Lee Bermejo has once again delivered a stunning cover that fits in nicely with the Watchmen universe. We have a stray splatter of blood in the scrambled eggs reminiscent of the blood on the Comedian's smiley face. And I'm really impressed with Walter's face being reflected in a skull-like pool of blood that also forms a perfect Rorschach ink blot test. Finally — and this is a small thing, but I appreciate it — this cover image serves as the opening panel of the issue, just as Dave Gibbons did on every issue of Watchmen.
The variant cover by Jock is not my cup of tea. But that's OK. Because I am a firm believer in using variant covers to experiment and push the boundaries of how characters can be represented. This is a little too intense and abstract for me, but I appreciate the effort.
The issue opens by revealing that the beautiful plate of breakfast Walter bleed all over was a gift from the diner's waitress, who took pity on him. But Walter refuses to eat and walks out into the street, conveniently spotting a couple of underlings in the drug gang he's trying to take down. Last issue only referred to their boss as "Crime," but in this issue, Rorschach somehow knows his name is Rawhead.
Anyway, Walter conveniently spots a delivery truck that left its doors open and the keys still in the ignition. Even though it's the middle of the day and the street is crowded with witnesses, Walter manages to surreptitiously rig the truck to crash into one of the gangsters and pin him against a wall. The other gangster finds Rorschach's ink blot calling card on the driver's seat, but is unable to free his friend before Walter tosses a Molotov cocktail at the truck without being noticed, causing the entire vehicle to explode.
The surviving gangster reports this to Rawhead, and he criticizes his boss for not only refusing to kill Rorschach when he had the chance, but also failing to at least remove his mask so they could have recognized their nemesis on the street. Rawhead responds by killing this man and feeding him to his pet tiger.
Walter, meanwhile, returned to the diner, but passed out before he could order any food. The kind waitress took him to the hospital, where he apparently spent three days in a coma. Rorschach's amazing luck pays off once again, as this particular hospital was so busy and disorganized that not a single person noticed him waking up, stealing medical supplies and leaving. Remember: He was there for THREE days!
After we get the briefest of glimpses of the detectives searching for the serial killer known as The Bard, a fully healed Rorschach captures a pimp who happens to be one of Rawhead's men. As he begins the interrogation, several other gangsters begin climbing the stairs to rescue their friend. And that's where this issue abruptly ends, because I guess Brian Azzarello thought that was a cliffhanger ending?
This is a masterfully illustrated book. I love Bermejo's art. I'm just sad that it's accompanied with this dull story where nothing meaningful actually happens. And what does happen is bizarrely far-fetched. How many implausible coincidences can keep benefiting Rorschach? Azzarello was given four issues to tell a Rorschach story, but halfway through, he seems to be wasting this character's potential.
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