In the novel Watchmen, written by Alan Moore, the setting displays an alternate reality that closely resembles the contemporary world of the 1980’s. During this time period, the characters get closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union and freelance masked superheroes have been banned in 1977 because of the Keene Act. This graphic novel relates the stories of several superheroes (Rorschach, Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl, The Comedian, Ozymandias, and Silk Spectre) to the events surrounding the mysterious murder of Edward Blake. He is one of the only masked adventurers (along with Captain Metropolis) to be both a part of the Minuteman and Crimebusters. The Minutemen were the original group of superheroes throughout the 1940s and the Crimebusters were the second group of the masked superheroes who replaced the Minuteman from the previous era and were forced to disband in 1977 due to the Keene Act. Alan Moore describes the superheroes in this graphic novel as real people who fight against evil and lack super powers. The artist, Dave Gibbons, uses a nine-panel grid layout throughout the book to incorporate meaningful symbols for audiences. The most significant symbol utilized is the comedian’s badge because it provides us with foreshadowing in reference to Doomsday (gathering of armies for the end of time) and provide us with situations that encompass the basics of human existence such as conflict and mortality.

The iconic smiley face image illustrated by the picture on the right comes from the smiley face badge worn by the comedian. The bloodstain on the comedian’s badge resembles an arrow, pointing from the center of the round smiley face to the top left hand corner. My interpretation is that the stain represents the minute hand of a clock, pointing at twelve minutes to midnight. As the chapters progress, the clock is moved forward by a minute. The stain has a strong connection to the Doomsday clock because the clock foreshadows midnight, which is when the world ends by a tragic destruction or Armageddon.

I also believe that the blood on the smiley face resembles the natural flaws humans possess. It might appear that all things in our life are good on the outside (happy smiley face), but within the inside, we are stained with flaws like the bloodstain on the smiley face. The blood resembles all of the corruption and darkness seen in the world. For example, in Chapter 1 on page five seen by the illustration below, as Rorschach fires his grappling hook, the curve of the hook flying in the air resembles the same pattern of the blood smear on the comedian’s badge. After analyzing this image, I think that once Rorschach takes out his grappling gun, it signifies one of his main imperfections, which is that he has a strong inclination towards crime.

An additional example of human condition is found in Chapter 5 on page 7 seen by top left image in the corner below. The image depicts a religious poster featuring the Buddha with the yellow sun behind his head splattered with a spot of blood. The blood marks the sun in the exact position as the blood on the comedian’s badge. The term Buddha means the “Enlightened One”  or a divine nature. As you can see on the bottom left corner of the image, a murder has just occurred because there are blood stains that cover the ladies body. I think this image strongly emphasizes that even though our world might seem picturesque or divine on the outside (seen by the Buddha), there is still evil and corruption that lurks (murder scene).