Rorschach #4 Review

Another One

Writer: Tom King
Artist: Jorge Fornes
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: January 18th, 2020

In issue #3 we got the backstory of William Myerson's sidekick Laura Cummings, but it doesn't stop there because issue #4 moves on from her hometown to being in a traveling circus for a bit before she met Myerson. But wait a minute... we know Myserson becomes a new Rorschach... but there's another one, too?

Our nameless detective kicks off this issue by interviewing a man, who has been imprisoned, about Laura. As he's talking, he's using crayons to color a coloring book of Pontius Pirate, and Pontius Pirate is the character that William Myerson created and drew for so many years. We do find out that Laura was also a fan of the comic, so there's at least one connection for her and Myerson.

This guy was the strong man at a circus and Laura was a sharp-shooter, dressing up in the cowgirl clothes that she would eventually be killed wearing. They called her "The Kid", and the two would grow a great non-sexual relationship together. It kind of reminded me of Bane and Scandal Savage from Secret Six, to be honest.

One night there was a party for all of the cast of the circus, and some random roadie got drunk and started crying, saying that he had beaten his wife to death. Nobody really did anything then, but Laura told this strong man that she was going to shoot him. So instead of letting her kill him, he did it himself. When the guy got drunk again, he simply pushed him off a balcony. When Laura found out that the man was killed, she knew exactly who did it and she was pissed.

And it's here that we see she's losing her marbles. She claims that she knows who he really is. That he's Rorschach. And she starts saying things that her father used to say about the squid controlling people. So what does he do? He becomes Rorschach! There's this one great scene where a villain has planted bombs around the city and starts doing his $#!+ talking, but he just tosses him down an elevator shaft. I thought that was pretty cool. Then he just goes around killing people who have done wrong, until he's set up by the cops and busted.

So people becoming Rorschach is just a thing that Laura makes them do. There's probably been half a dozen of them.

Bits and Pieces

I know I'm supposed to give a solid opinion on this book right here, but to be honest I don't know what to think because it's just so... lacking where it fits into the puzzle right now. The question of "why are we even doing this?" popped into my head a lot, much more than in the other issues (which I really liked). I'm assuming that in the next few issues it'll come together and it'll make more sense but this just seemed so out of the sandbox that's been played in so far. Head scratching aside, there are moments I enjoyed, you do begin to like this new character, and the art is great as usual. I hope this issue has implications and a reason to exist, and isn't one of those side things Tom throws in there and never returns to.

6/10