Rorschach #1 Review Damn Town

Rorschach #1 Review

“Damn Town”

Being the last “hero” [Dr. Manhattan comes out Aug. 22] to get his own book for “Before Watchmen”, Rorschach brings his own set of justice in style. Expect brutal beatings and twisted villains.

In Rorschach #1, Rorschach poetically displays his disdain for his city and the foul scum that walk it’s streets. The plot is simple, Rorschach is in search of an underground drug lord, and has to shove his boot up a few drug dealer’s arses to get answers, all while a serial killer being called The Bard dumps yet another carved body into one of the cities many grimy alleys. What he’s looking for may be well over his head, but that’s never stopped him before.

Brian Azzarello didn’t have a tough job ahead of him writing for Rorschach, but that doesn’t mean Rorschach isn’t a unique character. He’s brash and straight forward, but poetic in his own right, whether it’s writing in his journal or finding creative ways to break his enemies morale. This complexity is captured by Azzarello and then multiplied ten-fold by the brilliant art of Lee Bermejo. I almost feel the art is “too good” for Rorschach. I expected a dark, gritty and rough art style, one that would show blood on the ground like dried sand on concrete. But instead Bermejo gave us this art that pays attention to every gritty detail; every wrinkle in Rorschach’s jacket, every expression from a frightened witness, and every splash of blood from a brutal bash to the face. Let’s just say I was impressed.

Rorschach #1 is so basic and so well designed and drawn that it easily exceeded all of my expectations, and catapulted it to one of my favorite “Before Watchmen” books yet. Minutemen is still really good, the Comedian is quickly picking up steam, and Ozymandias is a beautiful piece of art, but Rorschach came and kicked me in the face, and I liked it. Pick up all of the “Before Watchmen” books from Cosmic Comics!, including their variants, and #getyourfix!

Burke