I thought the climax was phenomenal. The feeling of loss when Ozymandias tells Nite Owl and Rorschach that it’s already too late, that they were half an hour too late to stop his grand plan, all after distracting them with a large Bond villain speech. I thought the characterization of him as a villain, or rather an Anti-villain, was phenomenal. I HATED HIM, and very rarely does any piece of fiction make me hate a villain like they’re a real person, the only other example I can think of is Percy from The Green Mile. I thought the fact that his larger than life terrorist attack on New York was a great way to solidify him as someone to hate, the self-righteous, self-glorifying, god-complex, penultimate anti-villain he is, someone so caught up in their ambitious plan to be a hero that they completely go past the line of sanity. I respected it, I admired the balls to do it, and I thought it gave the perfect kick to our heroes that their once Ally was truly not who they thought he was, and that he deserved retribution for his actions. Their battle with him felt earned, after all their hard work he gets what he wants, so he needs to pay. If they can’t get a happy ending, he shouldn’t too.
It was great, all until he turned on the television screens, all before he raised his arms into the air and screamed “I DID IT”. It wasn’t even a matter of his plan working perfectly as he intended, after all, the book reminds you that somethings never change (I forget the exact quote, so I’m paraphrasing), anyone will know that his utopia will come crashing down soon enough. My problem is, after all their work, after what he did to them, how he betrayed all of them. The moment they see the TV screens and the news that the Cold War and possibly World War III has ended, everyone but Rorschach is like “Goddammit, you are right, we can’t stop you. Your plan worked.”. They seem to completely forget everyone he murdered, his secretary, The Comedian, the countless people he purposefully gave cancer, his loyal handymen, half of New York, his goddamn mutant cat. And only Rorschach can see the fault in this.
Like I said, I thought the climax was incredibly written, but I wanted to see the goddamn self-glorifying terrorist be beaten to a bloody pulp. They were all there, all of them, he might have been strong, but 3 fit humans and a god-like being could have overpowered him. The rest of the world didn’t need to know who was really behind the attack on New York, I just wanted them to beat Ozzy to a bloody pulp and leave him to die in his antarctic base. And very rarely do I genuinely wish that upon a character.
Instead, they sit there and accept it, submit to his New World, and leave him to continue his stupid billion dollar franchise based around himself. Guy goddamn makes action figures of himself, he doesn’t really care about the fate of humanity, just his own self-image. Only Rorschach sees the fault.
Rorschach, the purest form of Anti-hero, if Ozymandias is the purest form of Anti-villain. The character meant to be controversial, the very definition of vigilante, a character you agree and disagree with all throughout the book. A character you may not like or agree with, but a compelling one you end up caring about none-the-less. Rorschach, of course he would be the only one to realize how wrong submitting to Veidt’s Utopia is. The only one to see that the people need to know the true monster behind it all. And what does he get for at least trying to set things straight?
Get blown to hell by Dr. Manhattan. Only a chapter after he has that heartfelt exchange with Nite Owl on how he truly considers him a real friend. Showing that there’s something more to him than just being a violent vigilante too obsessed with justice. He may have been flawed, may have been a bit of an extremist, but he at least tried to do the right things in the end.
To repeat myself. I was not dissappointed in the ending being a bleak one. But I wanted to see Ozymandias get his just desserts, even if it was just between the main characters and the reader. The world’s largest hypocrite, being nothing more than what he was thought he was stopping. Instead, he just gets to keep on in his warped perception of a perfect world, unharmed, unfeeling, just him and his stupid merchandise. And again, I really liked this book, and I at least like the last few panels showing the kid at the New Frontiersman picking up the diary to maybe realize the truth behind the matter, up to me or other readers, of course.