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Malcolm Long was a New York City-based criminal psychiatrist employed at Sing Sing. He is the doctor who attempts to treat the masked vigilante Walter Kovacs (Rorschach) and to perform psychological tests on him while he is imprisoned (one of them, ironically, being the very ink blot test that Kovacs had named his costumed adventurer persona after).

Biography[]

Events of Watchmen[]

Malcolm Long was married to Gloria Long. One of his patients was the infamous masked vigilante Walter Kovacs (known more by his code name as Rorschach) who'd been arrested by the New York City Police Department at the former tenement of Edgar Jacobi, after he was suspected with being involved in Jacobi’s murder . Long looked forward to that case, and hoped that the extreme nature of Rorschach's actions would help him identify a new syndrome that would apply to the costumed adventurer phenomenon. He prepared to take meticulous notes as he would write a book on this case.[1]

As he entered NY State Pen, Long encountered several journalists to whom he told that he was confident and optimistic.[2]

On the first day he was visibly disturbed by Kovacs' stance as he examined him with Rorschach blot tests and Kovacs pretended to show improvement. That night he studied his early life and Gloria told him not to lose himself in that case as it would ruin his cheerful disposition. Mal replied that their happy and content life could not change with his job.

Kovacs-interview

Second interview with Walter Kovacs

The next day Long started taking Gopain pills produced by Veidt Enterprises. In their next session Kovacs called him fat and content, knowing nothing about emotional or mental pain. He narrated his youth and how the murder of Kitty Genovese affected his view on society; Kovacs saw beyond Long's pretense of caring and wanting to help, as his interest was Kovacs' fame which would boost his reputation. That afternoon he got a call that Kovacs had thrown hot oil on another inmate, and realized that his optimism was unfounded. He spent the night with coffee and an additional bottle of Pain Away pills, trying to concentrate on the case, Gloria complaining that she didn't get the attention she deserved from him.[3]

Kovacs relates the story of his transformation into his vigilante persona, Rorschach, to Long during a lengthy conversation about his crime-fighting but Malcolm couldn't understand what exactly compelled him and sent him over the edge, and wanted to show him that his views about life were wrong. On his way home he bought a New York Gazette from Bernard who pointed out excitedly that the man in the news was his customer.[3][4] He returned home disturbed by the Hiroshima lovers graffiti and the news about Russians entering Afghanistan. That night Gloria attempted to sweeten things.[3]

Dead-gloria-malcolm

Corpses of Malcolm and Gloria Long in the aftermath of the psychic shockwave event

The next day Kovacs tells Long that his psychological breakdown came as a result of his investigation of the kidnapping of Blair Roche, a six-year-old girl, whose captor, Gerald Anthony Grice, butchered and fed her remains to his two German Shepards. On his way home, he passed by a black watch seller and bought a newspaper about Richard Nixon's response to the Soviets; and an article on nuclear alert procedure. Gloria had attempted to bring Malcolm to his senses by arranging a dinner with Randy and Diana. The guests start to tease Long about Kovacs. Unamused, Long tells them in detail about Grice's murder of Roche and how he disposed of the girl's body. Diana finds a pretense to leave early, then Gloria berates him and leaves him. He sat alone staring at a Rorschach inkblot, reminding him of the gross sight of a dead cat, and then the empty meaningless blackness of Rorschach's reality.[3]He resigned shortly before the riots that broke out at the prison on October .[4]

Later on November 1, 1985, Long and his wife have separated and are attempting to make amends when Malcolm witnesses Joey and Aline fighting. Long tries to separate Joey and Aline, but they are all killed minutes later when Adrian Veidt's monstrous "alien" creature is violently teleported nearby and wipes out half of the city's population, as part of his plan to prevent global nuclear war by uniting humanity against a common, manufactured threat.

DC Timeline:[]

Personality[]

According to Gloria Long, he was one of the nicest and most positive persons. He liked to help people, but Walter Kovacs saw through this façade and understood that he was mostly studying him for personal and less of out genuine sympathy. Long himself becomes affected by Kovacs. The intensity of Kovacs' story causes Long to become slightly obsessed with the case. His conformed and content life could not stand against the dark reality and the case has a damaging effect on his marriage.

References[]

  1. Malcolm Long's Notes
  2. Chapter VII
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Chapter VI
  4. 4.0 4.1 Chapter VIII
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