Warning! Spoilers ahead for Rorschach #3 from Tom King and Jorge Fornés
In the latest issue of DC Comics' Rorschach, Tom King and Jorge Fornés explore the aftermath of the deadly twist from Alan Moore's original Watchmen graphic novel, revealing the lasting impact of Ozymandias' giant alien squid creation that he used to unite the world and prevent global war and nuclear extinction. While Ozymandias' plan succeeded, the fear that remained to unite the globe permeated and galvanized those who were already disturbed and paranoid beforehand. The alien squid became the scapegoat and motivation for several unfortunate acts. The father of the woman who would help Rorschach in his attempt to kill a presidential hopeful is a perfectly sad example, as seen in this new issue.
In the original Watchmen, Ozymandias assembled a variety of scientists, geneticists, artists, writers, and psychics to create his giant alien squid, serving as the perfect "otherworldly" threat to unite the world. The squid was teleported into the center of New York City where it exploded, killing half of New York's population while damaging several more with the psychic shockwave that followed. Furthermore, in order to continue the fear and unification, Ozymandias scheduled frequent drops of smaller squids to teleport into the atmosphere and fall down to Earth-like rain, as if they were coming from space (as seen in HBO's Watchmen television series which served as a canonical sequel). While only a few knew of the giant squid's true origins such as Doctor Manhattan, President Redford, and the former Crimebusters, all agreed to maintain the lie save for Rorschach who was determined to spread the truth, which led to Manhattan disintegrating him...or did he?
While the real Rorschach (Walter Kovacs) may have been alive at the beginning of Tom King's Rorschach series, he tried to kill a presidential candidate and was killed himself for real in the first issue. However, it could also have been a popular comic book writer wearing Rorschach's mask - the jury is still out. However, this Rorschach was aided by a woman known as "The Kid", whose background is investigated by the series' primary detective on the case of Rorschach's reemergence and subsequent death. Apparently, this woman whose real name is Laura Cummings was radicalized by her paranoid father from an extremely young age. She was taught to shoot and fight the squids her father believed were out there and preparing to invade the world one day, but it soon becomes clear that Laura's father was already disturbed before the squids. Ozymandias' solution only exacerbated his actions, leading him to believe that his own wife and Laura's mother had been "mind-controlled" by the squids, leaving him no choice but to kill her thanks to his twisted paranoia.
Tragically, Laura was brought up and raised to believe in the threat of the squids in the same way, training and learning how to fight for a day that would never come. Sadder still was the day when her father himself thought that he had been "mind-controlled" by the squids, asking Laura to shoot him for the greater good. Laura complied and killed her father, and then set out to find more evidence of the squid's imminent invasion, which put her in the path of this Rorschach (whoever he may really be). In any case, it's incredibly tragic to see the symptomatic effects that the giant squid had on certain people, even years after the initial attack. No doubt there were plenty of others beyond Laura's father who became driven to think and believe in the same way. This is evident in this current issue, as Laura's father also instructed and trained others in their town how to fight the squids as well, though it was unknowingly all in vain.
While all of the pieces still haven't come together just yet as to why this Rorschach and The Kid tried to kill the presidential candidate running against President Redford, the answers are bound to be on the way from Tom King as Rorschach continues, along with the vigilante's true identity. However, taking the time in this issue to show the lasting effects of Ozymandias' "solution" to save the world from Watchmen was certainly worth it and extremely entertaining in its own tragic and sad way.