One thing that
always puzzled me a bit about
Watchmen, even back in the day, was the
Keene Act.
In the history of the Watchmen's America, in 1977 the police in New York City and Washington DC went on strike, "
claiming that costumed adventurers are making their job impossible."
As a result, the federal government rushed through the Keene Act, so "
vigilantism is now illegal again, as it was before they altered the laws to accommodate strategically useful talents."
And that's about
all that
Moore and
Gibbons tell us. In this
deeply detailed world, one of the most important story elements is really just
glossed over, without a lot of explanation or detail.
Let's leave aside the question of federal involvement. After all, both
Marvel and
DC have, at various times, had the federal government step in and ban heroes...although
nothing remotely on the scale of Stamford happens pre-Keene here, not that we know of. And we'll leave aside the issue of why a
federal law is being enforced by
local cops, and the only captured vigilante is put into a state prison. Where's the
FBI? Shouldn't
Rorschach be in federal custody?
Perhaps the more important question is, would we really have two cities (or were there more?) worth of police strikes and a massive federal intervention, over the activities of
3 non-powered dudes in masks?
In 1977,
Ozymandias had already been retired for a couple of years.
Doc Manhattan and the
Comedian are "
exempt" from the Keen Act, because they "
work entirely for the government."
Which means the police strikes, and the vast public hatred of masks, was somehow caused by
Nite Owl II, Rorschach, and
Silk Spectre II. These are the
only heroes (aside from the "exempts") active in 1977, unless there's an awful lot Moore and Gibbons weren't telling us. The entire point of the police strikes and the Keene Act was just to ban
3 people? Really?
The other thing to consider, is
why the opposition to heroes? By 1977, masks had been operating for almost 40 years. There was nothing new here. Look at
all the newspaper clippings and trophies in the background in the various chapters...masks operated with some level of acclaim and public acceptance. As late as 1962, they're having a "
civic banquet" and "in gratitude" awards for
Nite Owl I. For four decades masks had been tolerated, and even celebrated.
So why, exactly, did the police suddenly find that masks were "making their job impossible?" There's not even
a hint in the comics. During
Veidt's
mammoth 9,000-page Sorkinesque walk-and-talk exposition in issue 11, he opines that Doc Manhattan "
somehow symbolized mankind's problems. As tensions rose, the elevation of costumed heroes became a descent...I foresaw that by the late Seventies, it would reach bottom." But that doesn't really explain a massive police strike. That still seems to beg some sort of
precipitating incident, doesn't it? Some mini-Stamford, if you will, some event that lit off the powder keg.
(Before anyone suggests Veidt somehow manipulated events, I'd say that if he
had done so, he certainly would have boasted about it in #11, as he brags about
every iota of his life and plans. Seriously, the issue is 10,453 pages of self-aggrandizing exposition, a real-momentum killer...just in case you thought Watchmen in graphic novel form was perfect.)
Moore and Gibbons leave us to speculate for ourselves, then. Would the activities of 3 masks be enough to cause every cop to walk off the job?!?
How was their job made impossible?
I've got a theory, backed by nothing but speculation. But Rorschach's kidnap case, the one that drove him around the bend, was in
1975. In those 2 years before the strikes, Rorschach was no longer "
soft," and would kill many of the crooks he caught. So the police and the public would be confronted with a growing pile of bodies, and gazing into that
abyss made them lose sympathy for all the heroes.
Still, there's no real
spark, is there? But what if...what if Rorschach had beaten the crap out of, or even killed,
an undercover cop, mistaking him for a perp? That would be spark enough, wouldn't it? And while we see Manhattan and the Comedian and Silk Spectre and Nite Owl dealing with the Keen riots, we
never see Rorschach there...so we don't get his thoughts on the police strike, or the anarchy, or the causes. Hmmmm...
Just a theory, nothing to back it up. But seriously, can you see
anything Nite Owl or Silk Spectre doing being enough to cause a police strike? We can only wonder, because the authors didn't clue us in...
a continuing Godzilla series, wherein Godzilla trashes Las Vegas, and fights the Champions, Fantastic Four, Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D....AND Devil Dinosaur. But wait, there's more!! Because at the EXACT same time, he was also writing--
SHOGUN WARRIORS!! Giant mecha robots battling monsters and other giant robots! And yes, it was set in the Marvel Universe.
a continuing Godzilla series, wherein Godzilla trashes Las Vegas, and fights the Champions, Fantastic Four, Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D....AND Devil Dinosaur. But wait, there's more!! Because at the EXACT same time, he was also writing--
SHOGUN WARRIORS!! Giant mecha robots battling monsters and other giant robots! And yes, it was set in the Marvel Universe.
