Rorschach #3 Review

Writer: Tom King
Artist: Jorge Fornes
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: December 15th, 2020

After getting some background on the new Rorschach, William Myerson, in the last issue it's time to get some background on his partner in crime, Laura Cummings. This issue flips between four different points in time: Stories of Laura's hometown at the turn of the century, Laura as a child and seeing how she was raised, Laura at 19 years old and returning to her hometown with Myerson, and the present (after Laura is dead) with our nameless detective spending the day in a diner in Laura's hometown.

The issue starts off with Laura at 19 years old, after meeting Myerson. She's wearing the cowgirl outfit that she will eventually die in, Myerson is dressed at Rorschach, and she's taken him to the graveyard of her hometown of Hanna, Wyoming. I am very upset that Tom King missed the opportunity to make it to Hanna, Montana. I'll see myself out after this review.

She starts telling him about the history of the town, and that this graveyard was made for miners who died in two mining incidents with mass casualties. An explosion in 1903, and then another in 1908. Much later, Laura's father would become the caretaker of the graveyard. While he was maintaining the property he would line up beer bottles for her to shoot at. He was very proud of how good of a shot she was.

But her dad was also pretty friggin' crazy! Not only is a veteran who is surely suffering from PTSD from his service, but Veidt's "alien invasion" from 1985 has really messed him up. He's got a bunker full of weapons and a militia that he's training for when they return. We even find out that he thinks the squid can take over your brain, and that he thought that happened to Laura's mother, so he killed her. His star soldier in his militia is Laura. She's a natural soldier and sniper. I won't spoil what happens to her father, though. When it happens, there is some question on WHEN it happened though.

While this is all going on for us, our detective is in the present. Sitting drinking coffee in a diner all day in Hanna, and of course, creating a friendship with the waitress. He found a book hidden behind a panel in Laura's closet, and that's what he's doing: reading it. We've just read Laura's journal, including parts that the detective pieced together.

Bits and Pieces

It's strange to question why a book exists and also really like it. We don't see why this is a Rorschach story yet, without the real Rorschach, but I'm still very much enjoying it. It tells Laura's story and it was a pretty damn good one, and I like how you get strung along to gradually realize how extreme her father's paranoia really is. As usual, the feel of the art fits naturally with the feel of the story. I recommend the first three issues of this book.

8/10