Very well done. I didn't know Watchmen was an anti-Ditko tract specfically!
I think there's room for both The Dark Knight Returns and Wayne Family Adventures, personally.
I've thought if Theis had done that now he could have monetized it and turned it into a sci-fi comedy TikTok, used the notoriety to write a bunch of comic fantasy stories spoofing sword and sorcery, or at least cash out a little like William Hung.
But back in the 70s...nah, he was just a geek getting mocked by other geeks. It's so sad he killed himself...but I can definitely how he got to that point.
It's a subversion of Charleton characters and a deconstruction of The Question/Mr. A in particular. It's pretty mean in its depiction of Ditko's philosophy. That Rorschach (a subjective test inverting Mr. A's A=A moral code) ended up being beloved, in part because he fails as a deconstruction, is interesting in its own right.
I think Theis could have found a fanbase, a real one, in the modern era. In a world that embraces The Room and Birdemic, he would have found a home. The 70s were not that time and I still see a lot of that mentality in the smaller "True Fan" SF cons.
The Charlton bit I knew, but I didn't make the connection to Ditko's philosophy. Thank you!
I do think Rorschach's fanbase is picking up on the fact that the whole point of modern media (of which Watchmen was an early example) is to subvert traditional values like good and evil and heroism, so when they make a villain meant to represent them and then cast a charismatic actor...people who support those values will connect to them.
Something similar happened with Gordon Gekko and capitalism...he was the bad guy, but put a Hollywood leading man playing him and now he's a role model for businessmen.
Or the Joker and Heath Ledger or Joaquin Phoenix...OK, he was crazy, but the actors give him so much personality he's a model for any disaffected young man. (Though that's a longstanding character and probably halfway to archetypical at this point.)
Yeah fandom is nuts. Toxic fandom is even nuttier. Ultimate crab in the bucket loser mentality
Beautifully written.
Very well done. I didn't know Watchmen was an anti-Ditko tract specfically!
I think there's room for both The Dark Knight Returns and Wayne Family Adventures, personally.
I've thought if Theis had done that now he could have monetized it and turned it into a sci-fi comedy TikTok, used the notoriety to write a bunch of comic fantasy stories spoofing sword and sorcery, or at least cash out a little like William Hung.
But back in the 70s...nah, he was just a geek getting mocked by other geeks. It's so sad he killed himself...but I can definitely how he got to that point.
It's a subversion of Charleton characters and a deconstruction of The Question/Mr. A in particular. It's pretty mean in its depiction of Ditko's philosophy. That Rorschach (a subjective test inverting Mr. A's A=A moral code) ended up being beloved, in part because he fails as a deconstruction, is interesting in its own right.
I think Theis could have found a fanbase, a real one, in the modern era. In a world that embraces The Room and Birdemic, he would have found a home. The 70s were not that time and I still see a lot of that mentality in the smaller "True Fan" SF cons.
The Charlton bit I knew, but I didn't make the connection to Ditko's philosophy. Thank you!
I do think Rorschach's fanbase is picking up on the fact that the whole point of modern media (of which Watchmen was an early example) is to subvert traditional values like good and evil and heroism, so when they make a villain meant to represent them and then cast a charismatic actor...people who support those values will connect to them.
Something similar happened with Gordon Gekko and capitalism...he was the bad guy, but put a Hollywood leading man playing him and now he's a role model for businessmen.
Or the Joker and Heath Ledger or Joaquin Phoenix...OK, he was crazy, but the actors give him so much personality he's a model for any disaffected young man. (Though that's a longstanding character and probably halfway to archetypical at this point.)