Warner Bros. finally released chapters two and three of the Watchmen Motion Comic a couple of weeks ago. I took a look at chapter one back in August and was impressed with the job Cruel and Unusual Productions was able to pull off, and chapters two and three continue this trend.
The new chapters focus mostly on the characters of Edward "The Comedian" Blake and Jon "Dr. Manhattan" Ostermann. We also get a few more clues as to why the world of Watchmen in 1985 is different from our own in the same year. For example, Nixon is still president only because of Dr. Manhattan's intervention in the Vietnam War, which because we won, he was popular enough to get reelected.
Unfortunately we still have just one voice actor, Tom Stechschulte, voicing every character, male and female. Females still sound weird and kind of disturbing in some cases. Fortunately, this guy hits it out of the park a few times over these two episodes. In particular Edward Blake's emotional breakdown and Rorschach's monologue in episode three and the reading of "The Black Freighter" in episode three.
The highlight for me, however, is Rorschach's monologue. I go back and forth between Rorschach and The Comedian as my favorite character. This episode shows why Rorschach wins more often than not.
My favorite quote occurs when Rorschach is writing about The Comedian's life and death: "Edward Morgan Blake. Born 1924. Forty-five years a Comedian, died 1985, buried in the rain. Is that what happens to us? A life of conflict with no time for friends so that when it's done, only our enemies leave roses?" I love the pathos this issue creates for Blake. A character that does unspeakable, horrible things, but at the end of the issue you're fascinated by him at worse and maybe even feel genuine sympathy for him.
Issue two is one of the reasons this book is so heralded. It works on a number of levels. During the sequence mentioned above, everything comes together in a near-perfect mix of music, story, visuals, and editing and for me hits an emotional crescendo. It's the reason I go to the movies and it's "only" a comic.
I cry very easily at movies, but this is the first time I can recall doing so with a comic. These guys are doing great work, and I hope they keep it up and somehow get the chapters out faster (please!).