The Comedian was created by writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons. The Comedian is a fictional character that first appeared in the Watchmen graphic novel limited series by DC Comics. He, like most of the important characters in the series, was a counterpart for a Charlton Comics character, in this case, the Peacemaker. The Comedian, according to Moore, is a mix of the Peacemaker and “maybe a touch of the normal Captain America patriotic hero-type” with “a little bit of Nick Fury.”
The aggressive, individualistic vigilante Edward Morgan “Eddie” Blake has the longest crime-fighting career of all the world’s costumed vigilantes. He served in the Vietnam War, was a member of the Minutemen and the Crimebusters, and was both a hero and a criminal before being slain by Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan in 1985.
Comedian Origins: Once you figure out what a joke everything is, being a comedian is the only thing that makes sense
Eddie Blake’s early life is largely unknown. Eddie was born in 1924, and it was rumored that his parents were abusive. He donned a yellow and purple costume and began viciously assaulting criminals, and occasionally their victims, at the age of sixteen, under the title of the Comedian.
Minutemen
He was a member of the Minutemen, an eight-man, disguised, crime-fighting vigilante squad. He instigated a brawl against Hooded Justice, who then proceeded to thrash Blake in a fit of anger. Blake kept Hooded Justice at gunpoint and threatened to shoot him and everyone else if they ever harmed him again, so the Minutemen expelled him from the organization.
He altered his green and purple clothing to durable leather armor after being wounded in the breast in 1941. Blake was invited to testify for the disappearance and murder of Hooded Justice shortly after the Minutemen dissolved in the 1950s, but he declined. There was never any evidence against him.
The Crimebusters
Blake became a member of the Crimebusters, commanded by Captain Metropolis, in the late 1960s. However, their first meeting did not last long as the Comedian lit fire to one of Metropolis’s displays and declared the club to be a farce.
Following the Keene Act in the 1970s, the Comedian enlisted in the Vietnam War with Dr. Manhattan and was left with a painful and debilitating scar on the left side of his face by an infuriated Vietnamese lady, who he had impregnated at the war’s end. In vengeance, he shot her, informing Doctor Manhattan, who had been watching the whole affair, that he did nothing despite multiple opportunities to avoid the terrible infraction.
After returning home, he aided Nite Owl in putting down a riot, only to grow outraged when a piece of rubble struck him in the head, prompting him to open fire on a group with rubber bullets. Nite Owl questioned Blake’s ruthless choice of action after the mob dispersed, which Blake rejected, claiming that they were saving the masses from themselves. Blake’s answer to Nite Owl’s question about why they had grown so aggressive and what had become of the American Dream was, “It became a reality. It’s right in front of you.”
Death and Funeral
Eddie somehow found out about Ozymandias’ secretive plan to invade New York City and was terrified by the plot, but he kept quiet about it. He had paid a drunken visit to Edgar Jacobi, his erstwhile arch-enemy “Moloch,” in October 1985. Before leaving in a drunken haze, he sobbed and told him that everything was a joke in life, but he couldn’t grasp the one he witnessed on the island. Veidt kicked through Blake’s flat door, beat him unconscious, and tossed him out of the window to his death a few days later.
Blake’s funeral was held in the rain at a cemetery located in New York City. Protestors chanted at the cemetery gates in protest of Blake’s horrific crimes as a military operative. Adrian Veidt, Jon Osterman, and Dan Dreiberg were in attendance, as was Walter Kovacs, who remained outside the cemetery gates to conceal his identity from the rest of them. The American flag was draped over his casket.
The investigation conducted by Rorschach
Following Blake’s death, the alone vigilante is known as Rorschach launches his own investigation into the crime. While examining Blake’s apartment, Rorschach discovers a hidden closet with a costume and other materials that prove the slain man was The Comedian, a former head of both the Minutemen and the Watchmen. Rorschach suspects a scheme to assassinate costumed heroes (“masks”) as a result of this finding, and his inquiry into Blake’s murder led to a far more comprehensive, more terrifying mystery.
The Miracle of Thermodynamics
After he left his Earth, Dr. Manhattan traveled back in time and transferred Blake away before he touched the earth, leading him to crash into an ocean on Prime Earth. As he washed ashore on the shores of Metropolis, he was welcomed by Manhattan. Blake stormed into Lexcorp Tower afterward, shot Lex Luthor, and attempted to assassinate Ozymandias.
Doomsday Clock
He then went on the quest for the Marionette and the Mime, finally interrupting a supervillain gathering, killing Typhoon, and wounding the Riddler. Before being vanquished by The Joker, the Comedian nearly killed Marionette and Mime.
Blake, Reggie, Veidt, and Long are eventually teleported to Washington, D.C.’s National Mall where Blake shoots Veidt in retaliation. However, Lex Luthor steps in and fires a specialized rifle at Blake, altering his vibrational frequency and returning him to his genesis point—mid-air in Manhattan on October 11, 1985, seconds before crashing to the ground and dying.
Before Watchmen
In the Minutemen issue #1 in Before Watchmen, further information about the Comedian is given, and some retconned material from the main tale. The Comedian had a criminal history of assault and began his career as a disguised adventurer when he was sixteen years old. He is shown to be motivated by avarice and an intrinsic desire for violence, unlike the others of the Minutemen’s costumed heroes.
After breaking up a pub brawl, he beats a bartender and takes booze and funds from the cash register. The issue also indicates that Blake was a victim of severe child abuse. He states that a “caseworker” informed him that what he had gone through was the source of his fierce outbursts, albeit this allegation is suspect due to Blake’s unreliable narrator status.
The Comedian issue #1 in Before Watchmen continues to recreate the character’s backstory. Blake was close friends with Robert F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, and Jackie Kennedy, according to the book. This is in contrast to the main Watchmen series, in which Edward Blake is portrayed as a close buddy of Richard Nixon (the one for whom he used to work as an assassin).
Origin of Name and Character Inspiration
According to Alan Moore, the Comedian was inspired by G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent who played a key role in the Watergate investigation as the top operator in the White House Plumber’s squad during the Nixon administration. Liddy was found guilty of burglary, conspiracy, and unlawful wiretapping for his part in the affair. Moore pictured Liddy with “comic book muscles” as the Comedian.
Rorschach says in the comic that Blake’s title “The Comedian” comes from his cynical and possibly selfish worldview that “in a mad world,” one can only laugh as if everything is “a joke.” Moore was inspired by Graham Greene’s work The Comedians for the name.
Powers and Abilities
The Comedian had various powers and abilities, and extreme Human Condition was one of them; where even at his elderly age, the Comedian stood 6’2″ tall and weighed 225 pounds, prompting police officers to comment that he was sculpted like a linebacker and in excellent form. He could smash through the walls of his flat and even trade blows with Ozymandias.
The Comedian was skilled in advanced hand-to-hand combat and continued to be so even when he died at the age of 61, still having preserved his outstanding physique. He was also an expert knife thrower and wielder. He is among the few people who have defeated Ozymandias in combat, but his abilities deteriorated as he grew older, leading to his loss and death.
The Comedian was an expert with firearms and weapons, especially pistols, shotguns, and rifles. Blake was adept with a .45 Calibre pistol, M1911, pump-action shotgun, tear gas grenades, M16 Rifles, Smith and Wesson 586, Uzi, leather body armor, and MAC-10 Submachine gun. He used a lot of conventional weaponry in most of his adventures, like grenade launchers and flame throwers. His government-approved actions show he acquired unconventional warfare and covert operations training.
He was also skilled in other aspects of war, like demolitions, military protocol, investigation, and leadership.
Blake was a government-sanctioned assassin from 1942 until his death, and he got specialized training in special operations, urban and guerilla warfare, espionage, intelligence collection, and military tactics throughout his time as a government-sanctioned operative. He was so competent and effective in these covert disciplines that he worked for the US government as a “Black-Ops” type operative in the 1960s and 1970s, potentially as a member of the CIA’s secretive “Special Activities Division.” He served in multiple conflicts as an active warrior and government liaison, most prominently World War II and the Vietnam War, where he killed several enemy fighters without any compassion or remorse.
Blake was a brilliant investigator with exceptional deduction and analysis abilities despite his lack of formal schooling. He was the first figure to completely understand Doctor Manhattan’s developing separation from humanity, as well as the first disguised adventurer to learn about Ozymandias’ scheme. He also accurately predicted Hooded Justice’s sexual orientation (albeit he wasn’t the only one who had this suspicion).
Blake was a superb marksman and was skilled with practically every military and non-military grade firearm.
Paraphernalia
The various other pieces of equipment used by the Comedian were the two costumes and a smiley face badge. Costume I was the original flamboyant outfit of the Comedian, which consisted of a purple and a bright yellow boiler suit. To conceal his identity, he wore purple gloves and boots, as well as a domino mask of the same color. He also had a vibrant red belt buckle with a laughing face on it.
After being stabbed in 1941, he decided to change his clothing into something much more protective, and that is when Costume II happened. He subsequently created the armor that he would wear for the rest of his career, which was composed of solid leather with patriotic shoulder padding, albeit he maintained the same mask. He donned a black leather mask to cover his scar after his former mistress sliced his face at the end of the Vietnam war.
The Comedian is frequently shown wearing or near the “smiley face” button, which is strongly linked with him and has become an iconic emblem of the Watchmen saga as a whole, throughout the book. The button is covered with a single drop of blood at the start of the series, which is at the level of the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock at the beginning of the series, five minutes to midnight if the button is considered a clock face.
Trivia
The role of the Comedian in the assassination of John F. Kennedy is presented differently in different views. In the original comic series, Ozymandias mentions that Comedian was in Dallas at the time of the assassination, implying that he was either the assassin or had prior knowledge of the plot; however, it is revealed in the new series Before Watchmen that Comedian had been dispatched to fight Moloch while the killing was taking place. Comedian is shown as carrying out the assassination on command of Richard Nixon in both the film and the prequel game.
What Makes The Comedian the Most Hated Character of The Watchmen?
Blake is a cigar-smoking, gun-wielding vigilante who has transitioned into a paramilitary agent. He has been described as “deliberately amoral” and having “practiced cynicism,” implying that he has no respect for societal norms or human life. He characterizes the world as a cruel joke that only he gets. Still, his studied cynicism is broken when The Comedian finds a scheme that he considers a “practical joke” that even he can’t fathom anybody would pull.
Edward Blake may have been on the side of the heroes, but he was a sadistic, violent, and vicious psychopath who used heroism as a pretext to harm criminals. Later, as a veteran of the Vietnam War, the Comedian served for a corrupt government and committed even more heinous acts. Even when he crossed borders that his universe’s most vicious heroes wouldn’t consider, he showed little to no remorse.
Blake’s motivations for doing the things that he does aren’t always apparent. Still, given his background during the Great Depression, it’s safe to presume he pushed aside any emotions of morality in order to live. Everything the Comedian accomplishes is insignificant to him, as a few good deeds are never enough to transform the world. This kind of thinking frequently placed him at odds with his comrades, whose whole motivation for wearing costumes and battling crime was to encourage others and improve people’s lives. The Comedian’s ideology was disturbed when he learned that Ozymandias was preparing to bring global peace by annihilating much of New York, and he was compelled to accept that this plan would succeed.
The Comedian, despite his harsh temperament, was never wholly uncaring. He was rescued during WWII by a Solomon lady and her son. When he arrived at the base, his captain ordered that the entire region be destroyed, killing both the lady and her son. To avenge them, he cut the captain’s throat. This prompted him to seek out Sally Jupiter. He appeared sincere in his regret for what he had done to her, and the two had an affair, which resulted in Laurie’s birth.
Blake silently cared for Laurie after learning she was his kid, but in an overbearing manner, such as threatening Laurie’s boyfriend after she did drugs. As he grew older, he began to moderate his deeds, killing or maiming only those who were commanded. Regardless, Edward spent most of his life without guilt, slaying criminals and heroes equally. Even if he matures, it will not be enough to atone for his atrocities.
Why is The Comedian Significant?
Like the rest of the Watchmen, the Comedian lacked abilities and was only a tank-like guy. His immensely muscled bulk was a formidable opponent, but he’s amoral brutality was much more so. His theory seems to be that humanity is essentially corrupt; therefore, he may as well sit back and chew on a cigar while watching the world burn or burn it down himself. Nonetheless, the Comedian occasionally exhibits profound insight into his own brutish character as well as real grief over humanity’s predicament.
The Comedian embodies a reflection of American imperialism’s moral uncertainty. Both the comic book series and the film adaptation of Watchmen begin with an inquiry into the death of the Comedian. In the Watchmen diegesis, he never appears as a living character, but we learn about him through flashbacks of other characters. His significant role in the broader metaphor of the American empire in decline is underscored by his presence in the other characters’ recollections and their internal fixation with his unsettling moral code.
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