Will any of the other classic Watchmen characters appear in Tom King and Jorge Fornés' upcoming Rorschach series? HBO's Watchmen showrunner Damon Lindelof posed that very question to the creators at Saturday's DC FanDome event, and both acknowledged Rorschach's former teammates would in fact make an appearance.
"Can we expect to see any other legacy characters in these 12 issues, either in past or present?" Lindelof asked, with both creators answering to the affirmative.
"I've seen them -- Jorge's already drawn them!" King added. "So that's a yes," Lindelof concluded.
Neither creator elaborated on which characters would appear, but two panels drawn by Fornés featuring the Watchmen characters were displayed in the video during the discussion. The first features Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Ozymandias and The Comedian, in addition to Rorschach. Another panel features a close-up of Doctor Manhattan.
The characters appear to be the same incarnation as those featured in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' original Watchmen, indicating a 1985 timeframe -- the year the original story took place. Since King and Fornés' series is set to take place in present day, the panels are likely part of a flashback sequence -- unless Doctor Manhattan has implemented some time traveling hijinks.
Rorschach was killed by Manhattan at the end of Watchmen, so whether the character in Rorschach is a resurrection of the original, or a new generation character like that featured in Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Doomsday Clock, remains to be seen.
Written by Tom King and illustrated by Jorge Fornés, Rorschach #1 goes on sale Oct. 13 from DC Comics.