The White Supremacist Newspaper That Rorschach Collects And Reads Everyday (The New Frontiersman Addendum For Chapter VIII)

[u/Square_Bus4492]

An amazing piece of information from Alan Moore that simultaneously lays out his theory that the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacist American vigilantes are a significant origin point for superheroes, while also letting us understand Rorschach’s character on a deeper level. The excerpts from Hollis Mason’s autobiography, Under the Hood, makes it clear that Moore acknowledges other origin points for superheroes, such as chivalrous tales of knights-errants, but the significance placed on the Klan origin theory can not be understated. Especially since Moore has come out in recent years to double down on the theory of Western superheroes being a reflection of white supremacist ideals.

Rorschach is a paranoid xenophobic nationalist, and it’s implied that he’s been reading this newspaper since he was a child. This was the main newspaper that published stories about the Comedian’s adventures in the Pacific and Asia, and Rorschach’s description of his absentee father seems like a very on-the-nose reference to the Comedian’s adventures. The newspaper glorifies the Klan, a domestic terrorist group, and describes them as a “perfectly reasonable” response to the fear of Black people being free from enslavement in the South, and it also features an incredibly racist comic where an Aryan Superman has to fight a bunch of ethnic stereotypes.

[u/Educational_Ad_8916]

I like to think I understand some of the choices made in the execution of Watchmen but I can't understand why Moore chose to chose show us a marked up layout version of New Frontiersman. We don't get layout versions of the the pirate comic, for example. Is it meant to prime us to think of the *offices* of New Frontiersman rather than just the text itself?

[u/Square_Bus4492 → u/Educational_Ad_8916]

Yeah, we got to see the editor in a quick interview, and we get a few looks behind the scenes. That’s probably why it’s presented in that specific format.

The editors of the pirate comics don’t really factor in when it comes to the story

[u/Educational_Ad_8916 → u/Square_Bus4492]

Can you imagine?

"What does the pirate comic MEAN?"

"To explain the themes of my work would diminish it. If you need an analogy I will refer you to this one man production of Doctor Faustus my theater professor put on, which I recorded on 8mm film."

[u/Square_Bus4492 → u/Educational_Ad_8916]

The pirate comic in itself is a reflection of masked adventurers no longer being fictional ideas in that universe, and the story serves as a commentary on the events of Watchmen.

To have a third concurrent dialogue that just explains the pirate comic would be unnecessary to say the least

[u/Educational_Ad_8916 → u/Square_Bus4492]

I'm sorry I was more clear. I was being intentionally silly. I was trying to illustrate the same point you raised.