My recollection of it is hazy at best, so yeah haha. What was it that caused him to freak out in the comic?
Ah, okay!
At first, Adrian glibly suggests "Professional jealousy" (they have history).
Blake (The Comedian) investigated Adrian's Island (which he spotted accidentally, suspecting it to be a Sandinista Base), and discovered the Squid and its purpose.
According to Blake, he:
"thought [he] knew how it was, how the world was. But then [he] found out about [the plan]."
Adrian elaborates:
"Imagine... the perfect fighting man discovering a plot to put an end to war... an end to fighting."
Knowing the 'practical joke' would work, in part due to its sheer audacity, Blake also understood what it meant for people like him, people who are only alive in the chaos of war. There would be no more bases to infiltrate, no more enemies to fight.
As Adrian says:
"The brutal world he'd relished would simply cease to be, its fierce and brawling denizens rushing to join the Mastodon in obsolescence... in extinction."
On top of that, Blake was presented with the same dilemma the rest of the heroes: he had to keep the mass murder of "half of New York" a secret or risk the entire human race.
"I mean, I done some bad things. I did bad things to women. I shot kids! In 'Nam I shot kids.... but I never did anything like, like...
The enormity of this responsibility, the bloody scale of the solution, and the end of everything he was and represents, broke him.
Snyder's version makes no sense and completely misses the point of the ending of the book. Other countries would absolutely see America as a threat if they let what is essentially a God go haywire. They sure as hell wouldn't trust us anymore. Even if everyone banded together and defeated Manhattan somehow, after that the result would not be world peace. America would be seen as a sketchy threat that is readying other crazy weapons that could go south and further destroy the world. All it would do is cause more paranoia and the warring would pick up where it left off, which is the exact opposite of what the ending of the book was trying to do.
Precisely this.
The only reason the end of the book works in the first place is because it was an outside threat that couldn't be traced to any one country.
Exactly. The Squid is an actual lateral solution to the problem, where Jon IS the problem:
"Nevertheless, [Jon] somehow symbolised mankind's problems"
Anyone who thinks The World's Smartest Man would use a (symbolic) nuclear weapon to solve the problem of the nuclear arms race needs to up their standards.
Exactly, the nature of an Alien threat would still cater to mankind's inherent tribalism, just a tribe of one people united globally against an interstellar "other" (with the added benefit of knowing that "other" was fake and would never attack again).
Ozy's approach to uniting the world was both brutal and the only one that would work: provide a horrific common enemy. Humans seem to need a boogeyman / other / enemy sadly.
Yes!
Part of the genius of the Squid as a unifying force is its very inhumanity. God-like he may be, Manhattan remains recognisably human (face, arms, legs, balls). Even symbolically, he's still tied to earthly concerns( humanity, politics, etc.).
On the other hand, The Squid is repulsive on an instinctual, biological level, both in-universe and as a reader. It unites the countries beyond politics, on the level of humanity
as a species.
It's physical libidinal monstrosity reinforces this far better than Manhattan's blue balls do. This is a vital part of explaining why the world comes together against it. It's one of the areas where the Manhattan Solution is seriously lacking.
Even as a reader, The Squid is genuinely horrifying! It's an unexpected Lovecraftian psycho-sexual horror plonked right in the middle of a pile of corpses (where were they in the film?). It's all phallic, swollen tentacles; parted vaginal lips; rotten colours; exposed brains; etc. It helps make the climax so shocking in a way Manhattan can't.
Man, I love that Squid!
I loved it! Read the comic afterwards and thought the movie was better. What's up with that random monster?!
(Please don't yell at me
)
You should definitely consider giving it another read.
Firstly, it's 100% designed for multiple readings (I've read it at least every year since I was 13 and
still find new stuff). Secondly, you'll notice all the clues about the Squid and Adrian's Master Plan (it wasn't random at all)!
