Rorschach #3 – Tom King, Writer; Jorge Fornes, Artist; Dave Stewart, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: I remember when the first issue of this series came out, many people were concerned about the implication of potential radical-left terrorists making an assassination attempt on a conservative candidate, given current events. I was willing to bet not everything was going to be that straightforward, and this issue bore that out nicely. While last issue focused on the now-deceased Rorschach, an elderly comic book creator with deeply troubling beliefs, this issue is a deep dive into the mind of his accomplice, a young woman named Laura. Our unnamed Detective’s quest has taken him from a busy city apartment to an isolated town in Wyoming that was once the site of one of the biggest tragedies in American history. There, as he sits in a diner and talks to a waitress, Laura’s tragic tale unfolds—and it’s one involving cults, abusive parenting, and a giant squid. This is a Watchmen story, after all.
Conspiracies and cults have been in the news a lot lately, and it only makes sense that they would spring up around the tragedies in the Watchmen world. Laura’s father brings her up in a militia atmosphere, training her to resist the mind control of the coming squid invasion. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic, as he occasionally drops lines about having to kill her mother because she was being controlled by the squids. He trains her in gunfire, surrounds her with a motley crew of militiamen, and turns her into a coiled machine of murder in a way that makes it basically inevitable that she’ll find another predator and carry on his mission. The small-town atmosphere and the background of the unspeakable horrors that took place in the mines of Hanna, Wyoming, add to this chilling tale. I’m one-fourth of the way through this series, and I honestly have no clue where it’s going. But I’m intrigued to put it lightly.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
