WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Rorschach #7 by Tom King, Jorge Fornés, Dave Stewart and Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
The original Rorschach, Walter Kovacs, died in the closing chapter of Watchmen by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins. But 35 years later, the vigilante mysteriously returned in the pages of the Black Label series Rorschach and he attempted to kill a presidential candidate. This Rorschach was killed in the attempt and for a long time, questions were raised about the elderly man who wore the costume.
While it seemed like it could be a somehow-resurrected Kovacs, this new Rorschach was a comic book artist named Wil Myerson. But he isn't the only one who suits up as the brutal Watchmen character in the series. In Rorschach #6, the investigator came across someone else dressed as Rorschach -- and in Issue #7, this new vigilante is revealed to be iconic comic book writer and artist, Frank Miller.
In Rorschach #6, the investigator was given a pile of letters that chronicled the correspondence between Wil Myerson and Laura Cummings, his sidekick the Kid. These letters were left to him anonymously at his hotel, but thanks to the establishment's security, the investigator was able to track this person down. When he arrived at their residence, he knocked on the door and inside, a man wearing a Rorschach costume was sitting and waiting for him.
As the two come face to face in Issue #7, this new Rorschach explains his connection to Wil Myerson, revealing his identity as Frank Miller.
The existence of the comic book icon in the Watchmen universe was revealed back in Rorschach #1, when Miller briefly appeared on a tape made during a séance that both he and Myerson attended. Now, Miller's role in the series is expanded. While this is an alternate universe take on Frank Miller, the popular comic book creator looks the same as he does in the real world. What's more, we come to learn that a version of one of his most famous stories, The Dark Knight Returns, also exists in the Watchmen universe. Since pirates replaced superheroes as the focus of mainstream comic books, it stars a pirate character named the Seaman in place of the Dark Knight, and Miller's famous comic, which breathed new life into the pirate, is titled The Dark Fife Returns.
The Dark Fife Returns is clearly a reflection of The Dark Knight Returns, a comic series first published in 1986 that reimagined Batman as a dark agent of fear, breathing new life into the character with a take that continues to inform his modern persona to this day.
When faced with the investigator, Miller tells his side of the story, revealing that the séance was held by another iconic comic creator, Supergirl co-creator and noted paranormal enthusiast Otto Binder, who believed the dead could be heard through the electromagnetic feedback of a tape recording. Years later, Myerson and his sidekick would visit Miller, explaining that the tape recording contained a message from Doctor Manhattan himself on how to defeat the alien squids they believed attacked New York in 1985. In this message, Will heard that he was the one who needed to put on the Rorschach mask. And, after the three of them made a new recording, they believed that Governor Turley had to be killed in order for the squids to be properly defeated.
Since we know that Doctor Manhattan never sent a message through space and time and that there are no alien squids, we know that Wil and Laura's mission isn't real.
But even if they are dead, it looks like Frank Miller still seems aware of the cause. He reveals that he also heard the call to "Kill Turley," and now that he has put on a Rorschach costume, it appears as if he may even take Wil's place and attempt to complete his mission. While the series started with the death of another Rorschach, Frank Miller is now the latest character to carry on the Watchmen hero's legacy in a strange new direction.
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