The Comedian
The Comedian (Edward Morgan Blake) is a fictional character, a superhero/anti-hero featured in the acclaimed 1986 comic book series Watchmen, published by DC Comics.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Watchmen #1 (1986)
Created by Alan Moore (story) and Dave Gibbons (art), based on The Peacemaker
In story information
Alter ego Edward Morgan Blake
Team affiliations United States government, Crimebusters, Minutemen
Abilities Olympic-level strength, great fighting prowess. He is an expert in practically any type of weaponry
The Comedian was born in 1924 as Edward Morgan Blake. When he first became a costumed adventurer in 1939, he dressed in a clown-like costume with a simple domino mask. An effective and brutal vigilante, Blake managed to expunge most organized crime from the New York harbor. He became the youngest member of The Minutemen, a prominent group of heroes. After a photography shoot, he sexually assaulted fellow Minuteman Silk Spectre (who was about three years older than him and whom he seemed prone to flirting with); she was spared only when another Minuteman, Hooded Justice, interrupted the assault and beat Blake, breaking his nose. The Comedian was expelled from the group - but Silk Spectre's agent persuaded her not to press charges against him for fear of what it would do the group's image - and continued to work on his own, although his self-restraint continued to slip. He would later have another encounter with Silk Spectre, and the second time around, he impregnated her with her daughter and successor, Laurie. While never explicitly mentioned, the second sexual encounter between the Comedian and the first Silk Spectre is said to be consensual, and at the end of Watchmen it is implied that, in spite of everything, the first Silk Spectre had feelings for the Comedian.
Watchmen Movie - Official Trailer
In the 1940s, Blake updated his Comedian uniform, after being stabbed by a small-time hood. He adopted a leather outfit that served as light body armor, adorned with short star-and-stripe-themed sleeves and a small happy face button. He retained the small domino mask and began carrying a pistol. He fought in World War II, becoming a war hero in the Pacific theater. It is also implied, but not directly stated, that he murdered Hooded Justice in revenge for the beating he suffered. By the late 1960s, Blake had begun working as a covert government operative. Hollis Mason, the original Nite-Owl, had published his autobiography Under the Hood by this point and he disclosed the Comedian's sexual assault on Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre, though Blake never sued the author. In 1966, he was invited to join the Crimebusters by Captain Metropolis, but he quickly ruined the older hero's hope of a new team by mocking him, claiming he was only doing it for vanity and glory, and even set his display on fire while saying that old fashioned crime fighting methods were not useful for saving the world when the threat of nuclear war lay overhead at all times. It was also here that the Comedian met his daughter, Laurie, now the new Silk Spectre, and asked her if her mother ever talked about him while lighting a cigarette for her, but their conversation was quickly broken up by an angry Sally Jupiter. The Comedian seemed genuinely perplexed that Sally was still holding a grudge against him, saying he thought they had settled their differences, and Laurie noted that the Comedian looked sad as he watched them drive away, and felt sorry for him until her mother told her of their past history (but still not telling Laurie that she was his daughter), after which she felt nothing but disgust and hatred towards him. Alongside Doctor Manhattan, The Comedian played a major role in the United States' war with Vietnam. Shortly after Manhattan's godlike powers forced the North Vietnamese into full surrender, Blake was confronted by a Vietnamese woman he had seemingly made pregnant. He told her bluntly that he planned to leave the country immediately without her, and in a rage she slashed his face with a broken bottle. Blake shot and killed her. His injury led to a disfiguring scar that ran from his right eye down to the corner of his mouth; after this incident, he wore an enclosing leather gimp-style mask when dressed as The Comedian.
The costumed adventurers faced massive backlash and rioting in the 1970s; in response, Congress passed the Keene Act, requiring all heroes to register with the government if they wished to remain active. The majority of them "retired" in anonymity; a few, like Ozymandias, publicly revealed their identities and capitalized on the sudden fame, while others, such as Rorschach, continued their activities in open defiance of the law. Doctor Manhattan and The Comedian were two of the few who registered with, and were employed by, the government.
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