Fearful Symmetry (1987)
Fearful Symmetry Review
Fearful Symmetry is the fifth issue in the twelve-issue series Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons.
This is the weakest issue released up to this point, which is not to say that it’s bad because it’s still very good, but it just wasn’t up to par with the previous chapters in the story. First off, the idea to frame the entire plot with the story within a story in the form of this imagined pirate comic book did not fully work.
Don’t get me wrong, the final literary supplement was intriguing as they insightfully and meticulously explained the history and contents of this made-up comic. It was so elaborate, in fact, that it felt very much real and not fictional, which is a testament to the power of this graphic novel’s writing. But how this pirate comic was incorporated inside the Watchmen story itself was structurally and tonally odd and ill-fitting, though the illustrations on those sections was pleasingly colorful, striking and different.
The first half of this issue, thus, was not my cup of tea, though it did continue the story in a solid, if far from engaging manner. Where the story significantly picked up momentum is in the second half where suddenly a major plot point happened, which was the attack and eventual capturing of Rorschach. He was absent for a long time and finally he was well utilized. How he fought like a wild animal was cool and so much fun while the eventual imprisonment is a major plot development that will have big repercussions in the future.
