Edward Morgan Blake was a masked vigilante formerly known as the Comedian and a paramilitary operative for the United States government. Blake was a member of the Minutemen, the Crimebusters, as well as a hero in the Vietnam War.
Biography[]
See also: Eddie Blake
Early Costumed Career[]
Edward Morgan Blake was inspired by newspaper coverage of Hooded Justice, and became a notoriously violent vigilante known as the Comedian. Donning a domino mask and a yellow jumpsuit, and Blake roamed the waterfront sections of New York City at night, addressing even the smallest spot of trouble with an alarming degree of violence, whether it’s clearing an underpass of a homeless encampment or stopping a sexual assault behind a roughneck bar,
Minutemen[]
Blake was a founding member of the Minutemen.
On the evening of October 2, 1940, Blake sexually assaulted his teammate Silk Spectre following a procedural meeting at the team’s New York City headquarters. At the time, he was twenty and she was sixteen. Hooded Justice happened upon the assault and stopped it with brutal force. Though Jupiter wanted to testify against the Comedian, Laurence Schexnayder convinced her to drop the charges for the sake of the team's public image. Instead, Blake was kicked out of the team.
Eight years later, Sally and the Comedian would have consensual sex, with Sally being impregnated with their daughter Laurie. Laurie would be raised by her mother, not knowing who her true father was until 1985.
Government Sponsored Activity[]
War Hero[]
Following his departure from the Minutemen, Blake became a decorated war hero and super-soldier in the employ of the United States military during World War II.
House UnAmerican Activities Committee[]
During the 1950s, while his former peers were continuing to fight on the streets, Blake flourished as the only masked adventurer left still making headlines due to his government connections which were transforming him into a sort of patriotic symbol of American justice. He also campaigned for several conservative politicians including Joseph David Keene.
During the House UnAmerican Activities Committee hearings, Blake was the first to answer the summons and ultimately served as justice of the peace for Senator Joseph McCarthy's committee by delivering subpoenas to others costumed adventurers. Because of his involvement with the government and support for members of the HUAC, Blake was the only vigilante not forced to testify.
After Hooded Justice's statement to the Amsterdam News regarding his refusal to cooperate with the government, Blake responded in an interview by saying "Hooded Justice was always a total weirdo if you ask me. It might be better off for everyone if he just, you know, faded away. I don't think he'll like the alternative."
Crimebusters[]
In 1966, the Comedian was invited to join the Crimebusters by his former Minutemen teammate Captain Metropolis. The team-up never came to be as Blake and the rest of the team was uninspired by this nomenclature and by Gardner himself.
Vietnam War[]
Still working as a U.S. operative, Blake was sent to fight in the Vietnam War. While in Saigon, he teamed up with Doctor Manhattan who joined in the effort in March 1971. Doctor Manhattan played a major role in giving the United States' a major advantage against North Vietnam, while Blake led his own military unit called the Blazin' Commandos. During the war, he and his unit committed violent atrocities including burning down a village outside of where the Mỹ Lai massacre took place and forced the surviving villagers to march. One of the villagers was a young woman named Bian My who would end up having severe trauma from the incident and grow to resent U.S. imperialism.
On June 29, 1971, North Vietnam surrendered to the United States. Alongside Doctor Manhattan, Blake became a war hero and an inspiration to his fellow right wing fanbase back home.
Further Government Activity[]
Blake continued his work as a government operative, with many of his missions remaining classified. The few missions the public is aware of were known to be notoriously violent and disturbing.
In 1979, Blake successfully rescued American and Canadian hostages taken by anti-Manhattanite jihadists in Iran. Because of Blake’s notoriously violent methods, the individuals he brought back alive from Iran suffered from PTSD for years, mostly from witnessing the sadism Blake inflicted upon their captors.
Discovering Adrian Veidt's Plan[]
In 1985, Blake discovered a private island belonging to Adrian Veidt. It was there that he learned that the island was staffed with artists, writers, and scientists employed by Veidt to create a massive alien-like creature. Blake understood the goal of the project, and it disturbed him so much that it broke his cold, nihilistic demeaner and drove him to moral outrage and despair. He confided to his longtime enemy Edgar Jacobi regarding what he discovered.
Assassination[]
On October 11, 1985, Blake was killed by Adrian Veidt for his discovery of the plot that Veidt had been orchestrating to end the Cold War.
Legacy[]
Following his death, Blake’s official cause of death was listed as “suspected suicide”.
Blake's murder would be exposed by Rorschach following the publication of his journal he sent to the newspaper New Frontiersman. However, the journal would be considered a hoax and just the ramblings of a madman; Adrian Veidt would shrug off the rumors as "fake news".
Blake would become a polarizing symbol of American authoritarianism and imperialism and as such, he was simultaneously beloved and loathed. Blake seems to have reverence among conservative psychographics and is considered one of the liberators and architects of "Pax America".
The Nova Express: Saigon published an allegation that Blake — during his decades serving as Richard Nixon's masked secret agent – had sired dozens of children through numerous affairs around the world. Among his alleged progeny, seven were Vietnamese, ranging in age from 25 to 39, including Lady Trieu.
In 2019, a hit series called American Hero Story: Minutemen aired, dramatizing all the known information about Blake's time with the Minutemen's as well as his solo career.
Blake's legacy lives on in his daughter Laurie Blake. Upon learning of her true parentage, she eventually adopted the moniker of "the Comedienne" and took up her father's violent and nihilistic ideology. She eventually took her father's last name, and became a government agent as a member of the FBI's Anti-Vigilante Task Force.
Trivia[]
- On the Wertham Spectrum, the Comedian is classified as a "Super-Soldier/Nihilist".
- The Comedian was a fan of Fogdancing, as a copy of the book was found in his apartment following his death.
Behind the Scenes[]
- An actor portraying the Comedian in American Hero Story, HBO's Watchmen show within a show, first appeared in "It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice", Edward Blake himself wouldn't appear until "This Extraordinary Being". Both real life actors went uncredited in their roles.
- Eddie Blake/The Comedian in Watchmen is the second live-action incarnation of the character, following a previous incarnation portrayed by Jeffrey Dean Morgan.