After scenes depicting the insane (and true!) 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, which opens HBOs Watchmen , we fast-forward to a traffic stoppresent dayon a road leading into the city where a man, donning a mask, kills a police officer, and then tosses a bundle of lettuce into his patrol car.

The scene feels violent and nonsensical in almost equal measures, making it a tonal fit with Alan Moores and Dave Gibbons original graphic novel . The mask the man wears is also taken from the novel, in the style of its primary protagonist, Rorschach.

But thats just about where all similarity ends, and as readers of the graphic novel might remember, Rorschach, or Walter Kovacs , wasnt much into killing good men. Which obviously raises a couple of questions.

In the graphic novel, Rorschach acts as Moores narrative frame; the story is more or less filtered through his journal. The entry beginning in October of 1985 when Rorschach investigates the death of a fellow masked man, the Comedian. Much of the graphic novel tracks Rorschachs pursuit of trutha pursuit which ultimately leads to (spoiler!) his death .

While Rorschach maintains strict moral absolutism (there are good men; there are bad men), it remains unclear what his criteria for this might entail. Bad men are clearly criminalsrapists, child murderers, etc.all of which we watch Rorschach torture and kill throughout the novel. But Rorschach is also a staunch nationalist (and reads right-wing propaganda/newspapers throughout the story) and a supporter of masked vigilantes (who had been outlawed by congress)even after the events of Vietnam and the consequences of vigilante justice: superheroes causing more death and chaos than good. So its not easy to label Rorschach as the good guy.

Still, it doesnt seem like such a patriotic character would begin killing law enforcement.

Rorschachs politics paint him as a hawkish, right-wing nationalist. HBOs Rorschach supporters represent more an anti-government tea-party movement with shades of white nationalism. So, what happened?

At the end of the graphic novel, Rorschach sends his journal to the press after he finally uncovers the truth to the hero-killing: Ozymandias, a former vigilante, has been concealing a false flag operation that involves killing millions of New Yorkers in order to unite the U.S. and Soviets, hoping to ultimately prevent nuclear war. His plan succeeds, and millions of New Yorkers die. The novel ends with a member of the press finding Rorschachs journal in the slush pile.

Its likely that such a revelation incensed the public and made Rorschach out to be a truth-seeking hero. That a cult would develop around this journal and its ideas makes a lot of sense. As weve noted before , punishment and retribution are twin pillars of Rorschachs sense of justicegiving him a legal and moral attitude that seems particularly American: Rorschach sees his job as bringing bad men of the world to justice.

If the journal finds authority figures to be acting against national interests (by killing millions of Americans), it makes sense that this fringe, plaid-wearing, Rorschach-mask-donning group might turn against authority. And so: kill cops and throw lettuce into cars. If they believe they have the moral high ground and that those who wield the law are in fact crooked, they would be perfectly consistent with Rorschachs brand of justice to seek retribution.

Where does all the racism come from then? Well have to watch more to answer that question.