Subject: (urth) Watchmen *** spoilers ahoy! ***

From: Tony Ellis <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 16:50:00 +0000

The issue of morality runs so deep in Watchmen that I'm reluctant to label anyone
as "evil". I certainly wouldn't call Voidt evil in the sense that Hitler was.
Hitler was motivated by hatred for other races as much as by a desire to secure
the future of his precious Aryans. Voidt genuinely wants to help the whole human
race.

Is Voidt likeable? Interesting, certainly. As John Bishop says, he's a beefcake
superhero who's actually smart. He's also a supervillian without the wasted, weedy
physique. But I got the impression that behind all that he was actually a very
little man. It's significant that he has to beat the crap out of the Comedian
before killing him, because of course the Comedian once gave him a humiliating
beating. Petty or what?

(Wow, we're -really- spoilling Watchmen for anyone who hasn't read it yet, aren't
we?)

Voidt's the sort of person who -has- to save the human race in order to feel good
about himself. :-)

I agree that Severian is far more of a good guy. It helps a lot, as several people
have already said, that he doesn't deliberately flood the whole planet and kill
everyone. He was as appalled as I was, and so never lost my sympathy. (The
pancreator, on the other hand, sank massively in my estimation.)

The question of whether or not the others are tarred by keeping quite is an
interesting one. They do -try- to stop Voidt after all. Given that they couldn't,
isn't it reasonable to keep quiet when speaking out would only steer Earth back on
course for World War III?

On the other hand, Rorschach, in some ways the most right-wing of all the
protagonists, is the one who stays true to his principles to the death. Nicely
balanced, Mr Moore.

I hope Wolfe -does- read Watchmen, I'm sure he'd enjoy it.

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/