Watchmen Part 6 of 12. Writer, Alan Moore. Illustrator, Dave Gibbons. Described by Liana Kerr https://twitter.com/lianaleslie Last modified March 2, 2015. Chapter 6. Cover. The words "Chapter VI" are printed vertically in magenta on black over the left third of the page. Above them is a magenta and black clock with no numbers or markings that indicates that the time is 11:54. The right two-thirds of the page show a piece of paper printed with an inkblot used in the Rorschach test. It is lying on top of a wooden table, although only a sliver of that table is visible. The background of the paper is light yellow, but there are two diagonal red stripes running across it at the top and base of the image. The image itself consists of many symmetrical black blots in a random pattern. The most conventional description of it would be that it looks like a butterfly, although it was not explicitly created to look like one. It has four large shapes that spread to the sides like butterfly wings, the top two slightly pointed, the bottom two wide and rounded. At the top are two shapes that flare out to the sides, suggesting antennae, two long, tall shapes between the four large shapes that could suggest a body, and smaller, long shapes at the base that point outwards from a dot in the middle and could suggest legs. Page 1. Panel 1. The same image of the Rorschach blot that was on the cover, although the sides are cropped so that the table is not visible and that only part of the red diagonal stripe on the bottom is shown. The paper looks light yellow, and the image itself consists of many symmetrical black blots in a random pattern. The most conventional description of it would be that it looks like a butterfly, with four large shapes that spread to the sides like butterfly wings, shapes that suggest antennae and a body and shapes that suggest legs. A voice from offscreen says "Okay, now I guess you know what *this* is..." A text box indicates that the following text is from the notes of Dr. Malcom Long, October 25th, 1985. Panel 2. Malcom's hand is holding the card out towards Rorschach's hands, which are lying palms down on the table. Malcom is black and his nails well-groomed, especially in contrast to Rorschach's cracked ones. The red bands continue over both the picture and over the table and the hands of the two men. Malcom says, "I want you to *look* at it and tell me what you *see*." Malcom's notes read, "First interview with *Kovacs*... He's even more disturbed than I'd heard, but I'm *optimistic*. A success here could make my *reputation.*" Panel 3. Malcom's notes continue, "He's very *withdrawn*, with no expression in either face or voice. Getting a response is often *difficult*." The reader sees the two men sitting on opposite sides of a small, square wooden table. as if we're watching them from above. The red stripes falling across the picture are the shadows of the bars on the window. Three stripes of yellow light pass through the window, falling on the table and spilling onto the floor. Malcom is leaning forward, one hand still touching the card and his other hand holding a pen, while Rorschach remains seated, his back ramrod straight and his hands flat out on top of the table. Malcom asks "Will you *look* at it, Walter? Will you *do* that for me?" Panel 4. Rorschach picks the card up in both hands. The reader sees him holding it out in front of him as if we're seeing it from his perspective. Malcom's hands rest on the table in front of Rorschach. Panel 5. Malcom, as seen from Rorschach's point of view. The reader sees his face over the card that Rorschach is still holding up. He's a fat black man who appears to be in his 50s with no neck and a thin mustache. He has short-cropped black hair that is turning white at his temples and wears a reddish-purple suit and a pink bowtie. He is looking intensely at Rorschach, touching the tip of a pen to his lips. Malcom's journal continues, "Physically, he's fascinatingly ugly. I could stare at him for hours... except that he stares *back*, which I find *uncomfortable*. He never seems to *blink*." The background of the panel is yellow. Panel 6. Malcom's journal continues, "Nevertheless, I'm convinced I can help him. *No* problem is beyond the grasp of a good *psychoanalyst*, and they tell me I'm *very* good. Good with *people*." Rorschach studies the card, his eyebrows drawn together as if in anger. He has a white bandage on his forehead above his right eye, and there is a large purple bruise on his left cheek, the skin around it and around his eye swollen and red. The left half of his face is more heavily shadowed than the right due to the position of the light. From offscreen, Malcom asks "Well, Walter? What *is* it?" The background is light green. Panel 7. From offscreen, Malcom repeats, "What can you *see*?" A close-up of a German shepherd with its head split open. Its two large, pointed ears stick out to the sides and blood falls down both sides of its face and onto the grass, recalling the four large butterfly wing-like shapes of the Rorschach blot. The wound to the dog's head stretches from the top of its head down to its muzzle, exposing the dog's brain and recalling the two straight lines that resembled a butterfly's body. The dog's eyes are open, still reflecting light, and blood is dripping down its head, almost covering its muzzle. Panel 8. Rorschach lowers the card and looks up, his eyes vacant and his face placid. He answers, "A pretty butterfly." His chin has been hurt as well, looking raw and red on the right side. His speech bubbles are normal, without their characteristic jagged look. Panel 9. Malcom, holding his pencil in front of his chin in both hands, smiles uneasily at Rorschach, who is laying the card on the table. Malcom's journal reads, "His responses to the *Rorschach blot tests* were surprisingly bright and positive and healthy. I really think he might be getting *better*. I just wish he wasn't so *intense*." Page 2. Panel 1. A large panel the size of three regular panels. Malcom's journal continues, "I just wish he wouldn't *stare* at me like that." The two men are sitting across from each other in a small, undecorated room with one small, high barred window. Rorschach is sitting with his back perfectly straight, his feet together and his arms at right angles, his hands on the desk palms down. He looks at Malcom, who looks back, his posture more relaxed. Both men appear to be in shadow. Underneath this panel is the chapter title, "The Abyss Gazes Also." Panel 2. Malcom's journal continues, "His full name is *Walter Joseph Kovacs*, born 1940. Mother's name: Sylvia Joanna Kovacs, formerly Sylvia Glick. His father's name is unknown." Malcom holds up another card, face down, and gestures with his pen as he says "Let's try *another*, shall we?" Rorschach continues to stare at him, his face expressionless and the corners of his mouth turned down. His back is straight, and his hands rest lightly on the table. The plain walls of the prison room are behind him. Panel 3. Malcom's journal continues, "He's 5'6" tall and weighs 140 lbs. For his *age*, he's in excellent physical shape despite a lot of bruises and lacerations mostly sustained during his *arrest*." Malcom flips the card over, showing it to Rorschach. The card has a symmetrical pattern of large and small dots that are generally formed into two columns, and although it might plausibly be interpreted as an orchid-like flower, it is much more random and less suggestive of any particular pattern than the one on the previous card. He smiles genially and asks "How about *this* one?" The background is a bright lemon yellow. Panel 4. Malcom's journal continues, "The police have beaten on him pretty badly. During the police strike of '77 he made several inflammatory anti-cop statements, and they've never forgotten." Rorschach's expression and posture do not change as Malcom slides the card face down in front of him. Malcom asks "C'mon, Walter... Do it for *me*, huh?" The background is a cool mint green. Panel 5. Malcom's journal continues, "The *cops* don't like him; the *underworld* doesn't like him; *nobody* likes him. I've never met anyone quite so *alienated*. How on earth did he *get* like this?" Rorschach's expression and posture do not change, and he doesn't even acknowledge the card on the table in front of him. Malcom asks "Walter?" The background is the same cool mint green. Panel 6. Rorschach picks up the card. He continues to look straight ahead of him, his expression and posture unchanged. The background is a darker, more muddy shade of green. Panel 7. Malcom smiles in a satisfied way, gesturing with his pen. He says "Good. That's very *good*. Okay, Walter, now I want you to tell me what's on the card..." The reader sees the card as if we're looking at it from Rorschach's point of view, with his hands holding it. The background has returned to lemon yellow. Page 3. Panel 1. From offscreen, Malcom's voice says "Tell me what you *see*." The panel is a close-up of the pattern of black dots and blobs on the light yellow card. There are three main dots and rounded blobs, arranged into what look like two symmetrical columns with a little line of space between them, with other, smaller dots surrounding them to create the abstract pattern. Panel 2. The two columns of black blobs from the card are echoed in a shadow of a man and a woman facing each other. The man is apparently sitting down with the woman on his lap, and they have their arms around each other. From offscreen are two dialogue bubbles. One reads, "Ngh. Ngh. Ngh." The other reads "*Aaa!*" The wall the shadows are reflected on is yellow, and in one part the plaster is coming off, revealing the wall underneath. In the foreground is a plain wooden chair with a man's pinstriped jacket hung over the back, and an open door. Panel 3. A young boy is standing in a dark hallway a few feet back from the open door, looking at the shadow of the man and woman on the wall. The reader sees the boy from behind, but his hair is unruly and he has some freckles on his cheek. From inside, a voice says "*Aa*! *Aow*! Oh, *God*... Oh, *baby*..." Panel 4. The boy steps back into the dark hallway. His eyes are alarmed, and he puts a hand to his mouth. He's wearing a stained white nightshirt that's slightly tattered at the hem. Light comes from the open door, and from inside, one person says "*Nnnah*!" and the other says "Oh, *yes*. Oh, you're *hurting* me. Ooh, *yesss*..." Panel 5. The boy walks up to the door, looking inside the bright room with frightened eyes. In the bright light, we can tell that his hair is a vibrant shade of red. A voice from inside says "Oh, not so *fast*. You're... Oh. *Oohhh*." Panel 6. The reader sees the torsos of a man and a woman. The woman is wearing a slip, and the man is in a shirt and tie. They have their arms loosely around each other, and there's enough space between them that the reader can see the boy's horrified face. The woman says "Oh, that's *right*. That's *right*... Huhh. Huhh-*Huhh*..." The man says "What...?" Panel 7. The man looks over at the boy, who is standing in the doorframe. The man is white with brown hair and white streaks at the temples, and his face is unshaven and haggard. His expression is angry and he gestures with both hands as he says "*Hey!* Hey, what *is* this?" The woman looks over at the boy as well, and her face is horrified as she says "Oh, God..." She's white with brown hair and short hair rolled up at the ends. The boy is shown from behind, looking at the two of them. Panel 8. The man stands up, pulling on his pants and slipping one foot into his shoe. He is facing away from the woman, saying "You didn't *tell* me you had no *kids* around here!" She's still kneeling on the bed, and she puts her hand on his back, looking up at him desperately as she says "It... It's my *son*. Look, *really*, it doesn't *matter*. Let's..." The boy continues to watch with his mouth open, frozen in place. Panel 9. The man scowls as he picks up his jacket, saying "Ahh, who *needs* it... Kids creeping round everyplace. I get enough of this crap at *home*." The woman gestures in a conciliatory way and says "Oh, baby, please, listen. He's kinda *backwards*. *Please* don't get *mad*..." Page 4. Panel 1. The man tosses a bill at the woman and says "I said *forget* it. Here's five bucks. It's more'n you're *worth*." The woman, kneeling on the bed with one strap of her slip hanging off her shoulder, looks angrily at the money as it falls towards her and says "Five...?" Panel 2. The woman starts to stand up, shaking her fist and looking angrily at the man, and says "Five *bucks*? You *bastard!* You lousy *bastard!* Don't you *dare* walk out on me. Don't you *dare*!" The man adjusts his tie with one hand and shoves the boy in the face with the other, pushing him aside. He doesn't even look at the boy as he says "Outta my *way*, retard." Panel 3. The woman stands behind the boy, watching the man walk into the hallway. She clutches the bill tightly in one hand, and is still shaking her fist at him. In front of her, the boy rubs his face. Panel 4. The boy looks up at the woman, his face terrified and his mouth open in dismay. He is trembling. She looks down at him, furious. Panel 5. The boy puts his hands in front of him, as if protecting himself, and says "M-Mom? Mom, I'm *sorry*. I, I, I thought he was *hurting* you. I thought..." The woman turns toward him, her expression enraged. She drops the bill and brings her other arm up in front of her chest. The background is bright yellow. His speech bubbles are normal, without their characteristic jagged look. Panel 6. The woman backhands her son in the face, and he's knocked backwards, turning to the side. She yells "You little *shit!*" and he moans "*Ooah!*" The background is still bright yellow, and motion lines show the intensity of her movements. Panel 7. The woman reaches down, grabbing him by the front of his night shirt with both hands. She brings her face close to his and says "You know what you just *cost* me, you ugly little *bastard*? I shoulda listened to everybody *else*! I shoulda had the *abortion*!" The boy puts his hand over his face where she hit him, and tears are streaming from his eyes as he yells "*Aaaaaah!* Mommee*eee*..." Their shadows are on the wall behind them, looming large above the two of them. Panel 8. He continues to yell "*Aoh! Aaahah! Aaa!*" Their shadows are shown on the wall, the mother leaning in close to her son and grabbing at him. The chair by the door is still there, and the door is open, as in the second panel of the previous page. The shadows that they cast strongly resemble the shadows of the man and woman seen on the previous page. Panel 9. Malcom's voice breaks in on Rorschach's thoughts, asking "Well, Walter? What do you make of it?" We see the light yellow card with the two columns of blobs, which now are reminiscent of the shadows of Rorschach's mother and the man, as well as those of Rorschach being attacked by his mother. Page 5. Panel 1. Rorschach is looking intensely at the card, and there's anger in his expression. The background behind him is a vibrant shade of magenta. The bruise on his cheek and the cut on his forehead are particularly noticeable. Panel 2. Rorschach looks up at Malcom, lowering the card to his chest, and his face is placid and neutral as he answers "Some nice flowers." The background is a cool bluish-green color. Panel 3. Malcom stands up and starts to collect his materials, smiling at Walter and saying "*Wonderful*. Walter, I'm very *pleased* with your *responses* this afternoon, and I want you to *know* that. I really think there's *hope*, Walter. Don't *you*?" Rorschach continues to sit bolt upright, both hands flat on the table in front of them, and looks intently at Malcom. Behind them, a door opens, and a guard can be seen in the space behind it. Panel 4. Although Rorschach's expression changes very little, he nearly smiles. He looks very faintly amused and contemplative, in a subtle way. The background is a muddy green. Panel 5. Malcom says "Uhh... Well, okay, Walter, I think that's *enough* for today... The *guards* will take you back to your, uh, your *quarters* now. I'll see you *tomorrow*." Rorschach, still sitting upright with his hands on the table, looks over at the door. Two guards are standing in the doorway, looking from the dark hallway into the brightly lit room. Panel 6. The guards walk closely behind Rorschach as they lead him out of the room. Malcom watches them go, his finger on his chin thoughtfully and his materials gathered under his arm. Panel 7. Rorschach, flanked by the two guards, enters a hallway with jail cells on each side. There's a second floor, with a balcony opening up to the hallway, and wide spotlights shine circles of yellow light on the ground. The scene is quiet, with one man dangling his arm outside the bars, and another grabbing the bars. Panel 8. Rorschach walks between the two guards. He's shorter than both of them, but walks proudly, looking straight in front of him. Men start to stick their arms and legs outside their cells, shaking their fists and threatening him. One yells "*Hey!* Hey, *Rorschach!* You *dead*, man..." Another yells "Yeah, but you're gonna be our *woman* first, Rorschach. Howdya like *that*?" Another says "Gonna *cut* you, sissy. Gonna hold you down an' peel you like a *grape*..." The prisoners throw trash at Rorschach as he and the guards walk by. Panel 9. A close up of Rorschach as he walks between the two guards. The light hits his head, making the shadows on his face seem very dramatic. His head is held high, and his mouth is in its usual frown, while he stares straight ahead of him. He doesn't seem to be reacting to the voices behind him. The effect of several people talking loudly over each other is reflected in the speech bubbles, which are laid over each other. One says "*Rorschach*..." Another says "You're gonna *beg*. You're gonna make in your *grays*, man..." Another says "Stick it in till you scream cut your throat Rorschach," and another says "Rorschach," and another says "You're *dead*, Rorschach..." Page 6. Panel 1. One of the guards unlocks a cell and opens the door. The other guard, standing behind Rorschach, looks around, his face grim, but Rorschach continues to look straight ahead of him. The voices continue, the speech bubbles layered on top of each other. One says "Uglier without the mask." Another says "*Rorschach.*" Another says "You got a *mother*? She's *dead*. You got *kids*? They're *dead*. A sister? *Dead*..." Another says "Make you bleed an' bleed an' bleed'," and another says "Rorschach." Panel 2. The voices continue as Rorschach walks from the bright hallway into the dark jail cell. The guards look at each other behind him. His cell has a desk, a toilet and a bunk bed with a thin pillow. Another prisoner says "You got a *dog*? It's..." Another one says "Rorschach." Another one says "An' bleed an' bleed an' bleed an' bleed an'." Another says "Cold meat cold meat cold meat." Another says "*Rorschach.*" Panel 3. Rorschach stands on the inside of his jail cell, looking out between the bars as the guards lock the door. His face seems placid, but his hands are balled into fists. The other prisoners continue, one saying "Hate you, Rorschach." Another says "Bone you like *fish*, and then I'll..." Another says "Cut your tongue out and shove it up your..." Another says "*Rorschach!*" Rorschach is colored in vibrant tones of pink and purple that contrast with the dark jail cell that he's in, making him look unnatural compared to the guards who are standing in the light and colored normally. Panel 4. Rorschach's posture and expression have not changed as he stands by the bars, listening to the other prisoners. One says "In your mouth and then I'll." Another says "Dead, Rorschach." Another says "Into a rag and then tie it round your eyes and then I'll." Another says "*Rorschach.*" Panel 5. A close-up of Rorschach's face. His posture hasn't changed, and he is still looking straight out in front of him with his usual slight frown, but something about his eyes suggests well-controlled but deep anger. The other prisoners continue, one saying "Sooner or *later*, Rorschach." Another says "Stink, Rorschach." Another says "Off your clothes and roll you in broken pepsi bottles." Another says "An' bleed an' bleed an' bleed an' bleed." Panel 6. A close up of young Rorschach's face. He is standing on a sidewalk, looking up with trepidation. His eyes are wide, and his mouth is slightly open. Two voices come from offscreen, one saying "...Talking to *you*, runt." The other says "Yeah, whatsa matter? Ya *deef* or *what*?" He appears to be slightly older than he was in his previous memory, with wild red hair, freckles and ears that stick out. Behind him is the city, with cars parked on the streets, apartment buildings and birds flying in the sky. Panel 7. Rorschach is looking at two much older boys who are standing in front of him. He says "I... I have to *get* something. From the *store*. For my *mother*..." The boy on the left, who is white and wearing a purple jacket and jeans, looks down at him as he smokes his cigarette. He says "Ha ha ha. *I* got somethin' I could give your *momma*." The boy on the right, who is white and wears a baseball cap and a green sweater, gestures with one hand. He says "Sure. Why not? Everybody *else* does, way I hear it..." With his other hand, he reaches towards a box at a nearby fruit stand. Panel 8. The cigarette-smoking boy on the left approaches Rorschach, saying "Is that *right*, kid? Is your mom a *hoo-er*?" The other boy walks closer to Rorschach as well, taking a bite out of the plum that he's taken from the fruit stand. He says "*Sure* she is. He's gonna fix us *up* with her, ain't that *right*, whoreson?" Rorschach looks intimidated as he looks up at the two boys, their shadows looming over him. He says "Let me *by!* I have to go to..." Panel 9. The boy on the right smashes the plum into Rorschach's face. Juice and bits of fruit fly as he says "You don't have to go *no place*... whoreson." The background is bright orange. Page 7. Panel 1. Rorschach looks angrily up at the two boys, his teeth gritted, as fruit juice and pulp drips off of his face. The two boys taunt him, and their speech bubbles are layered over each other, reminiscent of the taunts from the prisoners. One says "*Ehhahaha!* *Look* at 'im..." The other says "Look at 'im *nuthin'*, just *smell* him!" The other replies "Probably got *cooties*. Probably got *diseases.*" The other asks "You got any *diseases*, whoreson?" The other boy laughs, "*Ehhahahaha!*" and the other boy says "Whoreson." Panel 2. The two older boys continue to threaten Rorschach, their speech bubbles overlapping. One says "Whoreson." The other says "It, he could have all kinda *diseases.*" The other says "Oughtta give the little bastard an *examination.*" The other says "Like in the *army*. My *dad* sez that..." The other says "*Ehhahahaha!*" and the other says "Whoreson." The boy who smashed the fruit into Rorschach's face looks down at him, his face cruel and triumphant, one hand curled into a fist, and the cigarette-smoking boy grabs Rorschach by the front of his shirt with both hands, leaning in towards him with a malevolent expression on his face. Rorschach's hands reach out in front of him. The name of the store is on the window behind them, and appears to be Cohen's. Panel 3. The cigarette smoking boy says "Okay whoreson, get ya *pants* down, we gonna give ya an examination." The other boy, suddenly worried, points at Rorschach and says "Hey, Richie, *watch* him, he's..." Richie, the cigarette-smoking boy, is still holding Rorschach by his shirt, but Rorschach has snatched the cigarette from his mouth with his left hand and is holding Ritchie's jacket with the other hand. Richie looks taken aback as he scowls and says "Huh? You little son of..." Panel 4. Rorschach turns the cigarette around and jams it in Richie's eye. Smoke trails away from it, and Rorschach continues to hold Richie's jacket as the older boy screams, saying "Eeeeee*eeeyeeeeeeigh*." The text starts off normally, but starts to get bolder and moves around as the boy screams. The background is black. Panel 5. Richie stumbles away, holding his face and yelling "Eeeeee! Eeeee-eeiiigh!" as Rorschach jumps on the other boy, pulling his ear and hooking his fingers in the boy's mouth. The boy yells "Aaaaa! Get *off*! Get *offa* me!" The grocer comes out, looking at the scene with dismay, and a woman in the background puts her hand to her mouth. Someone in the background says "Jesus Christ, willya lookit *that*..." Panel 6. Rorschach has wrestled the larger boy down to the ground, and the boy's eyes are wide and terrified as Rorschach bites him, tugging the skin on his cheek. Rorschach still has his hand in the larger boy's mouth, and is pulling on his hair. The boy's cap lays on the sidewalk. The larger boy yells "*Aaaaaaa!* Oh, *God!* *No no no no no*." Adults crowd around the scene, reaching down to Rorschach, and their speech bubbles overlap each other. One says, "Oh, *God*, *look*, that filthy little *animal.* Look, he's." Another says "Pull him *off!* For God's sake somebody pull him off *before*." Another says "Okay! Okay, that's *enough!* That's..." Panel 7. A crowd of adults is holding Rorschach back. One man has the boy's neck held securely in his elbow, and other hands are holding back his, which are still bent as if ready to grab the other boy. Rorschach's expression is enraged, his mouth open as if it's growling and his eyes still full of rage, and his face is still covered with the yellow pulp and juice of the fruit. The people around him are talking over each other, their speech bubbles overlapping. One says "Hold his *arms*! Hold his *arms!*" Another says "Like an *animal*. Like a mad *dog*." Another says "Oughtta be locked *up*. See him biting that." Another says "Blame the *parents*." Another says "Exactly like a *mad dog.*" Panel 8. A close-up of adult Rorschach's expression. His expression carries all of the fury seen in the face of his younger self in the previous panel. His eyebrows are drawn together, and his eyes are intense as he stares out at the prison. Panel 9. Rorschach is still standing behind his door, framed by two bars, looking straight out ahead of him with an expression full of carefully controlled anger. Malcom's journal reads, "In 1951, he attacked an older child, partially blinding him with a lighted cigarette. He was ten years old." Page 8. Panel 1. Malcom is sitting at a desk, writing in his journal. He's still wearing his pink bowtie and white button down shirt, but he's changed into a green cardigan. All around him is dark, but a large desk lamp illuminates his journal and desk. On the desk is his journal, a mug that is mostly offscreen but contains the word "Dad," a telephone, some notes and Rorschach's file. Malcom's journal reads, "Once his *home life* had been investigated, he was removed from his mother's custody and put into *care*. Away from her, he seemed to *improve*." Panel 2. He reaches for his notes. His journal continues, "Excelling at schoolwork, Kovacs grew into a *bright* but unusually *quiet* child." The journal is interrupted by a door being opened, and a voice from offscreen calling "Mal?" The journal continues, "Even in 1956, when informed of his mother's brutal murder, he restricted his comments to *one word*:" Panel 3. The journal continues, "Good." A woman wearing a sheer robe stands in the doorway, illuminated by the light from outside. She says "Mal, it's *late*. Are you done with this *Rorschach* case yet?" Mal picks up his journal, turns away from the desk lamp and towards her, and gestures with his index finger as he says "Not Rorschach. Walter *Kovacs*. *Rorschach's* an unhealthy *fantasy personality*. Y'know, he wouldn't *answer* to anything else during his *bail hearing*?" Panel 4. The woman walks into the room, standing next to her husband and putting an arm around his shoulders. In the light from the hallway, we can see that she is a black woman around Malcom's age with short, smooth brown hair. She says "On the *news* he sounded *frightening*. Don't get too *wrapped up* in this one, Mal. It might ruin your *cheerful disposition.*" Malcom, still sitting in his chair and turned away from his desk, takes her hand and puts an arm around her waist, smiling up at her and saying "Gloria, I'm too *fat* and *contented* for *anything* to ruin *my* disposition..." The light from the hallway casts Gloria's shadow on the wall behind her. There is a mobile hanging by her head, four metal spheres hanging down from wires which radiate from a central point. It casts shadows above her shadow. As the angle has changed, we can see that there is also a desk ornament on Malcom's desk, a series of silver spheres suspended by wires from a metal frame. Panel 5. Malcom stands up, and Gloria draws him in close for a hug. He gestures with both hands, saying "...Although some of the stuff about his *early life*, fantasies about a father he never *knew*..." She puts an arm around his waist and touches his face, smiling up at him and saying "*Shh.* Leave it at the *office*. *You* got a nice life, *I* got a nice life. Nobody else *matters.*" The shadow of the two of them standing close together is thrown on the wall behind them, underneath the mobile. Panel 6. As they leave the room, only the tops of their heads are visible; most of the panel shows their shadow on the far wall as they walk side by side, arms around each other, with the mobile hanging above them. Malcom continues "I guess not. It's just that he's *withdrawn* and *depressed*, and I really feel I can guide him *out* of it." Gloria answers "Well, if anybody can, it's *you*..." Panel 7. As they leave the room, Gloria puts her hand on Malcom's chest and, looking up at him, says "You're the *nicest*, most *positive* person I *know*. *That's* why you gotta look *after* yourself. I mean, are you *sure* you're *safe* with this *Kovacs* guy?" Malcom has his arm around her shoulders, and he smiles and looks down at her lovingly. Panel 8. His hand on her shoulder, Malcom says "Don't worry. While he's at *Sing-Sing* awaiting *trial* he's under *heavy guard*. He's no *threat*. Not any *more*." Gloria answers, "Well, let's hope not. Now c'mon... Forget work. It's a beautiful *night*..." Behind them, the desk lamp is still on in the dark room, showing the closed journal, the file on Rorschach and the pen that Malcom was writing with, which is starting to leave an ink blot on the desk pad. Panel 9. Gloria continues offscreen, "Let's see if we can make it last *forever*." A close-up of the desk. Rorschach's file has his name and mugshot on it, and paper clipped to the mugshot is a small note with the words "Mal - One for you? G." written on it. The inkblot from Malcom's pen is spreading over the desk pad. Page 9. Panel 1. A large panel the size of three regular panels. Malcom, wearing his pink bow tie and reddish-purple suit, is sitting down in the chair across the table from Rorschach. Malcom has his notes, his pen and a stack of cards. Rorschach is already seated, and is sitting with his back perfectly straight. His elbows are bent at a right angle, and his hands rest with their palms down on the table. His hips are also bent at a right angle, then again at the knees, and his feet rest flat on the ground. The effect is rigid and unnatural. The door behind them is closed, and the rest of the brightly lit yellow room is empty. Panel 2. Malcom says "Good *morning*, Walter. Today, I'd like..." He holds his hand, holding his pen, in front of his mouth and looks away as he yawns, making a "*Haa-hhorrm*" noise. He continues, "Sorry, late night. Today, I'd like to do something *different*. Frankly, Walter, I'd like to *talk*." He picks up the stack of cards absently with his other hand, letting them fall back down to the table. In front of him is a small green bottle. Rorschach's posture does not change. Panel 3. Rorschach's expression does not change from its usual grimness as Malcom, his hands folded in front of him and his elbows resting on the table, says "I'd like to talk about *Rorschach*. Will you *do that for me*, Walter? Will you tell me about *Rorschach*?" The cards and the bottle are visible, and the card on top is the one that Rorschach previously identified to Malcom as looking like a butterfly, but actually thought of as a dead dog. Rorschach's bruise on his cheek is still prominent, but fading somewhat. The walls are still visible behind Rorschach, but they have a light green tone instead of a yellow one. Panel 4. Rorschach, his face partially in shadow, looks at Malcom. His expression does not change as he says "You keep calling me Walter. I don't like you." The background is dark grey. Panel 5. Malcom looks taken aback, moving his head back with a start. A dismayed expression is on his face, and he toys with his pen. He says "Uhh... You... You don't *like* me. Alright. Alright. Wur, Why *is* that, exactly?" The background is a bright lemon yellow. Panel 6. Rorschach continues, "Fat. Wealthy. Think you understand pain. I'll tell you something, Doctor." Malcom's hands are resting on top of each other on the table, with the pen folded under one finger. The label on the green bottle reads "Gopain." Panel 7. A close-up on Rorschach's heavily shadowed face. His expression is neutral but grim as he says "I'll tell you about Rorschach." Page 10. Panel 1. Rorschach narrates, "1956. Aged 16. Left children's home. Became unskilled manual worker, garment industry. Job bearable, but unpleasant. Had to handle female clothing." A teenaged Rorschach is standing in a factory, his expression dismayed, with a balding middle-aged man in a vest and tie with a tape measure around his neck apparently giving him a tour. The man has his hand on Rorschach's back, and is gesturing with his thumb at racks of clothes in the background. There are racks of bras and slips, and several shirts hang on a pole near the wall. In the background, a worker is sitting at a sewing machine. Panel 2. Rorschach continues, "1962. Special order for dress in new Dr. Manhattan spin-off fabric. Viscous fluids between two layers latex, heat and pressure sensitive. Customer young girl, Italian name. Never collected order. Said dress looked ugly." Rorschach is standing alone in the factory, holding up a sleeveless, fitted dress with a scoop neck. The dress is white, with a symmetrical pattern of black dots and blobs all over it. Rorschach is surrounded by racks of dresses and with sewing machines. Panel 3. His narration continues, "Wrong. Not ugly at all. Black and white moving. Changing shape... But not mixing. No gray." A close-up of the bodice of the dress as Rorschach holds it up. The blobs have changed shape again. He continues, "Very, very beautiful." Panel 4. Rorschach continues, "Nobody wanted it. Meant for me. Took it home, learned to cut it using heated implements to reseal latex. When I had cut it enough, it didn't look like a woman anymore." Rorschach is shown working on the dress, cutting it with a pair of heated scissors. He's approaching the fabric with intense concentration, sticking his tongue out to the side as he works. To his right is a small burner. Smoke rises from the burner and the scissors. A book is propped up in front of the fabric, and there appears to be an implement holding down the fabric. Rorschach's spartan bed is visible behind him, as well as the dilapidated apartment walls and the uncovered light bulb on the ceiling. The window is mostly shut, but the part that isn't reveals that it is night. Panel 5. The table between Rorschach and Malcom is shown. Rorschach's hands are still out on the table in front of him, palms down. Malcom is trying to open the bottle of pain medication, twisting at the cap. Rorschach continues, "Soon, became bored. Fabric had no use. Left it in trunk. Forgot about it. Two years passed. March, 1964. Stopped at newsstand on way to work, bought paper. There she was. Front page." Panel 6. Rorschach's narration continues, "Woman who'd ordered special dress. Kitty Genovese." His hands hold a newspaper, the New York Gazette. The headline blares "Woman killed while neighbors look on." There's a picture of the chalk outline on the ground, and several lines of unreadable text. Behind him, the newsstand owner is adjusting a magazine, while a man in a hat looks at the offerings and smokes a pipe. It's unclear to me if the newsstand owner is supposed to be the one we've seen earlier, but they are both balding white men with hair around the backs of their heads and rounded tips of their noses. Rorschach continues, "I'm sure that was the woman's name." Panel 7. Rorschach continues, "Raped. Tortured. Killed. Here. In New York. Outside her own apartment building. Almost forty neighbors heard screams. Nobody did anything. Nobody called cops. Some of them even watched. Do you understand?" A scene at night showing the courtyard of an apartment building, as if from the perspective of the murdered girl. People are looking down at the ground, some from balconies, some from behind curtains, some from behind open windows, their faces grim. Panel 8. Rorschach continues, "Some of them even watched. I knew what people were, then, behind all the evasions, all the self-deception. Ashamed for humanity, I went home. I took the remains of her unwanted dress..." A close-up of several of the people from the previous scene. A man looks down off his balcony, and a woman pushes back her curtain to look down. Two people open their window to look down. Panel 9. Rorschach, watching Malcom shake two pills into his hand, continues "...And made a face that I could bear to look at in the mirror." His expression is neutral. The background is light grey. Page 11. Panel 1. Malcom, his hands frozen in front of him, one with the pill bottle and one with the pills, looks at Rorschach, his expression disconcerted. He says "A face. I see." Rorschach's hands are curled up. The background is light yellow. Panel 2. A close-up of Rorschach's neutral, unsettling expression as Malcom asks, "Walter, is what happened to *Kitty Genovese* *really* proof that the whole of *mankind* is *rotten*? I think you've been conditioned with a *negative world view*. There are *good* people, too, like..." Rorschach interrupts, "Like you?" The background is light green. Panel 3. Malcom looks like he's been caught off guard, gesturing with the hand holding the pills as he says "*Me?* Oh, *well*, I wouldn't say *that.* I..." Only the back of Rorschach's head is visible as he continues, "No. You just think it. Think you're quote good people unquote. Why are you spending so much time with me, doctor?" The background is light yellow. Panel 4. Malcom, still gesturing and moving his head slightly, says "Uh... Well, because I *care* about you, and because I want to make you *well*..." Rorschach, still sitting rigidly, answers "Other people, down in cells. Behavior more extreme than mine. You don't spend any time with them..." The reader sees the two of them through the door that the guards are opening. The guards' hands are colored in dark shades of purple, contrasting the dark hallway to the bright room. Panel 5. Rorschach stands up as one of the guards puts a hand on his shoulder. He continues looking directly at Malcom as he says "... But then, they're not famous. Won't get your name in the journals. You don't want to make me well. Just want to know what makes me sick." The background is a muddy green. Panel 6. As Rorschach is led out of the room into the dark hallway by the two guards, he continues talking with his back to Malcom, saying "You'll find out. Have patience, doctor. You'll find out." Malcom, still sitting, watches him leave. Panel 7. Malcom watches, his expression troubled, as Rorschach and the guards leave. He's still holding the two pills in his hand out in front of him. His journal reads, "From the notes of Dr. Malcom Long, October 26th, 1985. Of course, what we have here is a classic case of misdirected aggression." The background is light green. Panel 8. Malcom brings the pills to his mouth, looking down uncertainly. His journal reads, "Kovacs hated his mother. After her death, he needed somewhere to put the anger, and so he chose the criminal fraternity. The flimsy story about Kitty Genovese is obviously there to justify his behavior to himself. It's perfectly simple. Case closed." The background is still light green. Panel 9. Malcom puts the cap back on the bottle of painkillers. Next to his hands are the stack of cards, with the butterfly shape on top of them. The journal continues, "Quote you'll find out unquote. I wonder what he meant?" The background is orange. Page 12. Panel 1. A large panel that takes up the space of three regular panels. Malcom's journal continues, "*Later*: The deputy warden just called. Apparently, Kovacs was involved in an incident today, just after he'd seen me. It happened during lunch, in the canteen..." Rorschach is standing in line at the cafeteria, his expression neutral and his posture rigid as usual. There are several deep metal trays of food, a deep fryer and containers of silverware set into the table, behind which the cafeteria workers are directing the line. The prisoner in front of him is holding out his tray as one of the prison workers dumps some lumpy food in one of the sections. A much larger prisoner behind Rorschach says "Rorschach..." Panel 2. The man continues "Hey, Rorschach... you're pretty *famous*, right? Boy, y'know, I'd sure like your *autograph.* He is a black man with close-cropped hair and a malevolent expression. The top of Rorschach's head comes up about to his mouth. Rorschach's expression does not change, and he doesn't look behind him. Panel 3. The man continues, "I got my *autograph book* right here in my *pocket*... It's notched up quite a few *famous names* over the years..." The man is holding a gleaming homemade knife at his waist. It looks like an icepick, and it's pointing at Rorschach's belt. The panel is colored in shades of light and dark orange, a contrast with the natural coloring in the panels surrounding it that gives the panel a surreal, dangerous feeling. Behind the two men are their trays on the metal rack and the vats of food. Panel 4. The man continues, "... And I'd sure like to add you to the list." He brings the knife up to Rorschach's back. Rorschach's arm reaches towards the vats of food, and grasps the handle of the deep fryer. One of the cafeteria workers gestures angrily at him with a ladle, saying "*Hey!* Hey, don't *touch*! What are you doi..." Panel 5. A large panel that takes up the space of three regular panels. Rorschach flings the contents of the deep fryer into the man's face, burning him with hot oil. The man's knife drops out of his hands, and he starts to fall backwards, crying out in pain. All around them, other inmates and the cafeteria workers react with fear, and in the foreground, a guard brings out his baton. Page 13. Panel 1. Malcom's journal continues, "The guards intervened, dragging Kovacs away to solitary and the other man to the prison hospital. According to the deputy warden, his burns were horrific. Hot cooking fat... I don't like to think about it." The page shows a close-up on a glass globe, filled halfway with bubbling brown liquid. A drop splashes onto the surface of the liquid, and another drop is poised to fall. Panel 2. Malcom's journal continues, "As they dragged him away, Rorschach spoke to the other inmates. He said "None of you understand. *I'm* not locked up in here with *you*. *You're* locked up in here with *me*." We see that the globe is a glass coffee pot, filled with steaming coffee. Malcom's hand is taking it by the handle, removing it from the coffee maker. There are two bottles of Gopain medication between the coffee maker and the desk ornament. The front of one bottle reads "Gopain" and has the Veidt logo on it, while the back of the other bottle reads "Pain Away." Panel 3. Malcom's journal continues, "My earlier optimism was obviously unfounded. He's getting worse." He pours himself a cup of coffee, the coffee splashing out of the top of the mug. The steam curls into the darkness around him, and a drop of coffee comes out of the coffee maker, splashing on its base. Malcom's expression is grave, and he's wearing his dress shirt, unbuttoned at the neck and pushed up at the forearms. He's wearing suspenders, and his bow tie is untied, hanging loosely around his neck. His journal continues, "So am I. Just read what I've written above. The sixth line down should read quote Kovacs spoke to the other inmates unquote." Panel 4. Malcom's journal continues, "Kovacs. Not Rorschach." The fallen drop of coffee has spread out into a butterfly-shaped blob, and steam rises from the base of the coffee maker as another drop prepares to fall. The coffee maker is also manufactured by Veidt Enterprises. Malcom continues to write without replacing the coffee pot in the coffee maker. Panel 5. There's a shadow of a woman on the wall behind Malcom, and a voice offscreen says "Mal? You're *never* gonna sleep with all that *coffee* inside you." Malcom looks to the side, although not up at the figure casting the shadow. He says "Oh. Hi, Gloria. Actually, I wasn't planning on sleeping just yet. This Kovacs case. You know... Requires a lot of *attention*..." A small clock to the side of the desk lamp reads five minutes to midnight. Panel 6. Gloria is still standing in the door frame offscreen, and her shadow falls on the wall behind Malcom underneath the hanging mobile. She has her hands on her hips, and her sheer robe is outlined around her body. She says "Remember last *night*, Mal? When *I* required attention?" Malcom turns to look at her, his expression disapproving. He says "Gloria, *please!* That was *then*, now is *now*... ...And frankly I think it's unfair of you to bring up *sex* when you know I need to *work*." Panel 7. Gloria replies, "Oh. Well, maybe I just sometimes notice how often you bring up *work* when you know I need *sex*. Good night, Mal." Mal looks alarmed, saying "*Wait!* Gloria, what do you *mean*? Come *back* here. We can *talk*..." Panel 8. Mal watches her leave, his eyes wide open and his expression disturbed. The light from the desk lamp falls on his lap, showing the clock behind him. Behind him, the room is dark, and his face is heavily shadowed. Panel 9. Mal turns back to his work. His journal continues, "Quote you're locked up in here with me unquote, he said. He's right." He reaches for his coffee and one of the bottles of pain medication. The journal continues, "He's right. Absolutely right." Page 14. Panel 1. The table between Rorschach and Malcom. We see their hands resting on it, Rorschach's hands straight in front of him with the palms down, and Malcom's hands fiddling with his pen over his notebook. There are three pill bottles in front of Malcom. Shadows from the barred window fall in straight lines between the two of them. He says "Alright, Ror... Alright, Walter... This afternoon I want to pick up where we left *off*... After the murder of Kitty Genovese, you decided to vent your *hostility* upon the *underworld*..." Panel 2. Holding his notebook in front of him so that he can read it and pointing to a line of writing, he continues, "Making a *mask* for yourself, you decided to become *Rorschach* and..." Rorschach interrupts him, saying "Don't be stupid. I wasn't Rorschach *then*." His bruise on his cheek is changing colors, and his expression is as impassive as always. Panel 3. Rorschach continues, "Then I was just Kovacs. Kovacs pretending to be Rorschach." The background is light green. Panel 4. Rorschach continues, "Being Rorschach takes certain kind of insight. Back then, just thought I was Rorschach. Very naive. Very young. Very soft." An image of Rorschach, his back against a wall as he looks out of an alley toward the street. He's wearing his mask, a fedora and a clean, well-kept trenchcoat. In the alley behind him are trash cans and different posters, including a Beatles poster. Panel 5. Malcom gestures with his pen and asks "Soft? How do you *mean*?" Rorschach continues, saying "Soft on scum. Too young to know any better. Mollycoddled them." Light streams through the window and falls over the two of them. Panel 6. Rorschach continues, "Let them live." An image of two men tied to a spark hydrant across from each other, their heads bowed. They each have their backs against the charger and are bound with rope around their waists and around their wrists. A beam from a policeman's flashlight reveals a calling card left on the sidewalk next to them. It's a folded piece of paper with two symmetrical Rs and two dots. The R on the right is right side up, while the R on the left is flipped, as if it's a mirror image of the other one. Panel 7. Malcom studies Rorschach's file, his pencil between his fingers and his hand over his mouth. He says "As opposed to Mr. *Jacobi* and the *other* murders you're charged with, presumably. Well, looking at your *file*, there's no record of *serious* violence against criminals before 1975..." From offscreen, Rorschach replies "Like I say. Soft." The background is light green. Panel 8. Rorschach continues, "Hadn't realized the stakes we were playing for back then. All of us... me, my friends: All soft." Rorschach, in his mask, fedora and clean trenchcoat, is shaking hands with Nite Owl. Nite Owl is smiling warmly at him, and is holding Rorschach's hand in both of his hands. Nite Owl's ship is in the sky behind them, and in the background are the lights in the skyscraper windows and the full moon. Panel 9. Malcom asks "You have *friends*?" The reader sees both of them through the high, small, barred window. The two bars of the window seem to separate the space inside the room into thirds, with Rorschach on one side and Malcom on the opposite side. Page 15. Panel 1. Rorschach answers, "Kovacs had friends. Other men in costumes. All Kovacs ever was: man in a costume. Not Rorschach. Not Rorschach at all." The reader sees Rorschach as if we're looking from Malcom's perspective. Malcom is taking notes, the pill bottles in front of him. The light from the window crosses the table between them. Panel 2. A large panel that takes up the space of two regular panels. Rorschach continues, "In 1965, worked with Nite Owl bringing street gangs under control. Tackled the Big Figure together. Brought down Underboss together. Good team. Until he got soft like rest. Until he quit." Rorschach and Nite Owl are shown standing side by side on the docks, illuminated from behind by the Owlship's enormous spotlights. Rorschach has his hands in his pockets, while Nite Owl is adjusting his gloves. They both appear calm and competent, although they're being faced by three men. Only the arms and hands of the men are shown, but they're all muscular and ready for a fight. The man on the left is carrying a wrench and a broken bottle, the man in the middle has a length of chain he's brandishing at them and the man on the right has a long knife and a baseball bat with spikes in it. Panel 3. Rorschach's head and shoulders are shown as he continues, "No staying power. None of them. Except Comedian. Met him in 1966. Forceful personality. Didn't care if people liked him. Uncompromising. Admired that." His face is impassive, and the beams of light fall behind him. Panel 4. A large panel that takes up the space of two regular panels. Rorschach continues, "Of us all, he understood most. About world. About people. About society and what's happening to it. Things everyone knows in gut. Things everyone too scared to face, too polite to talk about. He understood." The Comedian is shown in the Crimebusters meeting organized by Captain Metropolis, torching the man's carefully prepared map with a lighter. He's smoking his cigar and grinning as the map, with its labels of "Promiscuity," "Anti-War Demos," "Drugs" and "Black Unrest," goes up in thick smoke. Captain Metropolis, holding two more labels, holds up his hand towards the Comedian, looking mortified, and Adrian stands behind him. Behind the Comedian, Dan has his mouth hanging open. Rorschach, standing to the side of the Comedian, is watching, and behind him Laurie smiles at Jon while Janey scowls at her. The clock on the wall reads five minutes to midnight. Panel 5. A close-up on Rorschach's face as he continues, "Understood man's capacity for horrors and never quit. Saw the world's black underbelly and never surrendered. Once a man has seen, he can never turn his back on it. Never pretend it doesn't exist." The background is mostly blocked by Rorschach's head, but what can be seen of it is red. Panel 6. A large panel that takes up the space of two regular panels. Rorschach continues, "No matter who orders him to look the other way. We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." Rorschach, wearing a battered trenchcoat with one lapel coming loose, walks out of an alley towards a street. In the foreground is a muscular young man, lying on his belly and coughing up blood. There's a spraycan on the ground next to him. On the wall behind him are the words "Who Watches The Wa," then there's a splotch of paint as if the painter was interrupted in the act. A trashcan is upended behind him, and in front of him is another pile of trash, including a sign that says "Badges Not Masks" and a newspaper with the headline "Keene Act Passed: Vigilantes Illegal." Next to the headline is a set of three super heroes with Xs over their faces. The street towards which Rorschach is walking is colored in warm colors, and the window of the Gunga Diner and the window above the restaurant are both broken. Smoke billows from another window, and a car appears to have backed into one of the spark hydrants. Rorschach's shadow falls against the wall which has recently been vandalized. Page 16. Panel 1. A large panel that takes up the space of three regular panels. Malcom and Rorschach are sitting across from each other at the table in the warmly colored prison room. Rorschach's posture is rigid while Malcom's is more relaxed, but similar to Rorschach's. The two of them are colored in dark purples and black shadows in contrast with the orange room and yellow light from the window. Malcom's journal reads "From the notes of Dr. Malcom Long, October 27th, 1985: His last words today were "We do it because we are compelled." Panel 2. Malcom regards Rorschach with an intense expression and a small frown. He shakes two pills into his hand. His journal reads, "But he never says what it *is* that compels him. It's not his *childhood*, his *mother* or *Kitty Genovese*. Those things just made him *over-react* to the *injustice* in the world. They're not what sent him over its edge." Panel 3. The journal continues, "They're not what turned him into Rorschach." A close-up of Rorschach's impassive face. The background is warm brown. Panel 4. The journal continues, "It's as if continual contact with society's *grim* elements has shaped him into something *grimmer*, something even *worse*. If only I could convince him that life isn't *like* that. The *world* isn't like that. I'm *positive* it isn't." Rorschach is being led away by two guards, back out into the dark hallway. Behind him, Malcom takes the pills, not watching him go. Panel 5. The journal continues, "Bought a Gazette on way home, including a small piece about Kovacs which the newsvendor pointed out excitedly. I guess he does that to everybody. Apparently, Kovacs visited his newsstand regularly. The coincidence is trivial, but unsettling." We see the scene as if we're looking from Malcom's point of view. The newsvendor is handing a copy of the paper to Malcom, smiling genially and almost proudly. There's a small picture of Rorschach on the front page. Behind him, the young boy is leaning against the spark hydrant, reading his comic. The Nova Express with Dr. Manhattan on the cover is hanging on the stall behind the newsvendor, and the fallout shelter sign is visible on the wall of the building in the distance. A purple van with a logo of a triangle within a circle passes by. Panel 6. The journal continues, "So was the front page. Russian tanks have entered Pakistan. On Seventh Avenue, someone had sprayed silhouette figures onto the wall. It reminded me of the people disintegrated at *Hiroshima*, leaving only their indelible shadows." Malcom is tossing an empty bottle of pills into the trash can. Across from him is graffiti of a shadow man and a woman facing each other. They're embracing, but there's a line of space between their bodies. Panel 7. The journal continues, "At home, Gloria seemed anxious to sweeten things after yesterday and told me she'd invited Randy and Diana to dinner tomorrow. Was too exhausted to take in all the details and suggested an early night." Malcom and Gloria are in bed, their backs to one another. A clock on the end table next to Malcom reads five minutes to midnight. The reader cannot see Malcom's face, but Gloria's eyes are open and she looks troubled. Page 17. Panel 1. Malcom's journal reads: From the notes of Dr. Malcom Long, October 28th, 1985: Today he told me everything." Malcom is pulling out his chair at the table where Rorschach is already seated. As the guard leaves, Malcom says "Hello, Rorschach. How are you today?" The background is light green. Panel 2. Rorschach replies "In prison. Yourself?" His expression and posture are the same as they have been on other occasions. As he talks, Malcom puts his stack of cards, file, notepad and pen on the desk. There are also two green Gopain pill bottles and a third small red container. The background is grey. Panel 3. Malcom answers "Uh... Fine. I'm fine." His expression is intense as he says "I thought we'd try some more *blot tests*. How about taking a look at *this* one for me?" He pushes the card with the butterfly-like pattern towards Rorschach, holding the pen in his other hand. The background is light green. Panel 4. Rorschach holds the card up and says "Seen this one before." Malcom, gesturing with his pen, says "Yes. I know. I... uh... I thought you might have been holding *back* before and I wanted to try it *again*. Go on. Tell me what you *really* see." Most of Malcom's face is hidden by the card, and only his eyes and forehead are visible. He is looking intensely at Rorschach. Panel 5. Rorschach studies the card, his eyebrows drawn together as if in anger and his forehead wrinkled. The background is bright red. Panel 6. A close-up of a German shepherd with its head split open. Its two large, pointed ears stick out to the sides and blood falls down both sides of its face and onto the grass, recalling the four large butterfly wing-like shapes of the Rorschach blot. The wound to the dog's head stretches from the top of its head down to its muzzle, exposing the dog's brain and recalling the two straight lines that resembled a butterfly's body. The dog's eyes are open, still reflecting light, and blood is dripping down its head, almost covering its muzzle. Panel 7. Rorschach lowers the card and looks up, his eyes vacant and his face placid. He answers, "Dog. Dog with head split in half." The background is a dark reddish-brown. Panel 8. Malcom looks taken aback but continues to look directly at Rorschach. He nearly touches the tip of the pen to his lips as he replies "I... I see. And, uh, what do you think split the, uh, split the dog's head. In half." His face, hand and pen are colored in tones of dark purple that contrast jarringly with the bright orange background of the walls and make him look dramatic. Panel 9. Rorschach looks back at Malcom and answers calmly, "I did." He is colored in tones of bright red, the same color as the blood from the dog's head, and his face is heavily shadowed. The background is grey. Page 18. Panel 1. Rorschach and Malcom are seen from a top-down perspective, as if the reader is looking at them from the ceiling. Their shadows fall on the floor, separated by the shadow of the table. Their positions are similar, with Rorschach's hands flat on the table and Malcom's hands out in front of him holding the pen. The card is in the middle of the table. Rorschach says, "1975. Kidnap case. Perhaps you remember. Blaire Roche. Six years old. Kidnappers believed she was connected to Roche chemical fortune. Stupid mistake. Father was bus driver. No money at all." The background is light green. Panel 2. A closer view of the card on the table, with Rorschach's hands and two of the pain medication bottles visible. Rorschach continues, "Days dragged by. No word from kidnappers. Thought of little child, abused, frightened. Didn't like it. Personal reasons. Decided to intervene. Promised parents I'd return her unharmed." Panel 3. A close-up of the card on the table. Part of the table is visible on the top and on one side of the card. Rorschach continues, "Visited underworld bars and began hurting people. Put fourteen people in hospital needlessly. Panel 4. He continues, "Fifteenth gave me an address. Disused dress-makers in Brooklyn. Bad neighborhood. Smelled of damp plaster and stained mattresses." A close-up of Rorschach's face, covered by his black and white mask. The pattern on the mask reflects the pattern on the card in the previous panel, although it is different, and the brown table underneath the card is echoed in the brown of Rorschach's fedora brim and a piece of wood to one side of his face. Panel 5. Rorschach continues, "Arrived there at dusk. No lights on in building. Something was making noise in wasteland at rear." Rorschach is crouching and looking through a missing slat of a tall wooden fence into an overgrown backyard strewn with trash. Panel 6. He continues, "Attack dogs. Two German shepherds, fighting over knob of bone. Didn't seem interested in me." There are two dogs with shining collars, and one is lunging toward a bone that the other has in its mouth. The backyard has several overturned trash cans, and the fence and the attached building are in a state of disrepair. Rorschach continues, "Decided not to use rear entrance anyway." In the background, the sun is setting, giving the sky a lurid orange color. Panel 7. Rorschach continues, "Went in through front, like respectable visitor." The reader sees the door from the inside. The doorplate is popping off, bringing the doorknob, keyhole and screws along with it. There is a sign that reads "Open" from the inside that is twisting, and the sign with the name of the establishment is flying forward. The walls and door are all stained and old. Panel 8. Rorschach opens the door, passing from the brightly lit outside to inside the dark building. Inside are old file cabinets, rolled up bolts of fabric and thread, several pieces of trash and a clock covered with cobwebs with its hands reading 11:55. Some rats scurry along the floor. Panel 9. Rorschach ventures further into the dark building, his hands in his pockets. The reader sees him as if we're outside the building, looking through the window on the door. The door plate on the outside tilts to the left, and the sign, seen from the outside, reads "Closed." The sign with the business' name can only be partially seen, and seems to read "Modes." Page 19. Panel 1. Rorschach opens a door which leads to a squalid, dark room. The walls are cracking and the window is boarded up. There are several old, tattered dressmakers' dummies standing up, and one that's been knocked over to the ground. In the middle of the room is an old-fashioned furnace that's been shoddily repaired in a few places. There's boxes and trash on the floor, and an old calendar with a floral pattern on the wall. Panel 2. Rorschach touches the top of the furnace. There's a poker lying against it, and a container of kerosene on the ground a foot away. The muted shades of sunset come in through the boarded up window and a poorly repaired patch on the roof. Panel 3. Rorschach kneels down in front of the furnace and places one ungloved hand inside of it. Panel 4. Rorschach holds a fragment of cloth in his hands, one gloved and holding the other glove, one ungloved, and looks down at it. It appears to be a piece of fabric from a pair of girls' panties. It's colored bright pink, in contrast with the muted tones used to color him and the room, and has a teddy bear pattern and a small frill of lace. It's scorched and torn. Panel 5. Rorschach leaves the room, closing the door behind him and putting the fabric in his pocket. There's a staircase going up to a second floor and a sewing machine on the hallway floor in front of him. Panel 6. Rorschach passes the sewing machine and stands in front of another door, pulling his glove back on. The sewing machine and the staircase are covered in cobwebs, and rats run along the floor behind him. Panel 7. Rorschach opens the door to a kitchen. There are cobwebs on the counters, and it gives the impression of a room that is not often used. The faucet is dripping, and the cabinets are shut. Panel 8. Rorschach stands in front of the cabinets, reaching up and preparing to open them. In front of him, on the counter, is a butcher block with some grooves cut into it. Panel 9. When he opens the cabinet door, he finds four meat hooks and a selection of knives and utensils. There's a small paring knife, a large meat cleaver, an icepick-like tool, a long, thin knife and a hacksaw. The meat cleaver glistens as the light hits it. Page 20. Panel 1. Rorschach takes down the meat cleaver and the hacksaw, inspecting them. The reddish-orange light from the sunset outside hits the meat cleaver, making its blade sparkle. Panel 2. Holding the implements, Rorschach turns his attention to the butcher's block. In the warm evening light, it looks bright yellow, and is covered with grooves. Panel 3. Rorschach sets the hacksaw down next to the block and runs one gloved finger over one of the grooves in the butcher's block. Panel 4. Rorschach is still holding the meat cleaver as he brings his hand to his chin and looks thoughtfully at the butcher block. The reader sees him as if we're on the other side of the kitchen window, looking inside, and the panel is colored in murky shades of grayish blue and green, except for one broken chip in the window where the orange light can be seen. Panel 5. Rorschach, his hand still at his chin, looks out through the window to the backyard, where the two dogs are still fighting over the bone. Panel 6. A close-up view of the dogs, although we still see them through the slats of the window, as if from Rorschach's perspective. There are small red dots on the window. The dogs continue to tussle playfully over the bone. The light outside is getting darker, coloring the scene in oranges and browns. Panel 7. A close of the dogs. They are colored in oranges and blacks, and each have their muzzles on a long, white bone. The face of one of the dogs is visible. His ears stick up, and his eyes are colored in red as he slobbers over the bone. Thin lines of blood come from the mouth of the other dog, and his spiked collar is visible. Panel 8. A close-up of the bone as the dogs gnaw at it, their saliva flying all around. It looks like a small human femur, and still has some red tendons attached to it. The dogs are colored in a garish reddish-orange, and the background is a warm magenta. Panel 9. Rorschach has his face nearly pressed to the glass, one hand raised to his chest in a gesture of surprise. He is colored in lurid red against a black background. Page 21. Panel 1. The coloring returns to normal as Rorschach leaves the kitchen and walks towards the boarded-up door to the back yard, the meat cleaver in one hand. Panel 2. Rorschach opens the door to the back yard, holding the meat cleaver out and away from him. One dog sits up and looks at him, while the other dog is laying on the ground, gnawing at the bone. Panel 3. A close-up of Rorschach's hand holding the meat cleaver. It sparkles in the fading light. Panel 4. The two dogs look expectantly at Rorschach, their eyes wide open and their tongues hanging out. Saliva drips from their mouths. The dog lying on the ground has the bone between its paws, and there's a pool of blood underneath it. The sky is dark behind them. Panel 5. Rorschach raises the meat cleaver above his head, gripping it tightly in his gloved fist. It sparkles in the fading sunset light. The sky behind him is lurid red, with dark black clouds. Panel 6. A close-up of the card with the butterfly-like design of dots and blobs on it. Rorschach says, "Shock of impact ran along my arm. Jet of warmth spattered on chest, like hot faucet. It was Kovacs who said Mother then, muffled under latex. It was Kovacs who closed his eyes. Panel 7. Rorschach's expression is impassive as he continues to look at Malcom, saying "It was Rorschach who opened them again." His face is heavily shaded, and the background is grey. Panel 8. Rorschach continues, "According to my informant, man using premises named Gerald Grice. Out drinking when I called. Returned to dressmakers at ten forty-five." The card is shown on the table, between Rorschach's hands and Malcom's hand, which is reaching for one of his pill bottles. Panel 9. Rorschach continues, "Dark by then. Dark as it gets." A close-up of the blobs and dots on the card. It's colored in dark blue and black. Page 22. Panel 1. A man walks along the sidewalk, knocking on the tall wooden fence and saying "Hello, *Fred*? *Barney*? I'm *home*. C'mon... Who's got a bark for Daddy?" It's dark out, and the streetlights illuminate the sidewalk and streets. There are several garbage cans and pieces of trash along the sidewalk. Around the corner of the building are the steps leading to the front door, on which the Closed sign and the sign reading Modern Modes can be seen. The building number, above the name of the business, is 808. Panel 2. The man stands outside the fence for a moment. His shadow falls on the building. Some of the paper blows around. Panel 3. The man continues walking past the trash cans, saying "Hmp." He's a stocky, balding, badly groomed white man in a checked suit and wifebeater that exposes most of the top half of his chest. Panel 4. He starts slightly as he stands outside his door, holding his key to the broken lock and looking down at the oddly angled doorplate. Panel 5. He turns on the light as he goes inside, closing the door behind him, and looks around suspiciously. Panel 6. He passes the sewing machine, heading into the kitchen. His body language suggests that he is very wary. Panel 7. He opens the door to the kitchen, which is dark. Panel 8. He steps inside the dark kitchen, the light from the hallway providing some light as he looks at the closed cupboard. Panel 9. He stands in front of the sink, and the reader sees his reflection in the glass of the window that shows the backyard. Page 23. Panel 1. A large panel that takes up the space of three regular panels. The bloody corpse of one of the dogs comes crashing through the window at the man. Glass and blood fly everywhere as the dog, its head split, its eyes open and its tongue lolling, flies towards the terrified man. He raises his hands in front of his face, screaming "*Aaaaaaaa!*" in large type. The entire dog, and the shards of broken glass, are colored in bright red. Panel 2. The man looks in terror at the corpse of the dog, which is lying on the counter in front of him, its fur covered in blood and glass. He leans back, saying "*Aaaaa!* Oh, God... Oh, *God!*" His wifebeater is spattered with blood, and he holds out his hands in front of him protectively. Panel 3. The man retreats to the brightly lit hallway, saying "Uugh, *Uuuuugh*." He calls out towards the closed back door, "Who *is* it?" Panel 4. The man moves towards the closed front door, with his back to the door, saying "Who's *out* there? I haven't *done* anything, I *swear*. I..." He raises one hand to his mouth and gestures with the other one. His eyes are wide open and terrified. Panel 5. A large panel that takes up the space of three regular panels. The bloody corpse of the second dog comes crashing through the window set into the top half of the front door, smacking the man squarely in the back as shards of glass fly everywhere. The man falls forwards, spitting and making an "*Eeeeiiigh!*" sound in large type. The dog and glass are colored in bright red. Page 24. Panel 1. The man is lying on his stomach with the dog corpse on top of him, trying to raise himself up with one arm and push the corpse off of himself with the other arm. He looks terrified as he says "*Eeeeyyuuugh!* Get *off*! Somebody get it *off* me!" Blood spatters and broken glass surround him. The door starts to open behind him. Panel 2. The man manages to lift up his shoulders and start pushing the dog's corpse off of himself as Rorschach's blood-spattered, pinstriped pants appear next to the wall behind him. Panel 3. Rorschach is standing and facing the man, and the man, still on the ground, looks over and up at him. The reader sees it as if we're next to the man on the ground, and we can only see about up to Rorschach's knees. Panel 4. Rorschach looks down at the man, his hands in his pockets. There is a large spatter of blood covering most of the left side of his trenchcoat, and his left epaulette has come undone and is waving in the air. The background is bright orange. Panel 5. Rorschach grabs the man's lapels and starts pulling him to his feet. The man groans, "*Ooughh*" then says "Oh, no. Oh, please... I haven't *done* anything..." There's a large bloodstain on his back from where the dog hit him. Panel 6. Rorschach pushes the man into the room with the furnace and the dressmaker's dummies. The hallway is brightly lit, but the room is dark, casting strange shadows over the objects inside. The man says "*Oouuh*. Oh, *wait*! Wait, please, please. What are you going to *do*?" Panel 7. Rorschach is still holding the man's jacket with one hand as he brings out a pair of handcuffs. The man gestures as he looks up at Rorschach pleadingly and says "Look... look, I *know* what you think... You think I'm something to do with that little *girl*. Well, well, I'm *not*, okay? Okay?" Light from the hallway illuminates the two men in bright yellows and oranges. Panel 8. Rorschach handcuffs the man's left hand to the base of the furnace. The man says "Oh, God, please... What do you *want*? Y-You can't *prove* anything. I mean, wh-where's the *evidence*? You can't do anything to..." The man's arm and hand, and Rorschach's gloved hand, are colored in bright red, and the background is a vibrant lemon yellow, giving the panel a garish look. Panel 9. The man's voice trails off as he says "...Me..." He sees Rorschach standing in front of him, brandishing the gleaming hacksaw. He and Rorschach are mostly in shadow, with orange light coming from the hallway. Page 25. Panel 1. The man points with his free hand to the hacksaw which Rorschach is carefully laying down in front of him. He says "Hey, *wait* a minute. That's *mine*! What *is* this?" Panel 2. Rorschach turns to the can of kerosene on the ground, picking it up as the man turns to watch him and says "You're *giving* me this? Is *that* it? Look, please, if you'd just *say* something..." Panel 3. Rorschach pours kerosene on the floor all around the man and on the dummies. He and the kerosene can are colored in shades of red, and the hallway outside is bright orange. The man calls out, "*Hey!* Hey, are you *crazy*? That's *kerosene*!" Panel 4. Rorschach, still colored in bright shades of red and in yellow where the hallway light is hitting him, turns toward the man as he takes a match out of a matchbook. He says "Yes. Shouldn't bother trying to saw through hand-cuffs. Never make it in time." All through this chapter, as Rorschach has been talking to Malcom and in the flashbacks, his speech bubbles have looked normal, but in this panel, the borders of his speech bubbles are twisted and jagged. He leaves the can of kerosene on the floor in front of him. Panel 5. The man says "What do you *mean*? What am I supposed to..." Rorschach strikes the match and holds it out in front of him. The man's expression turns desperate, and he says "Oh, God. Oh, Jesus, *no*. You're *kidding*. You *have* to be kidding." Panel 6. Rorschach drops the match. The smoke drifts through his thumb and forefinger as it falls towards the ground. His hand is colored in bright yellows and oranges from the reflected light of the match, and the background is pure black. Panel 7. Rorschach calmly walks with his hands in his pockets out the front door, as the room behind him is consumed by flames. Smoke billows into the hallway, and the man screams, making "Eeeaaagh" and "Yiiiaaagh" sounds. Panel 8. Rorschach is standing against a red brick wall, his shadow looming large behind him. He narrates, "Stood in street. Watched it burn. Imagined limbless felt torsos inside; breasts blackening; bellies smoldering; bursting into flame one by one. Watched for an hour." Panel 9. Rorschach is sitting at the table, his posture mimicking the way he stood against the wall in the previous panel. He says "Nobody got out." The edges of his speech bubble are normal. The card with the butterfly-like pattern rests on the table in front of him. The background is a greyish-blue. Page 26. Panel 1. Rorschach narrates, "Stood in firelight, sweltering. Bloodstain on chest like map of violent new continent. Felt cleansed. Felt dark planet turn under my feet and knew what cats know that makes them scream like babies in night." One of the dressmakers' dummies is shown, its felt being burnt away and its wire foundation visible. The beams from the ceiling crash around it, burning, and orange and red smoke billows all around it. Panel 2. Rorschach continues, "Looked at sky through smoke heavy with human fat and God was not there. The cold, suffocating dark goes on forever, and we are alone." The smoke billows in yellow, black and gold puffs all through the panel, with one of the dummies lying on the ground and burning. Panel 3. Rorschach continues, "Live our lives, lacking anything better to do. Devise reason later. Born from oblivion, bear children, hell-bound as ourselves, go into oblivion. There is nothing else." The smoke rises into the sky in thick bands, starting in yellow at the base of the panel, then turning golden, orange and red. Panel 4. A close up of a couple of the dark blobs on the card. They look like abstract holes in the panel. Rorschach continues, "Existence is random. Has no pattern save *what* we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save *what* we choose to impose." Panel 5. The card lays on the table, Rorschach's hands lying palms down to either side of it. The door opens to the side and a guard's legs are visible as he continues, "This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us." Panel 6. Rorschach continues, "Streets stank of fire. The void breathed hard on my heart, turning its illusions to ice, shattering them. Was reborn, then, free to scrawl own design on this morally blank world. Was Rorschach." His hands and Malcom's hands are shown, with the card between them. Malcom's hands are still, his fingers curled slightly. Two guards appear at the door. The room seems noticeably darker now, as if they've been there for some time. Panel 7. Rorschach looks impassively at Malcom and asks, "Does that answer your questions, Doctor?" One of the guards lays a hand on Rorschach's shoulder. Panel 8. The guards lead Rorschach out of the room into the dark hallway. Malcom remains seated, his hands laying on the table palms down in front of him. His face is frozen in a shocked expression and his eyes are open wide. Panel 9. The door closes, and Malcom puts a hand to his forehead, closing his eyes in pain. His other hand grasps the bottle of pain medication. Page 27. Panel 1. Malcom's journal reads, "From the notes of Dr. Malcom Long, October 28th, 1985. Walked home along 40th street. A black man tried to sell me a Rolex watch. When I kept walking he started shouting, "Nigger! Hey, nigger!" Mal, wearing his overcoat and carrying his briefcase, is walking dejectedly through the rain, a frown on his face. Behind him, a thin black man with a long scarf and an afro is shaking his fist at him. The man is standing in front of a makeshift display table and holding up a watch. Malcom is passing the Promethean Cab company and a taxi is driving by him. Panel 2. Malcom's journal continues, "Ignored him. Bought paper. Russians claim that fighting spilling into Pakistan was accidental. Nixon says U.S. will meet continued Soviet aggression with quote maximum force unquote. Inside, article on nuclear alert procedure." We see the newsvendor as if from Malcom's perspective, and he looks gloomy and is gesturing with both hands as he talks. Malcom is holding an issue of the New York Gazette in front of him, and the headline blares "Nixon Promises Maximum Force." There's a picture of Nixon in front of an American flag, waving. The fallout shelter sign is visible behind the newsvendor. Panel 3. Malcom's journal continues, "It says that any dead family members should be wrapped in plastic garbage sacks and placed outside for collection. On 7th Avenue, the Hiroshima lovers were still trying inadequately to console one another." The trash can is filled almost to overflowing, and a passer-by throws an empty purple wrapper for Mmelt-downs candy into the trash can. The passer-by is probably the comics-reading boy, judging by his hat and skin color, but most of his body is cut off by the border of the panel. On the wall behind him is the graffiti of a shadow man and a woman facing each other and embracing. The light rain continues to fall. Panel 4. Malcom's journal continues, "Home: Gloria reminded me that Randy and Diana were coming tonight. Looked cross when I confessed I'd forgotten. We dressed for dinner in silence." The two are standing with their backs to each other, a half foot of space between them. Gloria looks annoyed as she adjusts her sleeveless red dress at the neck, and Malcom looks distracted as he adjusts his bowtie. Panel 5. His journal continues, "Dinner didn't go very well." Malcom and Gloria are sitting at a square table with their guests. We see the four of them from overhead. Malcom is sitting opposite from Randy, who is a white man with sandy blonde hair, glasses and an orange suit, while Gloria is sitting opposite from Diana, a white woman with lavender hair and a black dress. Randy, scooping a bite of food onto his fork, gestures with his palm up and says "So, Mal, how are things going with this famous *masked maniac* of yours?" Diana, looking towards Mal and putting her hand on his forearm, says "Oh, *yes*, *tell* us. Has he told you anything *weird* or *kinky* yet?" Gloria is taking a bite, while Malcom is sitting up straight, his left hand palm down on the table as his right hand prepares to scoop up some food. Panel 6. Malcom turns to Diana and, his face grave and sad, says "Yes. Yes, he has. Today he told me about a girl who got kidnapped." Gloria, a look of anxious concern on her face, looks at Diana and says "Look, maybe this isn't such a good idea right now..." Panel 7. Randy grins and, facing Malcom as he lifts his fork, says "Oh, boy! Was she tied up and gagged and helpless?" Gloria, lifting a forkful of pasta to her mouth, looks indulgently at him and says "*Ran*-dee!" Malcom answers "No. She was six. Her abductor killed her, butchered her and fed her to his German shepherds." Randy and Gloria are colored normally, and the living room is lit brightly, but Malcom's back is colored in shades of dark purple and black as he talks to them. Panel 8. Malcom takes a bite of food. Diana's fork hovers inches from her lips, and Randy's fork hasn't moved from the previous panel. Gloria looks on impassively, her hands on the table with their palms down. Behind them is a wide window that affords an excellent view of the city lights at night, a zeppelin far in the background, and in the foreground are some flowers and a sphere-shaped clock with a sphere-shaped pendulum. Panel 9. Gloria stands up and walks away from the table, her hand clenched into a fist and holding her napkin. Malcom gestures toward her with his fork and says "Gloria? Where are you going?" Diana is holding her napkin to her mouth with a queasy expression, and Randy is looking at her with concern, touching her forearm. The pendulum on the clock swings to the other side. Page 28. Panel 1. Malcom's journal continues, "Diana remembered that their babysitter had to be home early and they left soon after dinner." Diana and Randy are bundled up in their jackets, walking through the well-lit hall with upset, frozen expressions on their faces. Malcom stands in the doorframe behind them, his hand raised slightly as if he might reach out toward them. The room behind him is dark. His journal continues, "Gloria went into the bedroom. I followed her. She walked out again, into the hall." Panel 2. His journal continues, "I sat on the bed. She came in, wearing her coat, subjected me to a lot of crude sexual insults, went out. The front door slammed." Malcom is sitting on the bed in their dark bedroom, sill wearing his dress clothes except for his jacket, holding the article on nuclear alert procedures in his hands. Light from the hallway illuminates his hands and legs as Gloria stands in the doorway, her hands on her hips, wearing a maroon jacket. Panel 3. His journal continues, "Why do we argue? Life's so fragile, a successful virus clinging to a speck of mud suspended in endless nothing." One of the green bottles of pills rests on top of the article. A warning on the pill bottle label reads "Caution: Do not exceed stated dose." Three pills roll around on the paper. The article has the fallout logo and the headline "Alert." The article is mostly cut off by the pill bottle, the journal entries and the edge of the panel, but reads "If you hear the siren... outdoors.." The article underneath it reads "Run to the nearest building. If there are no nearby buildings, lie..." There is a diagram to the left with cartoonish figures running towards a fallout shelter, directed by arrows, with the sign of the fallout shelter enlarged as if by a magnifying glass, as a siren blares, the sound represented by cartoonish sound waves. There are other articles, including one with a headline that starts with the word "Obey," but they are cut off by the rest of Malcom's journal entry, which reads "Next week, I could be putting her into a garbage sack, placing her outside for collection." Panel 4. Malcom, sitting on the edge of the bed, holds the card with the butterfly-like shape in front of him. The newspaper, pill bottle, his notes and file are all on the bed behind him as he sits in the darkness with the door closed. His journal reads "I sat on the bed. I looked at the Rorschach blot. I tried to pretend it looked like a spreading tree, shadows pooled beneath it, but it didn't." Panel 5. A close-up of the back of Malcom's head as he looks at the image. His journal reads, "It looked more like a dead cat I once found, the fat, glistening grubs writhing blindly, squirming over each other, frantically tunneling away from the light. But even that is avoiding the real horror." Panel 6. A close-up of the image itself. In the dark room, the black shapes appear to be on a dark grey background. His journal continues, "The horror is this: In the end, it is simply a picture of empty meaningless blackness." Panel 7. A close-up of a couple of the blobs on the picture. At this level, they are so abstract that they make no pattern. His journal continues, "We are alone. There is nothing else." Panel 8. The panel is entirely black. Panel 9. The background of this panel is black, with a quote in white text. "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzche." Underneath the quote is a round clock with no numbers or other indications of time on it. The minute and hour hands indicate that it is 11:54. Supplementary Material Page 1. A paper laid over a file labeled "Walter J. Kovacs." It is written on paper from the New York Police Department, Manhattan, and has an eagle logo on the top. In the upper right corner are the words "Form 2-18." There's a section labeled "For Inter-departmental use only." Underneath that is written in parentheses, "Please type or print clearly." There's a line labeled name, in which is typed "Kovacs, Walter Joseph." There's a line labeled address, in which is typed "Transient." There's a line labeled Birth, in which is typed "3/21/40." There's a line labeled Mothers name, in which is typed "Kovacs, Sylvia Joanna (nee Glick). There's a line labeled fathers name, in which is typed Unknown. Paperclipped to the right of this section are Rorschach's mug shots. In the left one he is looking straight ahead above his number, 62186. He has been badly beaten and one eye is nearly swollen shut, but he looks ahead impassively. In the right one, he is looking to the side above his number, and his detached epaulette is sticking up. Under this is a section for his left thumb print and right thumb print, which have been added to the paper. Under this section is a part labeled Details of Arrest. To the left of that line is a line saying Copies: It has been left blank. Underneath this are three typed paragraphs. Walter Joseph Kovacs, a.k.a. Rorschach, was arrested on the night of Monday, October 21st when a squadron of police officers led by Detectives Fine and Bourquin surrounded the house of Edgar William Jacobi, a.k.a. Edgar William Vaughn, a.k.a. William Edgar Bright, a.k.a. Moloch, following an anonymous tip: Kovacs, who was on the premises at the time, injured two police officers while resisting arrest. Officer SHAW was admitted to the hospital with minor burns, while Officer Greaves, who was shot at point blank range with a gas-powered grappling gun, has a shattered sternum and is still on the hospital’s critical list as of this writing (10/22/85). When the house was explored, the body of Edgar Jacobi was discovered in the kitchen, shot through the head. The murder weapon was found less than two feet away, and although there were no fingerprints on the gun it should be remembered that since Kovacs was wearing gloves when arrested, this lack of prints is hardly remarkable. Although Kovacs has denied the murder of Jacobi, given his previous history of violence against other criminals and his location in the murder house at the time, few other conclusions seem possible. Curiously, Kovacs has not denied the two other murders attributed to him, those of Gerald Anthony Grice, unemployed, in the summer of 1975, and of wanted multiple rapist Harvey Charles Furniss two years later in the summer of 1977, immediately following the passage of the Keene Act into law. At the time of his arrest, the contents of Kovacs’ pockets were as follows: 1 battery powered flashlight; 5 individually wrapped cubes ‘Sweet Chariot’ chewing sugar; 1 map of New York underground and subway system, dated 1968 with recent alterations drawn in with a red ballpoint pen; withered remains of one red rose; one dollar fifty-nine cents in assorted loose change; one pencil; one notebook, pages filled with what is either an elaborate cypher or handwriting too cramped and eccentric to be legible; one broken bottle ‘Nostalgia’ cologne for men, possibly broken during leap from Jacobi’s second story window during arrest; a residue of ground black pepper. Page 2. A document written on letterhead from the New York State Psychiatric Hospital, West Branch. There is a logo of two doors surrounded by laurel leaves. It's type written and reads: Early History: A Summary: Sylvia Kovacs came to New York from Ohio in the spring of 1935 with her husband, Peter Joseph Kovacs, whom she divorced in 1937 amidst mutual accusations of adultery and mental cruelty. After the divorce she had no further contact with her former husband, and for the next three years, she lived in a number of low-rent apartments, both alone and with a number of male acquaintances. Exactly when she drifted into prostitution as a means of meeting her mounting debts is uncertain, but it seems likely that her last semi-permanent relationship was with the true father of Walter Kovacs, who left her two months before the baby was born. Mrs. Kovacs was either unable or unwilling to provide any details concerning him other than that his name was "Charlie." Since shortly after the birth of her son we see Mrs. Kovacs' first arrest on charges of prostitution, we can perhaps assume that the additional cost of keeping an infant child may have been what necessitated this new occupation, and perhaps also speculate as to whether the above factors were the cause of the resentment and cruelty which Sylvia Kovacs showed to her son as he grew older. In the July of 1951, the boy was admitted into care after viciously attacking two older boys in the street, partially blinding one of them. When questioned Kovacs refused to talk about what had caused him to attack the boys, so it must be presumed that it was an unprovoked assault. Nevertheless, investigation of the circumstances the boy lived in revealed that he was regularly beaten and exposed to the worst excesses of a prostitute's lifestyle, and it was decided to place the child under care. He was admitted to the Lillian Charlton Home for Problem Children in New Jersey, where he remained until 1956, when it was decided that he was intelligent and stable enough to function in normal society. During his time at the home, removed from his mother's negative influence, Kovacs did very well at schoolwork, excelling particularly in the fields of literature and religious education as well as possessing an impressive skill in the areas of gymnastics and amateur boxing. While quiet and shy, especially with women, Kovacs was capable of long and well-reasoned conversations with his classmates and instructors, and struck most people as a serious but likeable child who was merely a bit withdrawn. There is a stain from a coffee mug on the next paragraph, and there is a picture of a teenaged Rorschach paper clipped next to it. He is wearing a striped suit and tie that are both too big for him, and his hair is cut very short. He is holding a briefcase and has a bundle under one arm. He has a faint smile on his face. He is standing in front of a brick wall, on which is a partially visible sign that reads "Charlton Home for Problem Children, Founded..." The paragraph reads: This aside, it is clear that his loathing of his mother remained undiminished. Shortly before Kovacs left the Charlton home in 1956, news was received that his mother, who had never made any attempt to contact her child and who had continued to become further involved in the world of small-time vice, had been murdered. Her body had been found in a back alleyway in the South Bronx, the cause of death being the forced ingestion of Drano cleaning fluid. A man named George Paterson, Mrs. Kovacs' pimp, was later charged (continued) Page 3. with her murder. When the news was broken to Walter Kovacs, then aged sixteen, his only comment was quote Good unquote. Shortly after this, Kovacs left the home to take up residence in the first of a series of small apartments and also take up full employment in a menial capacity within the garment industry, an occupation he apparently remained in up until the mid seventies, maintaining a dual life between his daytime employment and his nocturnal activities in the guise of quote Rorschach unquote. Very little physical evidence exists that gives a clear insight into the psychology of this troubled man. Some police officers have tentatively identified him as a prophet-of-doom sandwich-board man seen locally over the last several years, but as Kovacs refuses to divulge his current address, if any, this is not provable at such an early stage in the investigation. Similarly, material relating to his early years is scarce, although I have been able to obtain photocopies of two pieces written by Kovacs during his stay at the Charlton Home, one being an essay on the set topic of quote My Parents unquote when Kovacs was eleven, the other being a transaction of Kovacs' verbal recounting of a nightmare he suffered when he was thirteen. Laid over the bottom half of this paper is another paper, written on Charlton Home letterhead and stamped Confidential. There is a coat of arms next to the logo. The text on it is typewritten. My Parents, by Walter Kovacs. I have two parents, although actually, I don’t have any. I never see my mom, but that’s okay, although I would like to see my dad sometimes. I have never met my dad and I would sure like to. He had to leave our house when I wasn’t even born, I guess because he couldn’t get along with my mother. I would of done the same if I was him. I used to ask my mom about my dad, but she doesn’t talk much about him. His name was Charlie, which is short for Charles although it has the same number of letters. She says she doesn’t know his second name although how can you live with somebody if you don’t know who they are? It is just stupid. My mom told me she threw my dad out because he was always getting into political arguments with her because he liked President Truman and she didn’t. I think perhaps my dad was some sort of aide to President Truman, because he liked him so much. Most probably he was out of the country during the war when I was growing up on some sort of mission. I think he was the kind of guy who would fight for his country and what was right. Maybe he got killed fighting the Nazis and he’s with God now and that’s how come he never managed to find me. I like President Truman, the way Dad would of wanted me to. He dropped the atom bomb on Japan and saved millions of lives because if he hadn’t of, then there would of been a lot more war than there was and more people would of been killed. I think it was a good thing to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. That is all I have to say about my parents. There is a matchbook laid on top of the bottom of the paper, with one match left in it. Page 4. Another paper written on Charlton Home letterhead and stamped Confidential. It's titled Dream, 5/27/63 and typewritten. It reads: "A man was in my old house, with my mom. They were eating some stuff like raw dough, and my mom choked on a piece. The guy with her tried to fish it out of her throat. He got his whole hand in her mouth and then it was like he had his whole arm down her throat. He told me to get a doctor, so I ran out of the room but the house was all different and there wasn't any doctor there anyway, so I went back to find mom. I was walking down this sort of hallway, and it was dark and I saw what looked like my mom and this guy dancing, old fashioned dancing at the other end of the room, and they didn't have any clothes on. They were sort of clopping around like a horse in a pantomime with two guys in a suit. When they got nearer, I saw they weren't dancing at all, they were squashed together like Siamese twins, joined at the face and chest and stomach. They didn't have any face, you could only see their ears, two on either side of the head facing towards each other. Their hands were growing into each other as well, but they had all four legs free and they were sort of dancing sideways towards me down the dark hall like a crab, and there was something tripping 'em up, wrapped around their feet, and I looked down and I saw it was trousers and underwear and stuff. They were coming towards me, and then I woke up. I had feelings when I woke up. Dirty feelings, thoughts and stuff. The dream it sort of upset me, physically. I couldn't help it. I feel bad just talking about it." There is a drawing done on tattered and folded paper next to this paper. It shows a man and a woman in a monstrous embrace. Their noses and mouths are combined, with sharp teeth, but their eyes are on separate heads and they both have dark, curly hair, with spidery eyelashes and longer hair indicating the woman. They're holding hands and their torsos are pressed together, with a round breast on the woman and a smaller nipple on the man. There's a single cloud of dark pubic hair at their pelvises underneath their belly buttons. Their legs are splayed apart and bent as if they're dancing. It's labeled, in childishly sloppy handwriting, "My dream by W.J. Kovacs age 13." Next to that is a note labeled "From the desk of:" with Dr. Malcom Long" typewritten next to that. Underneath it is the typewritten date, 10/22. The rest of the note is handwritten and reads "Walter Joseph Kovacs promises to be a complex case, especially in light of the extreme nature of his vigilante activities. It may be possible to identify a new syndrome that will help us to understand those other people who have in the past shared Kovacs' masked vigilante activities. In any event, keep notes with an eye to possible future publication. First interview with Kovacs is Friday afternoon - looking forward to it. The page opposite the last page of material from Rorschach's file is black. At the very bottom is half of a clock, with a red, white and black edge and Roman numerals. The time is 11:54. Blood has nearly covered the top fourth the page, and it continues to make its way down over the field of black between it and the clock.