Dad was a good man helping troubled people. Like Kovacs. Like me. Pulled them out of darkness. Turned them toward light. But what is light? Different for everyone. But everyone looking. See what we want to see. No matter how small... or big we are.
„
~ Rorschach II.
“
Rorschach is me.
„
~ Reggie Long to Ozymandias - deciding to spare his enemy.
Rorschach (real name Reginald "Reggie" Long), also known as Rorschach II, is a fictional character and superhero in the DC Universe, being introduced in the Doomsday Clock storyline.
He is the son of Gloria Long and Dr. Malcolm Long, the psychiatrist to the original Rorschach during the events of Watchmen. He would be put into a mental institution after witnessing the death of his parents during the ground zero event, and became the second Rorschach after reading his father's notes on the vigilante. He was then recruited by Ozymandias to help him find Doctor Manhattan to save their universe, and travels to the DC Universe since he was last spotted there.
He was created by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, and first appeared in Doomsday Clock #1 in November of 2017.
Reginald "Reggie" Long is the son of Malcolm and Gloria Long, and was known for being quite a loner in his youth, but was a victim of bullying by his neighbor Joey Kennedy. Reggie's father was the appointed psychiatrist of Walter Kovacs, was the vigilante Rorschach that was once a member of the Minutemen. Malcolm's sessions with Kovacs deeply affected him, as it indirectly caused his marriage with Gloria to fall apart. While attending college, Reggie would witness the murder of his parents by Adrian Veidt's monster attacking New York, and the event caused Long to become insane. After the incident, Reggie was taken to the Fitzgerald Metal Home, where he became friends with the former hero Byron Lewis. Despite suffering from abuse from mental home's staff, Reggie's health improved due to his friendship with Lewis. While in the asylum, Lewis would escape from the asylum and bring contraband to Long, and also started to teach Reggie fighting techniques from what he observed from the Minutemen.
Becoming Rorschach[]
One day, Byron would bring Reggie his father's belongings, which also contained notes on Rorschach and details on Kovac's personality and traits. Thinking that Rorschach was a friend of his father's, Reggie became obsessed with the dead vigilante, even impersonating his aggressiveness and tics. Later on, Reggie and Byron would learn that Ozymandias committed the New York attack due to Rorschach's journal being published to the press. Swearing vengeance against Veidt, Reggie decided to escape from the mental home by burning it down, but Byron would kill himself by going back to the facility. Though mournful of his mentor's death, Reggie would find one last bag from Byron that contained supplies, a ticket to Antarctica, and Rorschach's mask. Long then decided to take on the mantle of "Rorschach", and continued to quest to murder Veidt for causing the death of his parents.
Reggie traveled to Ozymandias' base in Antarctica, where he confronted Veidt for his previous actions. Adrian revealed that he had a brain tumor and that he was remorseful for his actions, but Long decided to spare him since he thought Veidt's regret was real. Veidt then recruited Reggie since he knew that the world was still on the brink of nuclear war, and the two left his Antarctica base. Knowing that they would need assistance to find Doctor Manhattan, Reggie broke out Marionette and Mime from Sing-Sing and brought the two criminals to Veidt. Once the plan was explained to Marionette and Mime, and the group left their universe to Prime Earth since they believed Doctor Manhattan traveled there.
On Prime Earth, Reggie and Veidt agreed to split up to find this universe's smartest men, the wealthy businessmen Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne. Breaking into the Batcave via Wayne Manor, Long encountered Batman, and gave him Kovac's journal to explain the situation that they were in. Thinking that Reggie was just insane, Batman feigned his cooperation by tricking the vigilante in going to Arkham Asylum, where he locked him in a cell. He would go through psychiatric evaluation by Matthew Mason, who was actually Batman trying to learn more about Long. Long was later freed by Saturn Girl and saved Johnny Thunder from being killed by several thugs before being picked up by Veidt.
The group would then witness Veidt summon Doctor Manhattan to Earth, and Long learned from the doctor that Adrian was lying about having a tumor, and that Kovacs was not his father's friend or a ideal idol. Angered, Reggie attacked Adrian and the Joker before deciding to drop the Rorschach moniker. Despite initially deciding to stop being a vigilante, Long was encouraged by Batman and Alfred Pennyworth to be better than Kovacs. He would then go back to the moniker and decided to spare Veidt, who wanted Reggie to kill him so he could go down as a hero. Once Adrian was put in prison and their universe was saved by Doctor Manhattan, Reggie returned to Byron's grave and thanked him for putting him on the right path.
