Rorschach #11
The investigator falls into the trap of his own devising... or is it one of Myerson and Laura’s in Rorschach #11, by writer Tom King, artist Jorge Fornes, colorist Dave Stewart, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This one is yet another fascinating issue that lays the whole caper out and shows the power of the human mind and the patterns it makes.
In his hotel room, the investigator goes over the evidence in his head, as specters of Laura and Myerson explain it to him from their perspective, trying to get him to think their way. It’s a frankly brilliant way of showing someone trying to put the facts together and going in the wrong direction. In the end, Alan from Turley’s campaign calls him to come meet Turley to give him all of the info, but he’s made a fateful choice.
One of the great things about this book is how King has used it to talk about how conspiracies affect people. The investigator has all of the facts, but his brain is putting them together wrong. He believes the clues were left for him by Myerson and Laura, leading him to finish their job because they were right. The truth is, of course, different. He has it right in front of him- Alan, working for Turley, got Oates to find Myerson and Laura and groom them for a fake assassination attempt that would give Turley sympathy from the voters and get him the win. That’s the truth. Readers know that Myerson and Laura’s belief in the squids isn’t, but the only people who know that- the heroes of Watchmen- aren’t there. The squids are real to everyone, and so believing that maybe Myerson and Laura are right isn’t hard for the investigators. The whole investigation got into his head.
The same thing happens in the real world- people have all the information in front of them, and they take it to insane places. Now, imagine a world where millions of people died in one night due to an “alien” attack. It would be easy to believe anything. In our world, no such thing has ever happened, and yet people want to believe, say, that Satanist pedophiles control the world, brutalize children because they can and to keep themselves young, and the only one who can stop them is an orange con man in his mid-seventies. It’s easier than believing the facts- that the rich have gamed the system to such an extent that they control everything. It’s easier to blame the squids.
As usual, Fornes kills it. His character acting is so good that it really sells the investigator’s descent into madness. This book has consistently looked great throughout its run, and this issue is no exception. Stewart’s colors work subtly; the panels with Myerson and Laura are lit with orange- it’s light, but it’s fake, artificial. The investigator’s panels are dark; he’s keeping himself in the dark, it’s surrounding him, and the only light he can see is the conspiracy; by the end of the issue, the lighting and the coloring in his room is back to normal- he’s made up his mind. The color and lighting of the panels do as much for the story as the script or the pencils.
Rorschach #11 is yet another excellent issue of this book. King, Fornes, and Stewart are doing fantastic work in this comic, working together perfectly to tell the story. With one more issue to go, it’ll be great to see how it all ends but sad that it’s over.
