Though the art in Watchmen resonates much more with representational art than iconic
abstraction on the spectrum from representational to abstract, one of its
characters, Rorschach, offers the ultimate in terms of an abstract icon. Rorschach’s
visage is a shapeshifting, amorphous inkblot image. If what McCloud states
about an icon abstracted from reality’s ability to mask a reader in a character,
Rorschach must compellingly mask the reader in his seedy, misanthropic persona.
This might allow for the uninhibited incorporation into the Watchmen environment.
Judging by the first panel on the first
page of Watchmen containing what
McCloud asserts to be the ultimate in an icon being abstracted from reality,
the smiley face, I’m led to believe that Dave Gibbons and Allan were McCloud-savvy.
But Watchmen was published in 1987,
and apparently McCloud is from 1992. I can’t help but wonder if McCloud
pilfered Watchmen for many of his
ideas. Watchmen seems to make a
statement about its medium from within its medium. I haven’t even read it, and I
can see it as an area of endless study.
I like that you use another comic to discuss the importance of icons. The work of McCloud brought a lot of questions to mind for me too, so I wonder if he looked at Watchmen for his ideas. Already I see similarities between the two if Watchmen makes a statement about the medium through the work itself.
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