― kit brash (kit brash), Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― chap who would dare to contain two ingredients. Tea and bags. (chap), Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 21 September 2006 13:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Am I a reactionary square? (Leee), Thursday, 21 September 2006 15:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 21 September 2006 15:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 21 September 2006 16:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 21 September 2006 16:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 21 September 2006 16:33 (eighteen years ago) link
(126 points)
http://www.blogzine.com.br/rorschach.jpg
Hero-of-sorts from Watchmen, based on the old Charlton comic The Question (though I'm unsure whether Watchmen was during one of the characters lower-profile eras). For all that Owlman was the analogue of Batman, it's Rorschach that the subsequent decades of writers seem to have taken as a template.
And Rorschach with his self-conscious "life as art" attitude is actually a pretty Nietzschean superhero, so that quote fits in more than one way, although it's a pretty lame Nietzsche quote as Nietzsche quotes go. (I guess it's the popular favorite because it feeds off the legend of his madness?)(Chris F)
Actually, Pal Joey/Taxi Driver era Peter Boyle coulda made a great Rorschach. He's too old now. (HUK-L)
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 28 September 2006 10:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 28 September 2006 11:06 (seventeen years ago) link
I always thought the "free to carve my own morality into the world" issue was kinda problematic regarding Rorschach's personality. If he was free to choose his morals, why would he still cling to the sort of conservative ideas he had previously? I don't think real extreme rightists ever go through such a moral epiphany.
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 28 September 2006 11:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 28 September 2006 11:35 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 28 September 2006 12:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 28 September 2006 12:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 28 September 2006 12:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Thursday, 28 September 2006 12:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 28 September 2006 12:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 28 September 2006 12:34 (seventeen years ago) link
This is perhaps exemplified in his confrontation with his landlady once she has turned him in. He is there, Rorschach forced to be Kovacs, and recognises one of her children as him in his youth. Despite his sense of honour in what he does, he recognises the days of heroes are over and cannot run the risk of the child potentially turning into another version of him - so protects the child from the absolute knowledge of his mother's life and gives him another chance.
― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Thursday, 28 September 2006 12:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Thursday, 28 September 2006 12:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 28 September 2006 13:22 (seventeen years ago) link
Rorschach really is the most interesting character in the whole comic; everyone else sort of serves the function they've given in the story, but he's goes through an arch of personal change. Okay, there's also Dr. Manhattan "humans are worthy" realization, but I never found that (or the whole character) as convincing as Moore may have intended.
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 28 September 2006 13:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 28 September 2006 14:03 (seventeen years ago) link
I think the whole conclusion of Watchmen is a lot more morally ambiguous than certain people are making out - Moore never really asserts an authorial opinion on Veidt's plan. Obviously our gut reaction is that it's an atrocity, but if it does, debateably to be sure, 'save the world', then can it be a wholly bad thing? I think Moore's intention is more to show notions of good and evil to be far more fluid and nebulous than they are generally portrayed in this type of fiction than to provide a simple reversal of expectations.
― chap who would dare to contain two ingredients. Tea and bags. (chap), Thursday, 28 September 2006 15:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 28 September 2006 15:58 (seventeen years ago) link
Oh, I think he does, though in a clever way. The ending of Watchmen is well-known for it's openness - "I leave it entirely to your hands"; does Seymour pick up Rorschach diary or not? - and it's clear this is Moore's way of saying, "I leave it to readers to decide whether or not Veidt did right or wrong"... But he also sneaks in his own opinion inside the pirate story, which parallels the main story all the way through, and in which the protagonists ends up doing most hideous things only because he thinks he's protecting his loved ones, so in the end he is condemned for his sins and has to enter the black pirate ship. The fact that Veidt is his alter ego is made clear when Veidt says, "sometimes I dream of swimming towards a black ship...".
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 28 September 2006 16:40 (seventeen years ago) link
This is the only time I can remember ever being tempted to use the acronym QFT.
― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Thursday, 28 September 2006 17:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 28 September 2006 17:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 28 September 2006 17:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 28 September 2006 17:51 (seventeen years ago) link
Wait, so we're both right, except you're righter. Yellowcard for you.
― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 28 September 2006 17:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 28 September 2006 17:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 28 September 2006 18:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Thursday, 28 September 2006 18:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 28 September 2006 21:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 28 September 2006 22:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 28 September 2006 22:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 29 September 2006 08:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― chap who would dare to contain two ingredients. Tea and bags. (chap), Friday, 29 September 2006 10:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Friday, 29 September 2006 11:59 (seventeen years ago) link
18. Scrooge McDuck (Uncle Scrooge)
(134 points)
ihttp://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/archives/mcduck.gif
There was a sober, stoic quality to Carl Barks'stories and artwork that reached its ultimate expression in the brisk, no-nonsense character ofScrooge. Initially a cartoonish miser in the mold ofhis Dickens namesake, Scrooge eventually evolved intoa remarkably original character – a modern version of that classic American archetype, the self-made man. Hemade his fortune, he says, by "being tougher than thetoughies, and smarter than the smarties – and I madeit SQUARE!" (Justyn)
His Scrooge can be greedy as hell, but ultimately Scrooge always chooses his fellow beings before money - witness the tear-jerking story where he's willing to give up everything he owns to save his beloved sled dog from drowning. (Tuomas)
Best moment: Rolling around in his money bin. (d a simpson)
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 29 September 2006 14:22 (seventeen years ago) link
http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/archives/mcduck.gif
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 29 September 2006 14:36 (seventeen years ago) link
This is actually a part of the plot in one of Barks' stories - the Beagle Boys have robbed Scrooge's money, and he asks for one last swim. Seeing Scrooge bathe in the money, the Beagle Boys want to do that as well, and jump into the pile of coins, only to hit their heads and lose their consciousness. Then they're arrested, and Scrooge reveals that only he can actually swim in money, after years of practice.
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 29 September 2006 18:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 29 September 2006 18:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 2 October 2006 19:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Monday, 2 October 2006 20:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Monday, 2 October 2006 20:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― chap who would dare to contain two ingredients. Tea and bags. (chap), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 2 October 2006 23:01 (seventeen years ago) link