Ok. I haven’t read it in a while, but I had a question about the motivation of Ozymandis in killing Night Owl I. Was there ever any dialogue to explain why he was killed? What purpose did it serve?
I don’t remember if Ozy discussed it at the end.
The only thing I could think of was that it enhanced the mask killer paranoia in Rohrshach. Perhaps he thought if anyone could uncover his plot, it was Rohrshach.
But then, why not just kill Rohrshach? He was in his office. If he could take out the Comedian and catch a bullet, surely he could kill Rohrshach. Or why not kill Night Owl 2. He knew his real identity.
The mask killer thing always seemed flat to me. I think I may be missing something here. It seems like the only real goal of the mask killer scheme was to get rid of Dr. Manhattan to balance the power between the Russians and the Americans. So why kill Night Owl I?
I guess in Ozy’s logical mind, if he NEEDED to kill one, then an old man would be the “fairest” way to go. But why was that even necessary. What was the REAL point of this strategy?
I also haven’t read it in a while but I’m pretty sure that Ozzy didn’t plan to have Night Owl I killed. I thought he was just overpowered by a group of top knot punks who knew the identity of Night Owl I, but seemingly forgot that Night Owl II was a different guy. When NO2 became ‘active’ again (I think he and Silk Spectre might have knocked around a few top knots doing so) they got a bit vindictive against Night Owl… but they attacked the wrong guy.
I knew it was top knots that killed him, but I always got the impression that it was Ozy that orchestrated it. Maybe I misread the situation. Was it just a red herring in the whole “mask killer” mystery?
I always thought Moore through it in there to 1) demonstrate the continuing distrust for the costumed heroes that the public felt and 2) to provide some serious motivation for Nite Owl II during the second half of the series.
Yeah, have to back the ‘no conspiracy’ angle. Poor Nite Owl just got jumped by punks. Another demonstration of the harshness of the world in that title.
I will say I did giggle about the fact that in his ‘fantasy’ of the scene (where he’s young and in-costume) his dog had a mask. Fido needs a secret identity!
It seems to be the general consensus. I’ll accept it.
Interesting coincidence that when a “mask killer” is going around that one of their number dies randomly, though.
Wouldn’t Rohrshach suspect the mask killer had struck again?
Even though the number is decreased by one, Ozymadis still played into the “mask killer” paranoia. What was the purpose? He’d already killed the Comedian and John didn’t seem affected by THAT ploy (he used the cancer thing to get rid of John). So why do it? What role did it play in his master plan? It really only served to involve Rohrshach (which is not a good thing).
I guess my theory would be that he was not planning on casting a mask killer cover, but when Rohrshach’s crazy scheme was brought to his attention, he had to react.
I agree that Nite Owl I was unrelated to Ozymandius’s machinations. I’m looking at the comic right now. News that Rorschach has been busted out of prison has just hit the newstands, and a druggie street gang hears about it:
“Sprung him? Those bastards, they do whatever they like!”
“Yeah, some Owl character did it…”
“Nite Owl? My dad knows him… lives over some garage near here. We oughtta go kick his ass!”
Later, after the gang leader has beaten him to death, the other gang members start having second thoughts:
“Derf? Derf, what did you do? These katies [some sort of drug], I can’t…”
“Shut up. We’re finished here.”
“But Derf, I mean, shit man, look at the guy! You…”
“I said we’re finished here. Let’s go.”
It wasn’t at all planned, just random violence by stupid thugs.
The ‘mask killer’ wasn’t a ‘cover’, I’d thought (then, it’s been better than a year since I last read it) - the Comedian found him out, and Doc Manhattan could have stopped him. Starting the ‘Mask Killer’ theory and getting Rorschah pulled into it was an undesirable side-effect of offing the Comedian, and tying John’s disgrace into it was just a symptom of Rorschach’s paranoia.
The whole idea of there being a mask killer was Rorschach’s idea. Ozymandius killed The Comedian because he had accidentally uncovered part of the alien plot. Rorschach investigated “Edward Blake’s” death, and discovered he was really The Comedian. He intuited that his super-hero identity had something to do with why he was killed, and floated the idea of a mask killer as a hypothesis. However, as long as Rorschach was following the idea that there was a serial killer out there targeting superheros, he wouldn’t be following up on any other reason for The Comedian to be killed. Towards that end, Ozymandius staged an assassination attempt against himself, to make it look like Rorschach was on the right trail, and to cancel himself out as a suspect.
And Rorschach does think that Hollis Mason’s (Nite Owl I) murder is connected to the mask killer: after he and Nite Owl II beat some people up in a bar while fishing for information, he tries to get Nite Owl back on task by suggesting that pursing the mask killer might also lead to Mason’s killer. This despite the fact that they’ve already twigged to the fact that Ozymandius set up his own assassin.
