Rorschach #6 – Tom King, Writer; Jorge Fornes, Artist; Dave Stewart, Colorist
Ray – 10/10
Ray: Tom King may be the hottest writer at DC at the moment, with three ongoing maxiseries and a fourth coming. But nowhere is his unique style better served than on this groundbreaking reinvention of the Watchmen mythos. He can wring an incredible level of passion and development out of the simplest of devices—a series of letters, back and forth, between two very different characters. The Detective, our POV character, plays a relatively minor role in this issue as he collects evidence against the backdrop of the first Redford-Turley debates. We catch snippets of the debate, and it plays very differently after last issue’s meeting with the loathsome Turley. There are some fascinating Easter eggs dropped about the world and about ties to some existing comic book creators. The real meat of this issue, though, took place long ago in the first meeting between Wil and Laura—the two masterminds of the assassination plot that kicked off this title.
We’ve known from the start that these two were deeply enmeshed before their fatal encounter at the convention, but we never knew how deeply until now. This issue starts with both of them at loose ends—Wil alone in his studio, wondering if he’s wasted his life; and Laura out of the shadow of her deranged father and struggling to find her place. A random fan letter from her gets answered, and it becomes a series of correspondence that leads both to bear their deepest secrets. We get a better look at Wil’s esoteric life’s work, and we see how Laura’s slide into darkness actually started. With virtually no dialogue but lots of pointed narration of the letters, this issue feels more like a prose story at times, but Jorge Fornes’ amazing art helps to bring these scenes to life in a story that feels like the true key to how these two twisted individuals started down the path to violence. This is less a DC Comic than a Coen-esque suspense thriller, and it’s one of the best books on the market today.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
