Rorschach from Watchmen returns in new DC series

new Rorschach Watchmen DC series
(Image credit: DC)

Tom King and Jorge Fornés' long-simmering DC project now has a name: Rorschach. 

After previously touching on Watchmen in his Batman run, King will dive head-long into that world with this 12-issue series spinning off the popular character created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

(Image credit: DC)

Set 35 years after the end of the original Watchmen limited series (and Rorschach's death at the hands of Dr. Manhattan), the 12-issue Rorschach series opens with a world which has distrust in superheroes but celebrate Rorschach as "a cultural icon" due to his actions in the original volume.

"So what does it mean when Rorschach reappears as part of a pair of assassins trying to kill the first candidate to oppose President Robert Redford in decades?," reads DC's synopsis for the series. "Follow one determined detective as he walks backward in time, uncovering the identities and motives of the would-be killers, taking him deep into a dark conspiracy of alien invasions, disgraced do-gooders, mystical visions, and yes, comic books."

Similar to how Rorschach's actions were re-examined in HBO's Watchmen sequel, King and Fornés' Rorschach distinctly frames the character as unheroic - with DC specifically saying so in the announcement of this book.

"Rorschach may have spoken truth, but he wasn't a hero," reads DC's announcement.

Here is a unlettered preview from the Rorschach #1:

"Like the HBO Watchmen show and very much like the original ‘86 Watchmen, this is a very political work," King said in that announcement. "It’s an angry work. We’re so angry all the time now. We have to do something with that anger. It’s called Rorschach not because of the character Rorschach, but because what you see in these characters tells you more about yourself than about them."

Scheduled to launch October 13 as an adults only 17+ title through DC's Black Label, Rorschach will be colored by Dave Stewart, and lettered by Clayton Cowles. Jae Lee, who drew DC's Before Watchmen: Ozymandias title, is drawing a variant to the first issue.

Chris Arrant

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)

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