Comedian (character)

The Comedian (Edward Morgan "Eddie" Blake) is a fictional character who debuted in the graphic novel limited series Watchmen, published by DC Comics. The Comedian was created by writer Alan Moore with artist Dave Gibbons. As with most of the main characters in the series, he was an analogue for a Charlton Comics character; in this case, the Peacemaker. Moore imagined the Comedian as a mix between the Peacemaker with "a little bit of Nick Fury" and "probably a bit of the standard Captain America patriotic hero-type".

The story of Watchmen starts with the aftermath of Edward Blake's murder in 1985. Fellow crimefighter Rorschach, independently investigating the murder, discovers that Blake was in fact the Comedian. The main plot of Watchmen initially involves Rorschach's suspicion of a plot to kill costumed heroes ("masks"); his continuing investigation into Blake's murder leads to a much larger, more horrifying secret. The Comedian's appearances in Watchmen consist of flashbacks of the other characters. He is also mentioned in Under the Hood, the fictional autobiography of Hollis Mason (Nite Owl I) that appears in Watchmen issues 1–3.

The Comedian was a cigar-chomping, gun-toting vigilante-turned-paramilitary agent. When he first became a costumed adventurer in 1939, he dressed in a clown-like costume with a simple domino mask. A brutal vigilante, Blake manages to expunge most organized crime from the New York harbor. He became the youngest member of The Minutemen, a prominent group of heroes.

After one particular photography shoot of The Minutemen, Blake attempted to rape his comrade Silk Spectre; she escaped only when another Minuteman, Hooded Justice, interrupted the assault and beat Blake, breaking his nose. The Comedian was then expelled from the group—but Silk Spectre's entertainment agent persuaded her not to press charges against him for fear of what it would do to the group's image. During a secret and consensual encounter years later, Blake impregnated Silk Spectre with her daughter and successor, Laurie.

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 in it disclosed the Comedian's sexual assault on Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre. In 1966, he was invited to join the Crimebusters by Captain Metropolis, but he quickly ruined the older hero's hopes of a new team by mocking him, and pointing out that old fashioned crime fighting methods would not save the world from nuclear war.

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 to surrender, Blake was confronted by his lover, a pregnant Vietnamese woman. 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, but the attack left his face permanently disfigured with a scar running from his right eye to the corner of his mouth. After this incident, he began wearing a leather gimp-style mask when dressed as the Comedian.

The costumed adventurers faced massive backlash and rioting in 1977; 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; 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 and were employed by the government. Blake enjoyed his new role in the government and the protection it offered, even going so far as to suggest to members of President Nixon's staff that he had killed Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein before they could reveal the details of the Watergate scandal, as well as being behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy (on Nixon's orders). The Iran hostage crisis in 1980 was resolved when Blake freed the captives after an assault.