We are on the interrogation phase of Rorschach, and issue #8 contains a wild story that comes at us through visuals as only Tom King and Jorge Fornes can provide. Even those of us following this series since the beginning still don’t know much about the main character, and I love that even in the opening page it pretty much starts with that tease right at us. We will be given some info in this issue, and alongside it there will be some symbolism and of course mystery! So will this mix be enough to keep going for the next couple of months till we hit the conclusion?
SPOILERS AHEAD for Rorschach #8!
As mentioned earlier, we open on our Detective who is interrogating three people connected to Wil Myerson and Laura “The Kid” Cummings: Samuel Faider, who takes care of estates; Jamie Nowles, Wil’s psychiatrist; and Daniel Shapiro, who helps Wil because of his uncle’s friendship. Make sure to pay attention to what is going on with them and the pages, as the art department really gets to shine.
Speaking of the art, I really have to say that Jorge Fornes found a real interesting way to make flashbacks and interrogations way more fun on the comic book page than they have any right to be. I like how the word flow helps to guide it along and even how the panels lead you along as if you’re watching a movie with wide shots that flow into focus on a character. The way he is constructing the panels and having your eyes flow just really adds to the mystery of this story. I’ll even let you in on a secret — I had an eye opening moment with this issue as I was writing the review, but more on that later.
The issue itself feels almost like an episode of Making a Murderer, with new characters talking about their interactions with Wil and Laura. I love the add-ons, like “I didn’t feel like they were going to do something crazy” even though Wil is walking around in his Rorschach mask. It gives me a thought about how the average person, in that part of the multiverse, would feel about seeing a Rorschach mask — would it be a reminder of a hero? Or would it be polarizing?
Speaking of polarizing, this issue kind of made me feel differently about the Detective. For the most part, I felt like he was a great character, but as you read the issue you can see that he did some body work on the people he is interrogating and is just walking around with their blood on his shirt. Could that mean he is starting to come around to Rorschach’s way?
After all we are told from our newer characters, we really start to see a major change in our Detective; he majorly loses his cool. We see him striking these men while they are cuffed and he is calling out their stories, which leads us to the last two pages which are the big moments. After our Detective loses it on the men, they finally raise their heads up. This is one at a time and they are alone; they say to him that he is the one they are waiting for. This hits me and really makes me wonder how this plays out in a linear fashion.
Remember The Usual Suspects? The last page has a huge moment like that and it really hit me when I saw the cups, which made me think of that falling mug. When you look at the cups the colors really pop: red, green, and blue. That hit me as a clue and it got me to wonder if he drank three cups of water using different cups, or did the cups change color? What does that set of colors mean? So, I looked at the significance of those colors and on my search three things really stuck out to me:
First off, Intransitive Dice, which basically boils down to a fancy set of rock, paper, scissors. Could that mean our three new characters put each other and the facts in check?
Secondly, Color Meaning and Psychology, which gives off some meanings for the colors. I like that Samuel wore red and that goes towards attention, so that works with estates. Green is a color of health which fits in with Jaime, and blue is responsibility and loyalty which coincide with Daniel. Truth be told, once I saw the cups, that then led to seeing the shades of color in the flashbacks and finally on the articles of clothing for each character, so major kudos to Dave Stewart for hiding that in plain sight.
Lastly and most obviously is the fact that the RGB color mode is used to produce color images on screens, so in a way it shapes our reality and that is crazy considering the group of characters we have here.
Oh yeah, and some guy named Frank Miller gets a moment in the book too…
Rorschach #8 is another great issue that adds to the mystery and gives you a lot to think about between issues, fantastic art that makes you question the reality of the situation, and a major puzzle that is begging to be solved. This is building my hype, so I can’t wait till we start getting some answers.
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!
You must be logged in to post a comment.