As I was finishing the last chapter of Watchmen on Saturday morning, my doorbell rang. How terribly coincidental it was to see two members of a local Baptist church on my doorstep, hands out-stretched to give me a pamphlet that read, “The Most IMPORTANT Thing You Must Consider… Where Will You Spend All Eternity?” What hilariously magnificent timing! Just then, a fleeting thought crossed my mind- was this a sign from God? It got me thinking how Alan Moore employs a generally “godless apocalypse” (to use Kirsch’s phrasing) in his doomsday graphic novel, but creates some rather godlike characters. Rosen discusses this in her essay, mentioning three characters that act as apocalyptic gods. For this post however, I would like to stick to the comparison of just two of those characters and their relation to apocalyptic time and predestination: Jon Osterman (Dr. Manhattan) and Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias). Continue reading →