Rorschach #3 // Review
The detective learns about Laura in Rorschach #3, by writer Tom King, artist Jorge Fornes, colorist Dave Stewart, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This issue is another slow burn, adding to the reader’s understanding of the ersatz Rorschach and the young girl killed with him.
The detective finds himself in Hanna, Wyoming, an old mining town where Laura, the second would-be presidential assassin, grew up. He found her diary and begins to read her life story in a diner. Her father was a war veteran who feared the return of the squids and began training her to fight from a young age, eventually revealing to her that he had killed her mother because the squids had controlled her mind. Her father gathered together a militia to fight what he saw as a coming invasion, and Laura was the star pupil, better even than the grown men. Eventually, he calls her to him and says the squids have taken over his mind and he would kill himself, but their control won’t let him, and he asks her to do it for him. She does and goes away. At the diner, the detective has a vision of Laura and the ersatz Rorschach, and they tell him to look for the truth.
Another slow-burn issue, in this one, King focuses on Laura. Whereas the last issue seemed like a statement about Steve Ditko, creator of the inspiration for Rorschach- the Question, this one has a much more political bent, one that is quite prescient by today’s standards. Laura is completely and totally indoctrinated by her father, raised to be a killer of the squids. However, readers only get her life story. Her opinions, her beliefs, who she is aren’t explored. Is she a true believer, like a real-world child raised by racists and a steady diet of right-wing propaganda until she becomes a true believer? Or is she in it for the thrill of the violence? Readers never find out, and it’s a great little mystery for the book.
Readers already know what happens to her and “Rorschach.” They also know the truth behind the squids. The reader knows her father is just a right-wing crazy. So, the real interesting question this issue raises is who she is? Who is Laura? What does she want? Did she try to kill Turley because of her belief in the squids? Does she think she’s being controlled? This mystery feels central to the whole book, and it will be interesting to see how King develops it. This book is very much a slow burn, and at this point, it’s impossible to know where it will go. The book talks a lot about old mine explosions and collapses in her hometown; there’s a metaphor there. Still, it plays into the central question of who Laura is- she’s lethal but is she the fire that ignites the mine or the collapsing mine that kills the miners and rescue workers? She’s just as lethal either way, but it matters which she is.
Jorge Fornes does a perfect job with her throughout the book. There’s a monotone feeling to her that his art gives her, and it really fits King’s portrayal of things. She barely shows emotion, and Fornes’s art captures a lifeless quality to her. The closest she gets to showing any emotion is when she’s practicing, and Fornes’s character acting shines through in these scenes.
Rorschach #3 is a great comic. This issue very much feels like an issue of Watchmen in the way that King tells the story, using metaphors and playing with what the audience knows and doesn’t know. This book is a wonderful little piece of storytelling that asks some very important questions and demands that the reader pay attention to everything. Fornes’s art allows the whole thing to hit home. King and Fornes are building something interesting here.
