There’s a really terrific (but hugely spoiler-filled) critique of Watchmen — more graphic novel than movie — over at Comic Book Resources with Damon Lindelof, Carr D’Angelo and Atom! Freeman. I think my favorite part — which, again, is a huge spoiler — is the following exchange:
DAMON: I want to talk about Rorschach. Question…
CARR: He is the Question.
DAMON: Rorshach’s face is his everything. In fact, he’s literally holding it on as he’s fighting Adrian in the previous issue. And yet… once he realizes Jon is going to vaporize him, what does he do? He takes off his mask. And so, the question is this: does Jon kill Rorschach? Or does Jon kill Walter?
ATOM!: Wow. Who knew there were still surprises? Walter kills Rorschach. Jon kills Walter.
CARR: Removing the mask is a symbolic suicide. But it’s also saying that you can kill the person who is Rorschach, but not the idea of Rorschach.
DAMON: Well, Rorshach makes such a big deal out of that mask and what it means in regards to his identity.
CARR: Rorschach lives on in the journal too. “Nothing ever ends.”
DAMON: I’ve always felt that Moore’s decision to kill Rorschach was the only way to guarantee no one would ever write a sequel.
CARR: There was talk of a Nite Owl/Rorschach prequel and a Minutemen series.
DAMON: Thank God it was just talk.
CARR: Moore, ironically, thought the book would go out of print
ATOM!: Strange to think that this wasn’t designed to be read and re-read.
DAMON: I’ve always wondered about Rorschach’s decision.
CARR: Well, he wasn’t going to get very far on foot was he?
DAMON: Clearly, the difference between right and wrong seems very clear to him. But I’ve always wondered what he thought it would accomplish if he did expose the truth. I think Rorschach doesn’t want there to be peace, because he doesn’t understand it. And there’s no place for him in a world where there aren’t animals to put down.
ATOM!: I think the mistake is to think Rorschach thought through longterm. Veidt thought longterm and decided to grow a giant squid. Rorschach knocked heads together until he got an answer to his question.
CARR: But is a world without nuclear war necessarily a peaceful one?
DAMON: Well, that’s the $64,000 question. Did it work?
ATOM!: Wait for the sequel.