discuss the fate of humanity on mars^[16] while Dan and Rorschach leave to investigate the mask killer conspiracy further^[17].

While on mars Laurie and Jon argue about the importance of life and whether Jon should intervene in the Nuclear War. During the argument Laurie discovers her father is none other than the Comedian^[18], the man she has grown her entire life hating. This near impossible event brings Jon to understand the importance of life and convinces him to return and save earth^[19].

During Jon and Laurie's argument, Rorschach and Dan continue their investigation only to discover that Veidt was behind the assassinations and killings all along^[20]. All four of them: Dan, Rorschach, Jon, and Laurie come together at Veidt's antarctic base to confront him. They discover that Veidt's plans were to end the war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. His plan consists of killing millions in New York to fool the world into believing it's being attacked by aliens^[21]. Dan, Rorschach, and Jon are unable to stop Veidt in time to prevent his plan but continue to attack him regardless until Veidt turns on the many TVs in his observation room showing that his plan had worked.

Dan, Jon, and Laurie all accept that they must remain silent to keep the world in peace^[22] but Rorschach's inability to accept compromises leaves to tell the world. Jon intercepts and kills Rorschach before he can tell anyone and put mankind back into danger of a nuclear war^[23]. As Jon walks back into Veidt's headquarters he finds Dan and Laurie naked, asleep, and cuddling on the floor he looks at them with a smile on his face presumably because he's happy that Laurie is happy. Jon then finds Veidt meditating about the acts he has committed. Jon then leaves to somewhere in the universe saying that he plans on making new life.

Characters

A wide cast of characters exist in the Watchmen universe that aid in the progression of the plot and allow the reader to experience the events through many different point of views.

Main Characters

Daniel Dreiberg (Nite Owl) - Dan is one of the former masked heroes who make up the protagonists of the story. Formerly working with Rorschach, Dan gave up his life of crime fighting in 1977 when the Keene Act banned vigilanteism. Dan falls in love with Laurie Juspeczyk which is a cause of tension later in the story.

Laurie Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre) - Laurie, a retired crime fighter, is daughter of Sally Juspeczyk a.k.a. Silk Spectre. Laure shows serious parent issues; she resents her mother for pushing her to be a crime fighter and never knew who her father was. She later discovers that the Comedian, a man who had tried to rape her mother, was her true father.

Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias) - Adrian was a masked hero who retired before the Keene Act of '77 retaining his popularity. Regarded as the world's smartest man, Adrian used his popularity to gain wealth and power until he was at a point he deemed suitable to "save the world". Through an elaborate series of conspiracies and secretive acts Adrian managed to form a plan that would put an end to war and save the planet from global nuclear war.

Jon Osterman (Dr. Manhattan) - Jon, a giant blue man, was a scientist who was disintegrated when he was only in his thirties. He is the only one who actually has powers. Jon is being accused of giving everyone hes been close to cancer so he goes to mars and settles there for a while.

Walter Kovacs (Rorschach) - a very watchful masked man who wears a mask that has symmetrical but always shifting ink blots, and fights crimes even despite his outlaw status. He is feared throughout the book and plays with peoples minds.

Edward Blake (The Comedian) - The Comedian was a Hero who was part of the Minutemen who was still active after the Keen Act of '77. his character appears in only flashbacks because his death sets off the whole plot to the story.

Supporting Characters

Edward Jacobi (Moloch) - A former villain to both the Minutemen and the Crimebusters, Moloch retired from his life of crime after being incarcerated. Given cancer as part of an elaborate conspiracy against Jon, Moloch was being pursued by information by Rorschach when he was murdered to frame Rorschach.

Sally Juspeczyk - Sally, a retired crime fighter, was part of the minutemen. She is Laurie juspeczyk's mom. While she was an active crime fighter she was almost raped by Edward Blake (The Comedian). It turns out that the comedian is the father to Laurie.

Bernard (News Vendor) - the news vendor vends papers and magazines, daily he save a paper for Walter (Rorschach) but he does not know that its Rorschach because hes not wearing his mask. Bernard often speaks to customers at his news stand stating that "[he] took the job to meet people." During his time at the news stand he holds conversations with a boy who comes by and reads a comic book daily (also named Bernard).

Dr Malcolm Long - Mal works with Walter as his psychologist while he is in jail, he is fooled into thinking that Walter is making progress but he is just covering up what he really thinks and says what he knows the Psychologist wants him to say.

Detectives Fine and Bourquin - These detectives investigate the murder of Edward Blake and pursue the cases of several masks known to operate in New York. They arrest Rorschach and harass Dan after his second debut as Nite Owl in an attempt to scare him back into hiding. They also deal with other cases of New York including murder cases spurred on by the oncoming nuclear war.

Hollis Mason (Nite Owl) - Former hero who participated in the Minutemen of the 1940's, Hollis Mason is an icon and a mentor to Dan Dreiberg (the new Nite Owl). Running a garage that specializes in obsolete oil based cars, he and Dan often have beer and reminisce over the times before they retired from crime fighting. He is murdered by a riotous gang when they mistake him for the Dan after Dan and Laurie spring Rorschach from prison.

Reception

Watchmen was met with high praise upon its release being refered to as a genre defining work. It was one of the first graphic novels to define and give credit to the genre. Watchmen won several major awards including the Hugo Award in 1988^[24] under the other forms category and the Eisner award for best writer^[25] in the same year.

Watchmen was one of the first novels to take superheroes out of their element and place them into a realistic world witch won it high praise as being both original and creative. It is the only graphic novel to ever be in the top 100 of Time Magazine's Best Novels.

References

Hughes, Jamie A; Journal of Popular Culture (Bowling Green); Aug 01, 2006; Vol. 39; Iss. 4; pg. 546 [1]

Hogan, John; Review: Watchmen (GraphicNovelReporter)[2]

Watchmen: Awards Won[3]

Moore, Alan; Watchmen (DC Comcis 1986, 1987)

Notes

^ Watchmen pg. 1-4, I
^ Watchmen pg. 4, I
^ Watchmen pg. 12, I
^ Watchmen pg. 17, I
^ Watchmen pg. 21, I
^ Watchmen pg. 3, II
^ Watchmen pg. 5, III
^ Watchmen pg. 14, III
^ Watchmen pg. 25, III
^ Watchmen pg. 5, V
^ Watchmen pg. 24, V
^ Watchmen pg. i, VI
^ Watchmen pg. 28, VI
^ Watchmen pg. 20, VII
^ Watchmen pg. 20, VIII
^ Watchmen pg. 23, VIII
^ Watchmen pg.4, X
^ Watchmen pg. 24, IX
^ Watchmen pg. 26-27, IX
^ Watchmen pg. 20, X
^ Watchmen pg. 25, XI
^ Watchmen pg. 20, XII
^ Watchmen pg. 24, XII
^ Awards won by Watchmen
^ Awards won by Watchmen

[1] Watchmen pg. 1-4, I

[2] Watchmen pg. 4, I

[3] Watchmen pg. 12, I

[4] Watchmen pg. 17, I

[5] Watchmen pg. 21, I

[6] Watchmen pg. 3, II

[7] Watchmen pg. 5, III

[8] Watchmen pg. 14, III

[9] Watchmen pg. 25, III

[10] Watchmen pg. 5, V

[11] Watchmen pg. 24, V

[12] Watchmen pg. i, VI

[13] Watchmen pg. 28, VI

[14] Watchmen pg. 20, VII

[15] Watchmen pg. 20, VIII

[16] Watchmen pg. 23, VIII

[17] Watchmen pg.4, X

[18] Watchmen pg. 24, IX

[19] Watchmen pg. 26-27, IX

[20] Watchmen pg. 20, X

[21] Watchmen pg. 25, XI

[22] Watchmen pg. 20, XII

[23] Watchmen pg. 24, XII

[24] Awards won by Watchmen

[25] Awards won by Watchmen

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