The main Watchmen series begins with Ozymandias killing the Comedian. And through the story, we learn that Adrian Veidt was partially motivated by a previous fight he had and lost against Eddie Blake. So it's incredibly exciting to see a demonic Comedian pointing his gun down (presumably at Ozymandias) against a dark red sky. This is a very good, captivating cover by Jae Lee.
The variant cover by Massimo Carnevale isn't quite as engaging, though. It's just a bit too murky and vague for me to enjoy. It also seems to imply that Adrian possesses some strange energy-based powers, which never had been manifest in any Watchmen story I've encountered.
This issue picks right up where Ozymandias #2 ended, with the Comedian attacking Ozymandias as he investigated the disappearance of Hooded Justice. During the fight, Adrian silently concedes that they are evenly matched. In the narration, which is still Adrian's autobiography written years later, he complains that Eddie won the fight by cheating. All Eddie did was randomly shout, "No! Don't—!" And this made Adrian hesitate long enough for Eddie to knock him down. By that point in the fight, Adrian had disabled both of Eddie's guns, so he decided to just walk away, telling Ozymandias that this is a game for grown-ups. In his autobiography, Adrian maintains that he allowed Eddie to win so that he could collect data on his strength and fighting style. But I find that a strange thing to say after accusing the other side of cheating.
Anyway, as strange as it as was for Eddie to walk away from the fight without actually conducting his investigation, it was even stranger for Adrian to do the same. You'd think that with Eddie gone, he would have been free to gather some evidence about Hooded Justice. But instead, he just went home, admitting he lost interest in it. Several months later, the emergence of Dr. Manhattan provides Adrian with a new obsession. He immediately began investing in fallout shelters and gathering resources to build his secret base in Antarctica.
Five months later, he's invited a charity gala with other superheroes. Adrian initially declined, until he learned that Dr. Manhattan would attend. He was even willing to perform on stage next to the Comedian just for the chance to meet America's new "superman." But first, Adrian's approached by Captain Metropolis, who stuns him by asking how to pronounce Ozymandias. Realizing that he's surrounded by primitives, Adrian quickly shook hands with Dr. Manhattan before slinking away to eavesdrop on his conversation with Nite Owl. After a few minutes, Janey Slater asks Jon if they can go home. Dr. Manhattan says goodbye to Nite Owl, then, quite shockingly, says goodbye to Ozymandias, as well, revealing that he knew Adrian was hiding the whole time.
We then skip ahead a few more months to the completion of Adrian's Antarctic hideaway. The three architects who designed the fortress had all died in a tragic plane crash, which we all know was caused by Adrian. Just like the pharaohs of old, Ozymandias didn't want anyone who knew his secrets to live to tell them. The issue then ends with Adrian turning on his wall of televisions, which is oddly voice-controlled (something that was most definitely not the case in the original Watchmen story).
A running gag in the classic Pixar film Up is how the dogs would frequently become distracted by the mere thought of a squirrel. That's what Len Wein feels like to me. He spent all this time setting up an investigation into Hooded Justice but then immediately abandoned it to rush into the famously alluded Comedian fight. But that fight was started for no reason and ended without any real consequence before Wein quickly zipped over to the Dr. Manhattan storyline. Granted, I did like how Adrian's first thoughts when seeing Dr. Manhattan was to prepare for nuclear armageddon. I just didn't like how that short-changed the stuff with Hooded Justice and the Comedian. I mean, Adrian didn't need to investigate Hooded Justice. If Wein was unable or unwilling to provide any answers on that front, then he should have just avoided the topic altogether. But the Comedian fight was something that he did need to do. And it was a real opportunity to be creative and provide some fascinating depth to this character. But Wein missed the moment. Such a shame.
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