I unfortunately find the variant cover by Jill Thompson rather off-putting. There’s something about this style that feels rather amateurish to me. Ozymandias appears slightly off model. And Bubastis isn’t even the right color. Was this a rush job? It’s a shame there isn’t any appealing art with this issue because I think Len Wein actually did something interesting here.
The issue begins with Adrian conceding that even though he’s the smartest man in the world, he’s not the most creative. He was convinced he had to do something dramatic to save the world, but he had absolutely no idea what to do. So he turned to the world of science fiction. Adrian assembled a massive collection of books, TV shows, and movies, which he spent several months consuming. But even after reading and watching everything he could get his hands on, he still lacked the inspiration he needed. So he went back through everything a second time. And then a third time.
Finally, something spoke to him. An episode of a 1960s show called The Outer Limits, which featured an elaborate plot to create a fake alien scare in order to unite the world divided by the Cold War. Adrian became obsessed with that episode, called The Architects of Fear, and watched it repeatedly for several days. Seeming to forget it was a work of fiction, he scrutinized every detail of the characters’ plans, determined to deduce why their plan had failed. Ultimately, Adrian decided they didn’t go big enough.
So he quickly built a biolab and tried to genetically create the most hideous creature he could imagine. He ended up with an adorable kitten of a tiger/lynx hybrid. Adrian fell in love with his new pet, which he named Bubastis. However, he was once again forced to confront the limitations of his imagination, so he launched an elaborate plan that began with the purchase of an isolated island and taking every precaution to conceal it from all available public records. And then spend several years constructing all the necessary infrastructure on said island.
Time passes and Adrian is horrified to learn that President Nixon has sent Dr. Manhattan to Vietnam. Adrian is even more bothered by Nixon changing the Constitution so he can serve a third term. So he takes this moment to publicly reveal his secret identity, making the same striking pose he did on the cover. But when the police went on strike, and Nite Owl teamed up with Comedian, Adrian chose to put his costume back on and go out and help. However, he doesn’t really do much. He injures a kid who spray-painted “Who Watches the Watchmen” on a wall, then he beats up a guy who was stealing a TV. We later learn that Adrian was just hoping that enough people would see him in costume to spread rumors that would boost the sales of his Ozymandias action figures.
At the time of the Keene Act passing, Adrian is frustrated that all his years of working with Dr. Manhattan has yet to reveal the secret of teleportation to him. But he does take some comfort in observing the technological progress the two of them have brought to America with electric cars and affordable blimps.
So I had an epiphany while reading this. What if Len Wein had been writing Adrian Veidt as if he were Alan Moore all along? A genius, to be sure, but also a cocky, overly wordy one who is easily distracted and not necessarily the most creative. Think about it: Moore’s most celebrated works weren’t exactly original creations. V for Vendetta was a modernization of the Guy Fawkes legend. The League of Extraordinary Gentleman was a conglomeration of famous literary characters freely available in the public domain. And his original plan for Watchmen was to involve the group of characters DC had recently acquired from Charlton Comics. DC wouldn’t let Moore work with Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, and the rest, so Moore just barely tweaked those characters and left everything else the same.
And then there’s the ending. Moore really did steal his climax from The Outer Limits, but he didn’t tell anybody until Wein (the editor of the original series) discovered the connection while issue #10 was in production. Wein demanded that Moore change it, but Moore refused, choosing instead to randomly throw in a line of dialogue from The Architects of Fear episode as a tribute. Of course, this decision would have major ramifications for the film adaptation of Watchmen, as DC desperately sought to avoid a lawsuit. But Moore didn’t care about that.
Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but it really feels like Wein was making fun of Moore here. “Oh, sure, you need to read every single sci-fi book known to man and watch every TV show three times over for ‘research’ … yeah, right!” I don’t know if that was Wein’s intention, but this reading certainly made this series a lot more enjoyable to me. So that’s what I’m going to go with.
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