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Blake saw society's true face and he chose to be a parody of it.
---Rorschach
The biggest joke of Edward's life was Sally Jupiter. She might've loved him; she definitely hated him. They might've grown old together, as friends at the least; instead they were old, bitter, alone.
And his daughter, Laurie.
On his wall, on his dresser, in his kitchen. Sally the pin-up girl, Sally the woman. A poster here, photographs everywhere else. A memory, a wish, a dream unfulfilled, a punishment for old evils done long ago, and one wrong done too recently.
Terrible bitterness and awful savagery but the real joke is the intellect. Edward is smart; not like Ozymandias but the kind of smart that lets him realize what a colossal joke everything is.
Let him realize that he is the butt of the greatest joke of all.
The intelligence and the savagery, doing evil things despite knowing better, reflecting every atrocity the world committed while knowing it was all futile. Reveling in the darkness and shunning the light, wallowing in the same depravity the Minutemen and the Watchmen fought against.
The greatest joke--the superhero no better than a man. The greatest joke--Eddie Blake, punchline of his existence, doing the dirty work no one else understood. Crippled by his own parody, unable to step out of the role for even a second, deprived of the one thing that could've shattered his shell forever.
Sally Jupiter.
-----
A knock on the door of Sally's condo; a fresh-faced soldier bearing a folded flag. "Miss Jupiter?"
"Yes." Before the soldier could even speak, Sally reached out and took Edward's flag. "Thank you."
"It was Mr. Blake's only request, Miss Jupiter."
"I know." And she did. The soldier saluted her, and Sally closed the door without a single word of thanks or farewell.
Once alone again, Sally sat in her chair, drink forgotten at her elbow as she cried one final time for Edward Blake. The father of her child, the bane of her existence, and the love of her life.
And maybe that was the greatest joke of all, Sally thought between tears, that only in death could Eddie be safe to love, while the rest of the world was brimming over with nuclear hate as they lived.
Poor Eddie.
The End