Comedian (comics)
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| The Comedian | |
 The Comedian from Watchmen. Art by Dave Gibbons. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Watchmen #1 (1986) |
| Created by | Alan Moore (story) and Dave Gibbons (art), based on The Peacemaker |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Edward Morgan Blake |
| Team affiliations | United States government, Crimebusters, Minutemen |
| Abilities | Olympic-level strength, great fighting prowess. He is an expert in practically any type of weaponry. |
The Comedian (Edward Blake) is a fictional character, a superhero featured in the acclaimed 1986 comic book series Watchmen, published by DC Comics.
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[edit] Character Background
The Comedian is a cigar-chomping, gun-toting vigilante-turned-paramilitary agent. During some of the series' most intense moments, he has shown himself to be a nihilist with little regard for morality or human life. It may even be possible that, because no motivation is ever stated, he only fights crime as an excuse to please a sadistic desire to commit violent acts.
He was created by Watchmen writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons, although, like all characters in the series, he was based on a Charlton Comics character, in this case Peacemaker, created by writer Joe Gill and artist Pat Boyette.
Moore also loosely based him on G. Gordon Liddy[citation needed], although Liddy himself appears a few times in Watchmen as a separate character: at a banquet in Blake's honour he is mentioned in the text and laughs at Blake's reference to the Kennedy Assassination (Chapter 9, page 20); he also appears when still-President Nixon arrives at NORAD (Chapter 10, page 3).
The Comedian's alter-ego of Edward Blake is a play on the name of movie director Blake Edwards,[citation needed] best known for the Pink Panther comedies. His character design is said to have been based on actor Burt Reynolds.[citation needed]
[edit] Involvement in Watchmen
The story of Watchmen starts with the aftermath of a murder in 1985: a man named Edward Blake was beaten mercilessly and thrown through the window of his apartment, falling several stories to his death. A "costumed adventurer" named Rorschach begins independently investigating the murder. While searching Blake's apartment, Rorschach discovers a hidden closet containing a costume and other items that indicate that the murdered man was The Comedian. The main plot of Watchmen initially involves Rorschach's suspicion of a plot to kill costumed heroes ("masks"); his continuing investigation into Blake's murder leads to a much larger, more horrifying secret. The Comedian never appears alive in Watchmen (the first issue begins the morning after his murder), but is seen several times in memories of other characters shown as flashbacks, as well as appearing in documents appended to the end of chapters (such as extracts from Hollis Mason's biography, "Under The Hood").
[edit] Fictional character history
The Comedian was born in 1924 as Edward Morgan Blake. When he first became a costumed adventurer in 1939, he dressed in a clown-like costume with a simple domino mask. An effective and brutal vigilante, Blake managed to expunge most organized crime from the New York harbor. He became the youngest member of The Minutemen, a prominent group of heroes. After a photography shoot, he sexually assaulted fellow Minuteman Silk Spectre (who was about three years older than him and whom he seemed prone to flirting with); she was spared only when another Minuteman, Hooded Justice, interrupted the assault and beat Blake, breaking his nose. The Comedian was expelled from the group - but Silk Spectre's agent persuaded her not to press charges against him for fear of what it would do the group's image - and continued to work on his own, although his self-restraint continued to slip. He would later have another encounter with Silk Spectre, and the second time around, he impregnated her with her daughter and successor, Laurie. While never explicitly mentioned, the second sexual encounter between the Comedian and the first Silk Spectre is said to be consensual, and at the end of Watchmen it is implied that, in spite of everything, the first Silk Spectre had feelings for the Comedian.
In the 1940s, Blake updated his Comedian uniform, after being stabbed by a small-time hood. He adopted a leather outfit that served as light body armor, adorned with short star-and-stripe-themed sleeves and a small happy face button. He retained the small domino mask and began carrying a pistol. He fought in World War II, becoming a war hero in the Pacific theater. It is also implied, but not directly stated, that he murdered Hooded Justice in revenge for the beating he suffered. By the late 1960s, Blake had begun working as a covert government operative. Hollis Mason, the original Nite-Owl, had published his autobiography Under the Hood by this point and he disclosed the Comedian's sexual assault on Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre, though Blake never sued the author. In 1966, he was invited to join the Crimebusters by Captain Metropolis, but he quickly ruined the older hero's hope of a new team by mocking him, claiming he was only doing it for vanity and glory, and even set his display on fire while saying that old fashioned crime fighting methods were not useful for saving the world when the threat of nuclear war lay overhead at all times. It was also here that the Comedian met his daughter, Laurie, now the new Silk Spectre, and asked her if her mother ever talked about him while lighting a cigarette for her, but their conversation was quickly broken up by an angry Sally Jupiter. The Comedian seemed genuinely perplexed that Sally was still holding a grudge against him, saying he thought they had settled their differences, and Laurie noted that the Comedian looked sad as he watched them drive away, and felt sorry for him until her mother told her of their past history (but still not telling Laurie that she was his daughter), after which she felt nothing but disgust and hatred towards him. Alongside Doctor Manhattan, The Comedian played a major role in the United States' war with Vietnam. Shortly after Manhattan's godlike powers forced the north Vietnamese into full surrender, Blake was confronted by a Vietnamese woman he had seemingly made pregnant (though this seems to be the most logical explanation and she seemed to care for him, it is never clearly stated that he was the father). He told her bluntly that he planned to leave the country immediately without her, and in a rage she slashed his face with a broken bottle. Blake shot and killed her. His injury led to a disfiguring scar that ran from his right eye down to the corner of his mouth; after this incident, he wore an enclosing leather gimp-style mask when dressed as The Comedian.
The costumed adventurers faced massive backlash and rioting in the 1970s; in response, Congress passed the Keene Act, requiring all heroes to register with the government if they wished to remain active. The majority of them "retired" in anonymity; a few, like Ozymandias, publicly revealed their identities and capitalized on the sudden fame, while others, such as Rorschach, continued their activities in open defiance of the law. Doctor Manhattan and The Comedian were two of the few who registered with, and were employed by, the government.
[edit] Government-sponsored activity
It is strongly implied that Blake killed Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein before they could reveal the details of the Watergate scandal. In the series' alternate reality, Richard Nixon enjoyed unprecedented popularity and was able to serve five terms as President after a constitutional amendment. Blake was in Dallas, Texas, nominally as Nixon's bodyguard, on the day that John F. Kennedy was shot; it is also implied, although vaguely, that Blake either was the actual assassin or knew of the assassin's plot beforehand. The Iran hostage crisis in 1980 was resolved when Blake freed the captives after an assault. A panel shows a jubilant Comedian on the stairway of the plane returning the hostages, while the hostages standing near him appear traumatized. This contrasts with the joyous appearance of the returned hostages during the actual event and implies that his method of "resolving" the crisis was traumatizing to those involved.
[edit] Death & Legacy
While on a plane during a mission in 1985, Blake noticed suspicious activity on an uncharted island. He infiltrated the island and learned of its purpose, the realization of which was severely traumatizing. Unable to bear the burden of knowledge alone, Blake broke into the apartment of Edgar Jacobi, who had fought Blake years earlier as Moloch, and rambled drunkenly about the island. Ozymandias, who was controlling the island's activity and had bugged Moloch's apartment for his own reasons, responded by personally murdering Blake, throwing him through Blake's apartment window so Blake would fall to his death. Blake, horrified by the truth, offered no resistance, making the crime look even more gruesome.
While trying to convince Doctor Manhattan to save the Earth from nuclear war, Laurie came to the shocking realization that the Comedian was her father. This revelation provoked an unexpected emotional response in the superhuman Manhattan, who was stunned that two people as different as the Comedian and Sally Jupiter could come together and produce a child, and that child being Laurie, he realized that such odds of improbability extended to all members of the human race. This revelation encouraged Manhattan that human life was worth saving and, later, gave Laurie a chance to reconcile with her mother.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Edward Blake was a skilled hand-to-hand combatant in excellent physical condition, even at the time of his death at the age of 61. His simple, street-wise fighting style was very effective. In the "Under the Hood" excerpts it is revealed that the Comedian bested Ozymandias in their first encounter - a slight that Veidt never got over. Never depicted as an "expert" marksman per se, Blake was proficient with a .45 pistol and pump-action shotgun. His participation in World War II and Vietnam suggest that he was skilled in military tactics. He is shown using many forms of weaponry skillfully, such as flamethrowers, explosives and grenade launchers. His government-sanctioned activities suggest that he was very talented in or received training in covert operations and unconventional warfare. It is implied that he was a "Black-Ops/CIA" type agent during the 1960s and 1970s. Blake was fairly slight when he was introduced as a member of the Minutemen, but his physical stature increased over the years, which could be attributed to the fact that he was only a teenager at the time he served with the group. At the time of his death, Blake was quite tall and had a very well-built physique.
[edit] The "Smile"
Throughout the work, the Comedian is typically seen wearing or in close proximity to the "smiley-face" button which is closely associated with him. However, the smile is constantly appearing when Blake is not present, possibly at important junctures in the story. Some examples of the button's appearance are as follows.
- The story begins with an extreme close-up of the stained button. The same button physically appears in Dreiberg's house, as well as atop a prominent restaurant and at the Comedian's funeral.
- While Dr. Manhattan is reminiscing of Blake's activities in Vietnam, the smile makes its first chronological appearance. When Blake is slashed by the broken bottle brandished by the mother of his unborn, illegitimate child, blood falls upon the button and simulates the pattern.
- When the murder of two children by their war-obsessed father is investigated by the recurring "detective" characters, the religious poster on the back of the door is spattered with blood. The colours and shapes reference the Comedian's button.
- In the scene where Ozymandias is beating his would-be assassin, some blood flies in front of the yellow flower on Ozymandias's lapel, making it resemble the smile button.
- While the second Silk Spectre is going through Dreiberg's basement, the Nite Owl's goggles, which are covered with dirt except for a patch that mimics the blood spatter, reflect the front of the Owlship, which mimics the smiley face.
- After rescuing innocent victims from a tenement fire, the Owlship occupied by Nite Owl and the second Silk Spectre is shown flying against the yellow moon, with smoke rising up on one side. The ship's portholes are the eyes, while the smoke is the blood spatter.
- Halloween Night, Hollis Mason carves a Jack-O-Lantern which strongly resembles a smiley-face. A smattering of pumpkin pulp falls across the face of it, repeating the pattern.
- When Hollis Mason is killed, the blood smeared across his face in his Minutemen photo is similar to the stain on the button.
- When Dr. Manhattan's "flying clockwork" is destroyed on Mars, the pattern of debris on the Argyle Planitia's Galle Crater (which itself resembles a smiley face) is reminiscent of the blood-spatter pattern.
- On the covert art of Chapter 10, the radar has two lines coming down to make the eyes, with the scanning beam making the trajectory of the blood stain.
- While not an appearance per se, there is a clear patch on the side of Veidt's Vivarium, shown on the cover of Chapter 11. This clear patch is a perfect replica of the shape of the blood spatter.
- In addition, when the "alien" is teleported to New York, and the world turns to white, the comic book boy and the newspaper stand attendant incinerate together, and their silhouettes meld together to form the blood stain.
- In one of the panels depicting the aftermath of the New York disaster, the outlet of a "spark hydrant" on the ground has a splatter of blood mimicking the smile.
- Following Rorschach's disintegration by Dr. Manhattan, the vaporous blood rising from his remains intersects with an icicle hanging from a circular entrance to Veidt's fortress and a hoverbike in the foreground, resembling the smiley face.
- In the very last panel, the New Frontiersman employee known as Seymour, who habitually wears a green T-shirt with a yellow smiley face, drips ketchup on his stomach from a burger he is eating. This mimics the smile which opened the story almost perfectly.
[edit] Film
Jeffrey Dean Morgan portrays the character in the upcoming film based upon the series. [1]
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