Watchmen Origins!

It occurs to me that with the theatrical release of Watchmen just days away, hardcore fanboys are in for years of nightmares based on the torrent of incorrect comparisons the film will create. Just look at this snippet from this week's Entertainment Weekly (edited to remove the actors' names, because I hate transcribing):

Irony indeed. Though EW's coverage is adequate, as a dyed-in-wool fanboy, I can't let these incorrect comparisons go without at least trying to correct them. To do so, we have to go back to the mid-80s, where DC comics was attempting to resolve a crisis. 

DC is one of the oldest comic book companies around. Over the course of their near-century of existence, DC acquired various smaller publishers, continuing to create stories for their newly acquired heroes. Their most famous acquisition (if you don't count Superman) was Captain Marvel, often referred to as Shazaam!. With his lively battlecry, spirited red costume, and boy scout-like demeanor, he was easy to incorporate into the DC pantheon of heroes. Others were not so easy. Some continued existing in their own universes, where there was no Batman or Superman. Some had to be written into alternate continuities where Batman and Superman exist, but live in a parallel universe to the one in the main DC continuity. 

While DC worked out the details involving their most popular characters, several others remained shelved, as they had for years. Among these were the ones that had previously belonged to Charlton Comics, including The Blue Beetle, The Peacemaker, The Question, Phantom Lady, Thunderbolt, and Captain Atom. Alan Moore, whose graphic novels From Hell, V for Vendetta, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have all become movies, had at the time already successfully revamped and revived other lesser-known DC properties. He wanted to write a murder mystery featuring the unused Charlton Characters, but DC did not want to permanently marr these characters. It was a rather ironic choice, given that DC was in the midst of the most massive retcon (retroactive continuity change) in the history of comic books at the time. In any case, Moore was given the go-ahead for the story, but tasked with creating alternate versions of those characters. 

Free to create instead of adapt, Moore drew from additional influences to craft his characters. What follows is a list characters from DC, Marvel, and independent publishers and the Watchmen characters they influenced. 

The Comedian - Although he may appear to be a through-the-looking-glass version of Captain America, This character primarily partakes of The Peacemaker: a gruff, cynical vigilante with no superpowers, but a lot of firepower. Since he is in a command role, Moore and artist Dave Gibbons looked to Nick Fury, the leader of the secret military division called S.H.E.I.L.D. in the Marvel universe. Finally, to really flesh out The Comedian's worldview, they borrowed aspects of the Batman villain The Joker, to whom life is nothing but a sick joke that only he understands.  

The Nite Owl - No Ironman or Batman here. Instead, Nite Owl is simply an alternate version of the Blue Beetle, whose gadget lend him power, albeit power he is reluctant to have. 

The Silk Spectre - although she has no powers and appears to be a rather uninteresting character, she's one of the more clever statements included by Moore. Her influences are Black Canary, the DC-created, scantily clad heroine with sonic superpowers, Nightshade, the Charlton-created love interest for Captain Atom, and Phantom Lady, a cheesecake pinup heroine who passed through many hands before ending up as DC property. All three are part of a sub-genre that aims specifically to accentuate their sexuality. Silk Spectre has no powers, and in a highly metatexual moment, she wonders why she has to wear such a ridiculously revealing costume to fight crime. To wit, the costume Malin Akerman wears is very similar to the one worn by the latest version of Phantom Lady; whether this is a cynical nod on behalf of the filmmakers or just out-and-out irony is anybody's guess. 

Dr. Manahattan - though central to the plot, this is one Moore's more straightforward adaptations. He is Captain Atom through and through, although Moore's choice of nomenclature and Gibbons's choice to keep him nude present a highly politicized version of an otherwise plain- if powerful- hero. It is worthy of mention that Manhattan is the only character in the story with superpowers, unless a super-intellect counts.

Ozymandias - Another straightforward adaptation of a Charlton character: Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt. Behold his senses-shattering origin!

While this sounds pretty close to the Ozymandias we recognise, those of us who have read Watchmen (over and over) know where the inversion lies...

Rorschach - The hero of the story is easily the most layered, complex, and enthralling character. Certainly his legacy goes back Will Eisner's The Spirit, but such invocations necessarily merit mentions of The Shadow and even the original Sandman. Some fanboys may even complacently mention the Charlteton character known as The Question, whose fedora and trenchcoat mask a face that isn't there, but symoblise an unflagging morality. What those fanboys may not know is that The Question was created by Steve Ditko, the artist behind Spiderman and other famous superheroes. If they don't know that, then they certainly won't know about Ditko's very own Mr. A, a hero similar to The Question. In Ditko's stories, Mr. A wears a suit and fedora as well, but he is not faceless: instead, we wears a metal mask that looks just like his own face, but shows an unchanging placid expression at all times. Mr. A's morality is far more unwavering than that of The Question; there is good and there is evil, with no middle ground. Mr. A is a fascinating creation in and of himself, and I intend to write more about him later (the name is unassuming, almost a bad pun, but proves that Ditko was a genius capable of creating concepts and characters with many layers). 

Having said all that, is there any resonance with Captain America, Iron Man, Batman, The Spirit, and Superman? Of course. Moore made it that way. If these twisted "real-world" heroes didn't resonate with the sunny, smiling, dimpled, arms-akimbo four-color heroes of the golden age, there would be no resonance at all. But a marred and twisted legacy is what this story is all about, so knowing the true legacy is necessary for a correct interpretation of what you will see on the screen. Besides, those of us who know will be sufficiently pissed off by the exclusion of Tales of The Black Freighter, so don't add insult to injury by comparing The Comedian to Captain America.