The Judge of All the Earth (1986)

The Judge of All the Earth Review

The Judge of All the Earth is the third issue in the twelve-issue series Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons.

This issue is pretty much a Dr. Manhattan story. It is disappointing that Rorschach continues to get sidelined after the very first issue, but this story has to juggle a lot of characters, mostly succeeding. It is revealed that Manhattan gave cancer to his lovers due to his radioactive powers, so he is accused by the government itself.

This all leads to his personal exile on Mars, where the majority of this issue takes place. In what was the biggest SF element so far, the Martian setting was wonderfully utilized through gorgeous illustrations and a particularly potent metaphor for loneliness and exile. The introspective nature to these panels was brilliant and it made for quite a moody issue.

I found the political elements with the Russians and the eventual war less interesting and standard, but overall the graphic novel continues to flow smoothly and deliver in both emotions and character development. Laurie also got a meaningful arc here while Manhattan’s exile will definitely impact the story significantly from now on.

As for that final section, it’s inferior to the ones before it, but it still offered an interesting, important look into the disintegration of the superhero team and masked heroes in particular. It distinguished smartly the differences between earlier comics and later ones, the former lacking and the latter having fantastical elements. It was, thus, a great history lesson in a graphic novel that continues to be pleasingly postmodernist and deconstructive.