Editing Watchmen (section)

=== ''Tales of the Black Freighter'' ===
{{for|the direct-to-video supplement to the comic book's film adaptation|Watchmen (2009 film)#Home media}}

''Watchmen'' features a [[story within a story]] in the form of ''Tales of the Black Freighter'', a fictional comic book from which scenes appear in issues three, five, eight, ten, and eleven. The fictional comic's story, "Marooned", is read by a youth in New York City.{{sfn|Reynolds|1992|p=110}} Moore and Gibbons conceived a pirate comic because they reasoned that since the characters of ''Watchmen'' experience superheroes in real life, "they probably wouldn't be at all interested in superhero comics."<ref name="Blather Moore Interview 3">Kavanagh, Barry. "[http://www.blather.net/articles/amoore/watchmen3.html The Alan Moore Interview: Watchmen, microcosms and details]". Blather.net. October 17, 2000. Retrieved on October 14, 2008. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091230162814/http://www.blather.net/articles/amoore/watchmen3.html |date=December 30, 2009 }}</ref> Gibbons suggested a pirate theme, and Moore agreed in part because he is "a big [[Bertolt Brecht]] fan": the ''Black Freighter'' alludes to the song "[[Pirate Jenny|Seeräuberjenny]]" ("[[Pirate Jenny]]") from Brecht's ''[[The Threepenny Opera|Threepenny Opera]]''.<ref name="TCJ116" /> Moore theorized that since superheroes existed, and existed as "objects of fear, loathing, and scorn, the main superheroes quickly fell out of popularity in comic books, as we suggest. Mainly, genres like horror, science fiction, and piracy, particularly piracy, became prominent—with EC riding the crest of the wave." Moore felt "the imagery of the whole pirate genre is so rich and dark that it provided a perfect counterpoint to the contemporary world of ''Watchmen''".<ref name="S&S116" /> The writer expanded upon the premise so that its presence in the story would add [[subtext]] and allegory.{{sfn|Salisbury|2000|pp=80-82}} The supplemental article detailing the fictional history of ''Tales of the Black Freighter'' at the end of issue five credits real-life artist [[Joe Orlando]] as a major contributor to the series. Moore chose Orlando because he felt that if pirate stories were popular in the ''Watchmen'' universe that DC editor [[Julius Schwartz]] might have tried to lure the artist over to the company to draw a pirate comic book. Orlando contributed a drawing designed as if it were a page from the fake title to the supplemental piece.<ref name="S&S116" />

In "Marooned", a young mariner (called "The Sea Captain") journeys to warn his hometown of the coming of ''The Black Freighter'', after he survives the destruction of his own ship. He uses the bodies of his dead shipmates as a makeshift raft and sails home, gradually descending into insanity. When he finally returns to his hometown, believing it to be already under the occupation of ''The Black Freighter''{{'}}s crew, he makes his way to his house and slays everyone he finds there, only to discover that the person he mistook for a pirate was in fact his wife. He returns to the seashore, where he realizes that ''The Black Freighter'' has not come to claim the town, but rather to claim him; he swims out to sea and climbs aboard the ship. According to Richard Reynolds, the mariner is "forced by the urgency of his mission to shed one inhibition after another." Just like Adrian Veidt, he "hopes to stave off disaster by using the dead bodies of his former comrades as a means of reaching his goal".{{sfn|Reynolds|1992|p=111}} Moore stated that the story of ''The Black Freighter'' ends up specifically describing "the story of Adrian Veidt" and that it can also be used as a counterpoint to other parts of the story, such as Rorschach's capture and Dr. Manhattan's self-exile on Mars.<ref name="Blather Moore Interview 3" />