I was chatting with a friend recently about Watchmen (both book and movie). Specifically about the origin of the characters. A third, less comic-geeky but no less enthused party, asked us what we meant by the origins if not the back-stories contained in the text itself.
The characters in Watchmen as ‘ur-heroes’ of sorts; ‘proto-heroes’ perhaps. Usually when a writer tries to reference superhero history as a whole, and perhaps make a statement about the entirety of the superhero-comic genre, they draw upon predictable, and Alan Moore is no no less guilty of this, analogs of Superman, Batman and Wonderwoman (with maybe Doc. Savage and the Spirit thrown in for good measure). The writer will create a new version of these characters, thinly disguised, and make statements about their history or meaning that could not be made directly. For example, Warren Ellis might imagine them as lovers.
What is uncommon in Watchmen is that a Superman is not included at all; which is an virtually unknown in any comics setting. Wonderwoman is referenced only in that the pornographic comics that feature the ’60’s Silk Spectre bare (see what I did, good pun, eh? 🙂 ) relation to early issues of Wonderwoman (phalluses and all). Nite Owl is not a Batman analog, as might appear most obvious. He is the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, who arguably was himself a parody of sorts; a more realistic take on what a millionaire would be like if he tried to become a caped crusader. Moore was deliberately drawing on the lesser known superheroe comics of the ’60’s and ’70’s, as befitted his setting.
But we knew this and agreed on it. Rorsach had us talking though. He referenced Mr.A, and old Ditko character I was unfamiliar with. I thought more of the Question, a character I knew from mid-90’s DC and also from Frank Miller’s DK2. What prompted me to look Mr.A up was my friend mentioning Ayn Rand and Mr.A’s worldview of absolute goodness and absolute evil; no shades of moral grey. I remember the Question being criticised for his reliance on Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged to guide his every motive in DK2.
Rorshach
So, I googled Mr.A and Ditko and all things and discovered that Ditko had created both Mr.A and the Question. (Ditko is one of the secret masters of the comic world; he is little known to those outside of avid readers but his creations underly many very popular well-known characteres and settings). Indeed there is even the assumption that he intended the two to go together, Question & Mr.A. That, after his co-creation of the icon Spiderman, he went on to work on the otherwordly Dr.Strange. That his work slowly crept further and further toward a brutal right-wing politic and that, after studying Ayn Rand, he created Mr.A and later the Question to espouse his new, and I would say simplistic (though I’m sure Rorshach would say essential), worldview. As Rorschach himself explains:Â “there is good and there is evil, and evil must be punished. Even in the face of Armageddon I shall not compromise in this.” Moronic I’m sure most would agree but, I must admit, quite beguiling in its certainty.
I’m reminded of the Bowie track, ‘Law (Earthlings on Fire)‘, and the line, “I don’t want knowledge. I want certainty”.
Rooting deeper still into the web I happened upon other pop culture references to Mr.A. Hoosier released a song called ‘Goodbye Mr.A’ (video below) and still deeper, bringing the epistemological search in a full loop, Alan Moore recorded, with the The Emperors of Ice Cream, a track called, obviously enough, ‘Mr.A’.
… I love comics. I love the layers and layers of intertwining creators and characters.
… A tangential point (though I’m unsure if I really had a point above) perhaps is Dr.Manhattan. Where does this character come from? Intuitively I recognise the idea of the ‘absolute’ superhuman; so advanced as to be unknowable. This has been touched off time and again in various cosmic stories from both DC and Marvel. But… It’s Watchmen. Moore’s drawing on something specific. I’ve heard Captain Atom mentioned… But I’m not sure I buy it… not entirely anyway though I realise the obvious similarity in their back stories. Perhaps, as Grant Morrison pointed out with the Captain Adam character in Final Crisis, Moore intended Dr.Manhattan as something of an ending to the idea of the superhero. The Omega to Superman’s Alpha. Any ideas?
“There’s a hole in your logic
You who know all the answers
You claim science aint magic
And expect me to buy it“
Waxy's all about the Fromage 