Planned Obsolescence

I just finished the book version of Watchmen- really good! The story was definitely above and beyond what you would expect for a graphic novel- the characters were believable, (well, at least their humanity was) and I'd recommend it to anyone, whether you like graphic novels or not. Unless you're a little kid- some R-rated stuff in there.

This is probably my favorite character, and one surprisingly sympathetic. Called The Comedian, he winds up murdered at the beginning of the story. Who, and why we don't find out until the last chapter. But apart from being a chauvinistic, probably-insane jerk, here is a person who thinks he has things figured out. As a member of the US military, (never made clear what his affiliation was, if any- maybe Special Forces?) he sees the absolute worst the world has to show him. His gleeful violence seems to be the only logical response to his admittedly warped view of the world. Hence (I think) his name- the world's just a bad joke, and the punchline comes at the end of a gun barrel. Like I said, he thinks he has the world figured out, and takes what he sees as the only possible course in such a world. Rorschach, another warped superhero, is largely the same- having seen the worst the world can show, he responds with a black-and-white morality that leaves no room for gray. Of course, Rorschach is completely raving mad, The Comedian only a few steps behind. The Comedian, once he finds out that things are nowhere near what he thought they were, is crushed. Fortunately, he winds up dead soon after, but the question goes unanswered as to what he, or for that matter any of us here in the real world would do if suddenly everything we know to be true is proven wrong, with indisputable evidence right before our eyes? In this case, everything he lived for has proven false. This extreme moral code (such as it was) keeps him going. When that's gone, his response is to unload on an old super-villain, who never actually figures out what the hell he's talking about.

This is a question we probably face, but only gradually and by degrees- as we mature and grow, we find the world is not as we imagined it- things are a bit more complex than the good-guys-and-bad-guys ethos a lot of us had when we were kids. Good was good, evil was evil, and that was that. Good always won, evil was always defeated, despite continual efforts. As time goes on, we find that good is not always the shining white example of virtue we thought it was, and evil sometimes is either much more interesting or not a little sympathetic. After all, we're imperfect beings in an imperfect world. But that's no reason not to make this world the best place we can. There are things worth fighting for, and who knows, perhaps in the longest run good does come out on top.