Show notes
Nite Owl and Rorschach strike up their old partnership to try to crack the case of the mask killer, and in the process discover a much more insidious plot. Meanwhile, Ozymandias moves to Antarctica, which is a super normal thing to do, and we discuss Watchmen #10, “Two Riders Were Approaching.”SUBSCRIBE TO WATCHMEN WATCH ON ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER, OR RSS. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.The theme music for Watchmen Watch was written and performed by Jeff Solomon.Plus, here’s a transcript of the episode for you to read through as you listen:Alex: Welcometo Watchmen Watch, a podcast about Watchmen, and you watch it, you watch it.You watch it. I’m Alex.Justin: I’mJustin.Pete: I’mPete. What the- ?Alex: Andwe are going to be talking about the tenth issue of Watchmen: Two Riders WereApproaching, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, as we get very close here to thepremiere of Watchmen on HBO. But first, a little bit of news.Alex: Justin,what’s happening?Justin: Yeah,Alan Moore, our fourth host, who-Alex: Right.Justin: It’shard to remember, but he’s been here for most of the episodes I think.Alex: Ithink so, at least nine of them.Justin: Nine,and this is the tenth one, so it’s just … He leaves a hole when he’s nothere. But when you work with people, you want to be on time, and sometimesthey’re not, but you still love them. You still love those people [crosstalkPete: Whatthe fuck? What the fuck?Justin: Soanyway, let me get back to this.Alex: Thatwas weird. A mirror just appeared in front of Justin for no reason.Justin: That’s-Pete: Oh,my God.Alex: Verystrange.Justin: Ifwe’re not holding a mirror up to ourselves [crosstalk we doing? And that’s what Alan Moore is doing, is he … He’s a big autumn guy,so he went upstate for leave peeping, tasting some cider. He has an Affinityscarf and tweed jacket on. He’s-Alex: That’sjust …Justin: He’slost in a corn maze.Alex: Allright-Justin: Socozy.Alex: Oh,he’s lost … Boy, you buried the lead there.Justin: Oh…Alex: He’slost?Justin: Ithink when he was texting with me, which he does a lot-Alex: Sure.Justin: …he was like, “Oh, I’m walking to a corn maze.” And he’s like,“This is a fun corn maze.” Then he’s like, “Dear God, help me.I’m trapped in this corn maze. Help, help, help.” And he’s-Pete: Why-Justin: …panicked.Pete: Whydoesn’t he just throw a bottle of perfume in the air? That way we’ll be able tosee it.Justin: See,I’m sure he’s doing that, but that’s not the clearest single of what’shappening with you, if you-Alex: Yeah,we’re also … We’re in the middle of the city. If he’s upstate, it’s going tobe a little rough to see a perfume a bottle he’s throwing over a corn maze.Justin: Butkeep your eyes up in the air. If you see a perfume bottle, you are close to Mr.Alan Moore.Alex: Yes,let’s talk about this comic book. What do you guys think about that? You wantto do it?Justin: Let’s-Pete: Sure..Alex: Weare getting down to it here. Lots of stuff going on. While Laurie and DoctorManhattan are up on Mars debating the fate of the human race, debating the fateof Earth, down on Earth, Dan Dreiberg, aka Nite Owl and Rorschach have beenleft behind. And they are trying to figure what exactly has been going on. Isthere a conspiracy, is somebody trying to kill of masks, or not?Alex: NiteOwl is still a little suspicious, but pretty on board with Rorschach’s theory.And at the same time, the world is very quickly heading towards disaster thanksto Russia and the United States escalating tensions over Afghanistan.Alex: Now,of course, the theme is right there in the title, and it’s hit multiple timesvery hard throughout the issue. Two Riders Are Approaching, I believe this isfrom a Bob Dylan song?Justin: There’sa Bob Dylan quote at the end. I think the two riders thing has been in a bunchof things over the years I think.Alex: Yeah,but I think the two riders … oh, my gosh, I’m blanking. Two Riders WereApproaching is from whatever that Bob Dylan Song is. We’re very knowledgeableabout songs. We’ll get it for you in a second. But you have … Rorschach saysit later in the issue, but War and Death are the two riders that we have rightnow. And those are the ones that are hit over and over starting from the verybeginning, when we have the approach of the president and vice-president ontheir planes, Air Force One and Air Force Two, heading to a bunker to stay. Wegot a flash again of the Comedian’s button on the radar screen, with the splashbeing the radar ray, or whatever you call it.Justin: Yeah,the little wand?Alex: Yeah,the little wand.Justin: We’reknowledgeable.Alex: Yes,already, I’m glad you’re tuning into this podcast for our expert commentary onthings in life. But yeah, we hit the two riders thing over and over and overagain. What did you think about this theme, what did you take away from it, whyis it important to have in this issue right now?Justin: Rightout of the gate, I mean, this is the issue where all of the darkness is gathering.This is like the sad part. I think there’s a lot of Bob Dylan stuff in here.“Two riders were approaching.” That’s from All Along the Watchtower.And then it’s … “I’ve been waiting in the dark too long.” Is atheme here, I think, and that’s also from You’re Going to Make Me Lonesome WhenYou Go, another Bob Dylan song. So I think there’s that sort of looking at theworld and seeing it for what it is rather what it’s … like finally facing thedarkness around you and within you.Alex: It’sinteresting to me, pacing-wise, that this doesn’t come right after issue eight.We talked about issue eight was the overture in a certain way, [inaudiblefinal act of the book, and then we went to this conversation with Laurie andDoctor Manhattan, which obviously is vitally important, but almost pacing-wisefeels like a pause, because it’s so focused on them, and so focused on thepast. Versus here, this does feel like it’s picking right up on everything thatwas set up to issue prior.Justin: Yeah,I mean, this definitely … But this is like … This is the low point. This islike right into the act three, the final fight, the final set piece.Alex: Yeah,yeah, it is.Justin: SoI feel … I hear you, but it does make sense here, and we need that issue withDoctor Manhattan and Laurie on Mars, because that’s sort of lays out some ofthe higher themes, while this gets into the plot.Alex: Sure.Pete: Yeah,this is a lot of just moving people into the right position, so we can have ourfinal showdown.Alex: Butit’s also … I mean, it’s not just table-setting, it’s not just moving aroundchess pieces, it’s also hitting that theme of doom, of apocalypse that playsthroughout here.Justin: Yeah,this whole first section with Nixon and DEFCON-2 and basically prepping for theend of the world is so scary. The parallels to today are intense.Alex: Butat the same time, it’s funny, like the way that they play off the president andvice-president. I believe Gerald Ford trips down the stairs like in an SNLsketch, which-Justin: Yeah,noted clumsy man.Alex: Yes,which is ludicrous. The nuclear football is actually shaped like a football aswell, which to me, I almost took that as, A, it’s a joke, but it also feelslike a very Nixon thing to do, that if he was president for so long, he’d belike, “Make it into a football.”Justin: Yeah,good.Pete: Wow-Alex: Thanks.Pete: …look at you.Justin: Ido think … I mean, it has a Doctor Strangelove vibe that I feel like isintentional for these first three pages, but it still has that dark side to it,that the whole like … it’s scary.Alex: Yeah-Justin: Allthe reds we see in this. The art is so great.Alex: Yeah,throughout. Again, John Higgins is using that red pretty liberally to pushforward when there is actual danger on things. And then from there, do you wantto keep walking us through this?Justin: Yeah,so then we go into Nite Owl and Rorschach, who are the main characters we’rewith for this issue. And, man, the art in this issue, it’s just so good. It hasthis great … No one draws like Dave Gibbons, I feel like, anymore, with theseart deco style, really clean lines. It reminds me of Mr. X from back in the dayin this comic called Terminal City, which I really liked from Image years ago,really great.Pete: Yeah,but, I mean, what’s just crazy now is you got this picture of them dockingtheir ship, and then you got the Twin Towers in the background, you’re like,“Oh, God, now it’s more painful.” But I just think that you’re seeingRorschach here, who before was very much freaked out by the fact that he’swithout his mask, without his skin, just talking. And they’re trying to piecetogether what’s going on, and how it’s going work. So it’s kind interesting tosee him … Like they’re going to get it, they’re going to go get his face backon. But it’s very interesting, because most of the comic he’s masked, but here,we just have him walking and talking here.Alex: Well,I think part of that is he is very slowly … not necessarily against his will,but I don’t think he knows this is happening. He is getting his humanity backover the course of this issue as he continues to work with Nite Owl. And as aconsequence, particularly later on, when they end up in the bar, they’reinterrogating criminals as they’re trying to figure out who the mastermind isbehind this plan. Nite Owl finds out hat Hollis Mason was killed, and he does avery Rorschach move. While Rorschach is just interrogating a guy, Nite Owlnearly chokes the man to death.Alex: Sothey’re feeding off of each other in this issue. They are these two horses ofwar and death themselves, they are bringing this apocalypse with them. And thathappens right there in that scene that you talked about, Pete, where they’rewalking off of the ship. The way that I take that is they have brought theirown doom to themselves.Alex: We’vetalked about this quite a bit on the podcast, but this world might have beenokay if there were never masked vigilantes. It’s certainly worse off for them.So to have Rorschach and Nite Owl walk off, and as we find out later, they arevery much playing their part in Adrian Veidt’s plan right now, whether theyknow it or not. He is laying out all of these breadcrumbs for them. They arehastening this doom that is coming to the world, instead of running to stop it.Pete: Yeah,and they are powerless to do anything else though. They have to follow theseclues because of what they are, they are these masked crime fighters. There’s agreat scene here where Rorschach confronts the woman next door who called him apervert, I believe, into the newspaper, and he seems himself in one of herkids. Like to your point about him getting his humanity back, it’s a nicemoment where you can actually see him for who he is.Alex: Doyou think … ? This is very much jumping ahead, but do you think this issueand Rorschach regressing … I mean, maybe progressing towards humanity, isthat why he eventually makes the decision that he does at the end of the book?And I’m dancing around it. I assume everybody has read the book, but just incase, when we get there. I do think part of that is brought about by the factthat he does feel human and he can feel things again.Pete: Yeah,and I think it points to what we talked about a lot, with isolation and a lotof people that are on the fringes of society, like Rorschach loses his placewhen the superheroes aren’t allowed to function as themselves anymore. He goesrogue, he’s by himself all the time, and he starts to become hardened. Andthis, he’s back with his partner, and he’s back in his action again. He feelslike he has a place, and so he’s a better human. And I think that’s a very bigtheme in our current world now, that really resonates.Pete: Peopleare becoming so isolated and getting more extreme in their views, when what wereally need is reaching out and more humanity.Alex: SoI’ll throw something else out at you. This is just something that I’m workingthrough as we’re talking about it. But part of, as we mentioned the mission ofthe book that they go on is Rorschach needs his face back, he needs his costumeback, and he has a spare hidden. He goes to pick up the spare. That spare ismost likely the costume that he last used the night he essentially becameRorschach.Alex: Ifyou look at the stain on it, it’s the same-Pete: Oh,yeah, yeah.Alex: …stain that he got that night, which is that we were talking about this, and Icompletely forget when we were talking about this, but that’s the same stain hegets in the prison when he’s escaping that’s on his body. And so, one couldpotentially argue that him putting that costume back on brings him back to thatnight, and then he has a choice to make. He can either become that Rorschachthat left that night, that was fully 100% Rorschach, or he can be the Rorschachbefore that was kind of a fucked up, creepy guy, but not the same level he wasafter.Pete: Yeah.Justin: Yeah,and I think he definitely chooses the more human version to the point whatwe’re talking about. He can’t help it. He’s around other people, and thatchanges you, changes your choices.Pete: Yeah.Justin: Movingforward, we get into Adrian Veidt’s Antarctic home. And obviously, we’ve readthis before, we know he’s a villain, but this is some straight up villain shit.It’s like a crazy villain lair from the jump. He’s an ice cold dude the wholetime. He’s changing his clothes in front of his series of butlers.Justin: Ithought this was really cool. They’re like, “Oh, what do you want todo?” And he’s like, “Monitors, change channels every hundredseconds.” And that’s literally how we watch TV now, is like we watchmultiple screens, we’re always … everything’s changing very quickly,attention spans are lower. And he then is like, he’s like, “Okay, I’llstart recording.” He’s making a podcast of his views.Justin: So,this, it feels so prescient that he’s doing what we do now as people, and italso shows that watching this much, taking this much information smooths outyour emotions. It doesn’t let you react to things, and that’s why we’re alsocold like Veidt is about everything we’re taking in. We don’t have time tothink about it.Alex: Soyou’re saying, us, the three of us here on this podcast, we’re basicallyOzymandias?Justin: Exactly.Alex: Excellent.Justin: Andour plan is cool too. It involves a squid.Pete: Naturally,naturally.Alex: We’regoing to share a nice squid.Justin: Yeah,exactly.Pete: Yeah,but, I mean, but-Justin: Aplate of [inaudible Pete: ButI tell you, what’s great is like the … This is like villain stuff before thevillain stuff was really famous. I mean, you’ve got the-Alex: [crosstalkPete: Theshot of him in front of his TVs, in his big throne, stroking his evil cat. Thatbecomes a trope later, that becomes such a-Alex: You’rethinking of Inspector Gadget, right?Pete: Yes,but there’s tons of-Justin: No,James Bond is where that came from.Pete: Dr.Evil. It goes on and on, but this really set the precedent of this [crosstalkJustin: No,petting a cat has always been evil.Pete: Yeah.Alex: Youthink so?Justin: Youever pet a cat?Alex: Oh,no thanks. [crosstalk Justin: Yeah,exactly. That purring is like growling from their stomachs.Alex: Yep,wow.Pete: Youdon’t have a cat, do you?Justin: No.I like cats though. I had cats, but I’m evil.Alex: I’mallergic to cats. Are we just offering up stuff about our-Justin: Hey,time for cat facts. Hey, everybody, shout out cat facts. Pete, your turn. Minewas I had one. Alex is he’s allergic. Two fun facts, two fun cat facts.Pete: Yeah,I like cats. Cats are cool. I mean, I prefer dogs, but no big deal.Justin: Okay,well, let’s try to stick with cat facts though. Give us the [inaudibleyour turn, cat fact.Alex: Theyeat cat food.Justin: Okay,very basic fact. Expected fact there. Pete, another cat fact.Pete: Maintaininga litter box is too high maintenance.Justin: Great.That’s more of an opinion, great. That’s enough for cat facts.Alex: (singing)Meow. I did mention want to mention about the villain thing, the villain revealin this issue, because though it’s not 100% confirmed, we do get by the end ofthe issue Nite Owl and Rorschach figure out, oh, shit, Veidt’s been behind thisthing the entire time. And they go to confront him to actually get the villainmonologue, which we’re going to get very shortly [inaudible next issue.Alex: Andwhat I like about this is what I liked about the last issue, which is even ifat the beginning of the last issue you started to suspect and think, “Oh,wait, I think Eddie Blake is Laurie’s dad.” It’s not dragged out.Justin: No.Alex: Bythe end of the issue, you find out. And same thing with this issue-Justin: Ilove that.Alex: …when they lay out this clear villain scenario with Adrian Veidt for the firsttime, where he’s like, “Yes, I’m evil. Hello.” You think you’re aheadof the book, but you’re not, because five pages later, it’s like, “Yo,Adrian Veidt is the bad guy.”Alex: Sothey don’t give you enough time to get that smug sense of self-satisfaction.Justin: It’ssuch a better form of storytelling. I feel like … Again, not to harp on ourmodern world too much, but so much of our entertainment is like, “Now, endof episode. Clue. Now, think about who you think the villain is.” And thenwe think about it. We’re like, “Oh, we know.” And it’s like … Andthen it gets proven true, so you feel ahead of it.Justin: This,you’re not allowed to feel ahead of it, because you don’t have time to think,because you’re taking in the rest of the issue.Alex: Yeah,exactly.Justin: Sosmartly done. There’s this great moment where he says … Rorschach and NiteOwl are talking, and they’ve been in the dark too long. I thought that wasinteresting from their two different points of view, because Dan’s been in thedark because he hasn’t been doing any super-heroics, so he’s been isolated onhis own and is now bad at it, or he’s a little rusty.Justin: Rorschachhas been in the bleakness of his worldview, because he’s been isolated. Andnow, just being together they are coming toward the light.Alex: Buton the other hand, owls operate in the dark. Not to look into it too much, but-Justin: [inaudibleAlex: …that would be a good thing for Dan, right?Justin: Beingin the dark?Alex: Beingin the dark.Pete: Yeah,but he is human.Alex: It’slike [crosstalk Pete: [inaudibleJustin: Whoa,whoa, big reveal, dude.Alex: Holdon, hold on.Justin: Youdon’t know what he’s like underneath that costume.Alex: Thisis a time for human facts.Pete: Oh,my bad, man.Alex: That’slater in the show.Justin: Imean, he eats mice just like a cat.Alex: Hecan turn his head 360 degrees.Justin: Heseems a lot like an owl.Alex: Yeah.There was that one panel, where he hocked up a pellet.Justin: Andthen a little pellet came out. It was just little bones.Alex: Who’sbones?Justin: Who’sbones? We don’t know.Alex: Findout next issue.Justin: Wasit a mouse, or a very tiny man? We’ll never know. That’s just one of fun thingsabout rereading this comic. You never know-Alex: Yeah,Watchmen leaves so many things dangling. Alan Moore is like, “Fuck it,we’ll get to it in the next series.”Justin: Yeah,“I’ll follow this up rather than take my name off it.” Sorry, Alan.Alan definitely listens to this podcast thought.Alex: Yes,he does. Well, he’s got to get caught up for the next episode.Justin: Exactly.Alex: We’reactually broadcasting this directly into the middle of a corn maze.Justin: Yeah.There’s a sweet moment between Nite Owl and Rorschach that is awkward. Andalso, so much of this issue is in dark shadow, and then in these couple panels,it’s super bright and Nite Owl looks goofy. You see his underwear, theunderwear-y parts of his costume, and they’re stuck in a handshake bythemselves. But it’s still sweet, instead of being like, “We’re happy whenwe’re together doing this.” I thought that was just-Alex: Well,and it’s very different from Nite Owl’s relationship with Silk Spectre, whichobviously is sexual.Justin: Verydifferent.Alex: Verydifferent. But also the way that they work together, you know?Justin: Yeah.Alex: JustRorschach and Nite Owl, they have this partner … What?Justin: [inaudible… and then they make out for a while. It’s just a funny side thing then.Alex: Thatdefinitely seems like Rorschach in particular.Justin: They’relike, “You know how Nite Owl fucks everybody he’s partners with?”Alex: Oh,man.Justin: Everybody;slike, “What?” I mean, I guess that’s true. He just-Alex: Huh,I never thought about that.Pete: Well,the key part with Nite Owl is you just don’t let the beat happen after thefight.Justin: Yeah,exactly.Pete: Youjust got to walk away right after that fight.Justin: “Hey,anyway, great fighting with you Nite Owl [crosstalk Alex: [inaudibleJustin: Oh,blue balls.Alex: That’swhy Archie is shaped that way.Justin: Yeah,he’s big.Alex: He’slike a big old scrotum.Pete: Oh,my God. Why?Justin: That’strue.Alex: Speakingof which, we see this great panel of Archie bursting out of the water, with thewater dragging under him.Justin: Socool.Alex: Theyare emerging from it, and then waiting for you to scroll down-Justin: Yeah.Alex: …so I could watch.Justin: Thenwe get to Black Freighter stuff.Alex: Let’stalk about the Black Freighter stuff. This another Two Riders Approachingscenario is set up here. We also get a big reveal of the suspicion I thinkwe’ve harbored for a long time with this Black Freighter thing. The wholeplot-line has been that this pirate was stranded by the evil Black Freighter.He is worried they’re going to attack his hometown. He’s desperately trying toget back there, he’s fought sharks, he’s eaten seagulls, he’s lashed deadbodies together to make a raft. And this issue, he finally makes his way back,and thinks, “Oh, God, I’m too late. The pirates are clearly already here.Everything has been destroyed. My wife has been enslaved, or worse. Same thingwith my children.”Alex: “Now,here are these two people out having a lovely time. Oh, they must becollaborators with the pirates.” And he kills them. He kills both of them,dresses up as one of them, takes the other body, attaches it to a horse andrides back into town. He sees what he thinks is a sentry. Later on, he’s like,“Well, I’ll just skip past this pirate sentry. But of course, it’s ascarecrow. All of this is so very blatantly metaphor-ing exactly what is goingon in the quote-unquote real world of Watchmen, where we talked a couple ofissues back in the big Rorschach issue, how Rorschach was closest to thepirate, or survivor, or whatever he is, in the Black Freighter story.Alex: Andhere, it’s pretty clear this guy is creating a conspiracy theory. He’sfollowing it through, he’s lashing out. All evidence that he sees backs up histheory the way that he wants to see it.Justin: Yeah,again, on the theme of isolation, it’s like … You go mad if you’re isolatedfor too long, and that’s what happen to him, and it’s what happen to Rorschach,it’s what happens to Russia and America. They’re not talking to each other, sothey’re fearful of each other. And Doctor Manhattan got cold when he … grewcold when he was up on Mars. Reaching out to people is what fixes things. Andbecause the Black Freighter guy can’t do that, he starts murdering people.Alex: Right.And just like how we talked about earlier, the same way that Nite Owl andRorschach are breaking the doom even though they don’t realize it, same thingwith this pirate guy, where he is the doom that is coming to this town. Thepirates are not there. He is the thing that is bringing horror and disease anddeath, everything along with him.Pete: Right,but in his … I mean, I can’t believe he survived that raft. That’s going toreally shake you up, man.Alex: Yousurvive the raft-Justin: Thedead body raft-Alex: …you can legally do anything you want.Pete: Well,that’s the thing. I mean, you get away with a couple murders after you survivea raft ride like that.Alex: Yeah,well, it’s the same thing, like a bone raft is basically your own personalVegas.Justin: Yeah,that’s true. What happens in bone raft stays in bone raft. I mean, the bestflotation device is a dead body as we know. Most life-jackets are actually madeout of pieces of corpse.Alex: Yeah,I learned that in camp.Justin: Yeah,you went to a fucked up camp.Alex: Idid. I went to Camp Crystal Lake? I want to say.Justin: Good.Alex: Oh thanks.Justin: That’sright.Pete: Yeah–Justin: Nice,nice.Alex: Isthat a good reference?Justin: Yes,that’s a great reference.Alex: Isthat a good reference, daddy?Justin: Yes,son, that’s … You’re a good boy.Alex: Oh,thank you.Justin: You’rethe best boy. You’re my best boy, because you make good references.Pete: Iwent to Crystal Light Camp. It was not as-Justin: Wow.Alex: It’snot as [crosstalk Justin: Nocalories.Pete: Yeah,no calories.Justin: Isthat another way of saying- ?Pete: Allthe same great lake, just less calories.Justin: Isthat another way of saying fat camp?Pete: No.Justin: Oh,great.Alex: Well,let’s talk about this other scene that you just flipped to over here, becausewe got little hints of this before. And if you didn’t know it was going on, aswe mentioned on the podcast, very confusing. But in the background, Veidt hasbeen building this whole story and this whole scenario. We don’t get to see thebreadth of it yet, but he has employed hundreds of people to create somethingthat he is told is a super-secret movie. And here, they all get on a boat offof this island together, are having a big party. The author of pirate comicsthat we found out was missing several issues back in the back [inaudibleJustin: Yeah,below deck.Alex: …below deck, trying to make the moves on this woman that he’s wanted to make themoves on for a while, when they discover there’s in fact a bomb, and they alldie. They all get blown up. Now, there’s one moment that I wanted to talkabout. It’s a very human moment. I couldn’t read whether there was more to it,or not. But as they’re starting to make love, they’re down there, she noticesthe bombs. She’s like, “Something is biting into my back a littlebit.” She says, “Don’t stop.” And he says … He holds her, andsays, “Don’t worry about it, my love. Hold onto me.”Justin: Yeah.Alex: What’sgoing on there? Is there something more to that? Because it felt like it was atthe tip of my brain that it was referencing, or bumping off of something else,but maybe it’s just a moment.Justin: Ithink he’s just like … He knows they’re going to die, so he’s like,“Lets-Alex: Tryingto be comforting, yeah.Justin: “Let’sgo out on a hug.”Alex: Yeah.Is it … ? I mean, it could be … Is it in the same position as the Hiroshimalovers? They’re certainly leaving the shadow in the background, right?Justin: Yeah,it’s hard to see the shadows.Alex: There’sthat.Justin: It’scovered by word balloons. But yeah, I think it’s … I just mentioned this abunch, but isolation versus reaching out. Like, they’re about to die, so theycling to the person-Pete: That’swhy I wouldn’t go on cruise ships for a really long time.Alex: Oh,yeah.Justin: Well,remember, when we did that comic-con on the cruise, and that’s how we slept.Pete: Well,yeah, but I [crosstalk Alex: Butthen we got blown up, right?Justin: Yeah.Pete: ButI always would … We would have to every night go down and look for bombs.Justin: That’strue. That was a fun-Pete: Otherwise,I couldn’t sleep.Alex: [crosstalksaying, “Hey, everybody, bomb check.Justin: Yeah,I went to the casino, and Pete went looking for bombs on the deck.Alex: Now,we can probably, not speed through, but clip through the rest of the book,because we get to see them investigating the mystery. As we mentioned, theyinterrogate people at various bars, and then ultimately they end up in Veidt’soffice, because they’re trying to find out where he is, to get his help. Atwhich point, Nite Owl puts it together.Justin: Yeah,it’s just funny seeing … Like, Rorschach is just a real blabbermouth all of asudden. He’s like, “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”Talking about all the Egyptian shit.Pete: Well,he’s finally around somebody who he doesn’t think is evil, or something. Sohe’s really just finally opening up.Alex: Well,this is what we talked about with Rorschach all along, that he is throwing thedarts everywhere and hoping one of them stick, and Nite Owl is precise. He-Justin: Yeah,he’s the detective.Alex: Exactly.Justin: Theyneed each other in every way possible, and this just proves. Nite Owl puts ittogether based on all the vomit that Rorschach is just spewing out in thisthing. He grabs the things that makes sense and puts it together. He cracks thepassword. I mean, Adrian Veidt seems so smart. Throw an exclamation point inyour password, dude.Alex: Right.Justin: Comeon.Pete: Well,this was a while ago, before you needed that kind of stuff. [crosstalkAlex: Butalso, he knows that they’re going to figure it out, right? He’s left it there,he’s left the clues there, he’s left a map, he’s left documentation. He’sbasically walked them right up to it, so that they can come find him as we findout at the end of the issue when he’s like, “Everything is happeningaccording to plan.” But-Justin: Soone other thing. So they figure it out, and they’re going to go to Antarctica,and Archie … They do one last thing. Rorschach drops his journal off in themail, which is a fun little thing, because we see the dude pick it out. It goesto the New Frontiersman, and the kid in the smiley face shirt picks it out ofthe thing and sets it in their crank pile.Justin: ButI thought it was interesting, the smiley face. We were like, “What does itmean? Is it just … ? What reference is it?” And I think it’s meant to besetting up the final moment of the series, where it’s the final punchline of thejoke the Comedian set into motion. And this kid is the final punchline in thathis journal is found and all the truth will come out.Alex: Interesting.Justin: Sothat was my take from reading it here.Alex: Yeah,so then they fly off to Antarctica. We get a bit of an action sequence thathappens. Beautifully drawn. Very-Justin: Socool.Alex: …reminiscent of the Mars sequence as well, because you got the stark white,instead of the stark pinks of Mars. Also, this sequence really brought me backto the first time I read Watchmen, because when Nite Owl puts on his snow suit,which is the most adorable thing. And I remember that jumping out to me thefirst time too, just how cute … He looks like a cute little snowy owl-Justin: It’svery cute.Alex: …jetting along.Justin: Ontheir little air bikes.Alex: Yeah.Yeah, and then we get confirmation, in case there was any wondering, that Veidtwas the villain, because … What does he say there at the end? What’s theexact phrase?Justin: “It’sall right, girl.”Alex: “Everything’sall right.”Justin: “Everything’sall right.”Alex: Yeah,and then our back matter is all about Ozymandias, all about marketing. I thinka large part of this is to show us the precision of Ozymandias, to underline,because we haven’t spent a lot of time with him, that he might not be thesmartest man in the world, but he certainly has business acumen and is veryprecise with things.Justin: AndI think it sets that he … We know that he’s a villain when we read the backmatter, and the back matter is him figuring out his action figure line, himchanging the Nostalgia perfume to Millennium, and then a self-help book gearedtoward healing. And it’s him setting up his businesses to operate in the NewWorld Order after his plan is carried.Justin: It’sso interesting. He eliminates the Nite Owl, Rorschach action figures from histoy line, because he’s like, “They’re going to be dead, so we don’t wantto manufacture those. We want to have all Veidt with random villains.”Pete: Andwhat’s funny is, action figures also sometimes spoil movies, because whenaction figures come out before the movies and stuff, there’s hints to what theaction figures do and have on them that gives us little hints. So-Justin: Hedidn’t want to spoil the plan, yeah.Alex: Well,also, though-Justin: [inaudibleby that.Alex: Butalso, at the same time, something that they built up in this alternate realityis like Ozymandias mentions, superheroes aren’t that popular. People don’t buysuperhero comics, because superheroes exist. So you’d have to imagine it’s thesame thing with the action figure line. So if anything, having Ozymandiasversus a bunch of pirates, or something like that, would probably work a lotbetter for action figures.Justin: True,but I do think the point of it is-Alex: Sure.Justin: …that he’s so ice cold sociopathic that he is profiting off of his choices.Like, changing the perfume from Nostalgia. No one wants to look backwards.There’s this huge tragedy. They’re going to be looking hopeful and forward toMillennium and the self-help book geared toward the unified world, which iswhat he’s doing with his plan is unifying everyone. That’s what the self-helpbook is geared toward. So smart, so subtle, so smart. It’s great.Alex: Toyour point about the action figures, Silk Spectre and Doctor Manhattan don’teven enter into the picture.Justin: No.Alex: They’renot there. He doesn’t know. That may be the one thing that he actually didn’tnecessarily plan for is them coming back.Justin: Right.Alex: Ifyou would like to support this podcast, patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also, we doa live show every Tuesday night at in New York. Come on by. We’ll chat with you about Watchmen. You can check outthe podcast at Watchmen Watch Podcast on Facebook and Instagram. Watchmen WatchOne on Twitter, and Comic Book Club Live for this podcast and very many more.You can subscribe and comment on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, or the appof your choice.Alex: Andremember, we taped this podcast 35 minutes ago.Justin: Oh,Alan just texted me, and he said, “I’ll definitely be there next week,hashtag pumpkin spice latte life.”The post Watchmen Watch: Issue #10, “Two Riders Were Approaching” appeared first on Comic Book Club.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclubAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
