Examine the picture above. Tell me...what do you see? It's a funny thing, ink on page; but then again so is the mind. The mind can interpret a thing in so many different ways, each interpretation and feeling different from the last. The ink on this page, the ink that has taken the shape of Rorschach, did not start out the way it ended. In fact, Rorschach went by two other names before this current one; both names given to him by his creator, Steve Ditko. Rorschach's first incarnation went by a very simple name, an easy to remember name...Rorschach's first name was Mr. A.
Mr. A was a Steve Ditko creation that was the personification of something that Ditko self prescribed to; objectivism. Objectivism is a morality in which the world is described as being in only two shades; either black or white and there exists no gray area. According to objectivism, the world is comprised of either good or evil and actions are examined wholly as either 100% good or 100% evil. Good is rewarded and commended and evil is punished swiftly. As you can see pictured above, Ditko created this strip entirely in black and white to reiterate the philosophy behind Mr. A. In the BBC special, "In Search of Steve Ditko", Alan Moore (the co-creator and writer of "The Watchmen") describes how Ditko and his philosophy served as an inspiration for the composition of Rorschach. As you take a look at these following two pages, are you able to see the resemblance?
What we have on these two pages is Rorschach and a demonstration of Rorschach's moral code, just about 20 years or so before that incarnation was actually conceived. Rorschach's voice echoes in Mr. A's words as he explains to the filth of his city that they are garbage and like all garbage they needed to be taken out. When Steve Ditko moves on to Charlton Comics he decides to take Mr. A with him under a new name. The name that Ditko chooses for this incarnation is The Question.
It is this second incarnation that Watchmen creators Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons directly drew from when creating Rorschach. At the time that The Watchmen was being conceived, DC had just finished the acquisition of Charlton Comics and therefore Charlton characters such as The Question and Captain Atom were up for grabs and available for Moore and Gibbons to tap into. In the official companion to the graphic novel, "Watching The Watchmen" (pictured below) we are privy to a bevy of unpublished sketches and ideas behind Rorschach's creation.
Pictured below you can see that when Moore and Gibbons were conceiving Rorschach they were directly drawing from both The Question and from Ditko himself, as notes scrawled alongside Gibbons rough sketch indicate. Rorschach was to be an embodiment of objectivism, adhering to a strict moral code.
In Gibbons early imaginations of Rorschach he had even decided to dress him very similar to The Question; giving him the trademark blue trench coat and fedora.
So, loyal readers of Silver Age Sensations, I leave thee with one final question to ponder...
For further reading on Snazzy Steve Ditko, and his most famous creation, this time in CAKE FORM, follow this link true believers, over to "Between The Pages: Where Food and Pop Culture Meet"! http://betweenthepagesblog.typepad.com/between-the-pages-blog/2014/01/whats-so-amazing-about-spider-man.html
For an in-depth look at Ditko and Charlton Comics (the group that Ditko left Marvel for, bringing objectivism and The Question with him) head on over to "Superhero Satellite" http://charltonhero.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/charlton-action-heroes-a-count-down-to-retcon/
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