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WHERE'S MY FACE! - Walter Kovacs

Rorschach's Mask (which he refers to as his "face") is a specialized mask worn by the masked vigilante Walter Kovacs (Rorschach).

Rorschach considers his mask as his true face. It is a part of fabric made from a material derived from the technologies of Doctor Manhattan, and it is blank except from the front, where two viscous liquids, one black and one white, are between two layers of latex. The liquids continually shift in response to heat and pressure, forming symmetrical patterns like those of a Rorschach inkblot test while never mixing, thus never producing a gray color.

History[]

AnimatedRorschach

Walter Kovacs first discovered the fabric when he worked as an unskilled laborer in a garment factory that mainly manufactured female clothing, which made Kovacs's job highly uncomfortable. The fabric created as a result of Doctor Manhattan and was originally made as a woman's mini skirt. The product's first customer was Kitty Genovese in 1962, who was unhappy with the appearance of the dress, calling it "ugly" and refused to buy it. Kovacs thought differently ,however, and took possession of the fabric for himself once nobody else wanted, saying it was "very beautiful." At home during off hours, he used heated instruments to seal the latex and reshape the fabric into a full head covering mask so it "didn't look like a woman anymore". When Kovacs learned a face he "could look at in the mirror." 2 years later in 1964, when Kovacs reads about Genovese's rape and murder on the front page of the New York Gazette, he was utterly disgusted by the indifference her neighbors who simply looked on as she being killed. He used it as a mask for his entire crimefighting career.

Capabilities[]

This mask was made from a specialized fabric, one that was actually two layers of fabric with viscous black and white fluids trapped between them. The fluids remained in constant motion, being affected by heat and pressure, however, the black and white colors never combined to form gray. The patterns formed by the fluids also maintained a consistent symmetrical pattern down the mid-line of whatever shape the fabric had been formed into.

Trivia[]

Rorschach

"What do you see?"

  • In a way, it is true that this is Walter Kovacs' "real face" as the fluids react to his expressions, where without it, he usually never shows any facial expression, except anger or indifference.
  • Rorschach appears in the comic series Doomsday Clock (November 2017 – December 2019). This series will conclude the story of DC Rebirth. His mask appears on the lenticular cover of Issue #1, transforming into the symbols of DC's Trinity.
  • In the 2019 HBO series Watchmen, a far-right/white supremacist terrorist group known as Seventh Kavalry, inspired by Rorschach's journal, appropriated his mask as their uniform and followed a misinterpretation of his writings into creating a racially-based crusade against various law enforcement agencies and the Redford administration, whom they deem traitorous for their apologetic disposition towards African-Americans and other historically marginalized groups within the United States. Those masks, however are different, with changes like holes for eyes and the masks do not change.
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