The Annotated Watchmen, Doug Atkinson [fb2 epub reader txt] 📗

clock appearing on the covers counts the minutes to

midnight, similar to the clock in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,

which is an estimate of the world's closeness to nuclear war. The clock

stands at 10 minutes to midnight, and advances by one minute per issue.

Cover: The angel statue in the cemetery.

Page 1, panel 1: The speaker is Sally Jupiter, Laurie's mother. (Her

name was originally Juspeczyk: she changed it to hide her Polish

background. Laurie changed hers back.)

Panel 2: Note the "Nostalgia" perfume ad and the issue of _Nova

Express_. (The title comes from a novel by William S. Burroughs of the same

name.)

Note: My copy of the trade paperback (3d printing) colors Laurie's

skin golden on pages 1 and 8 of this issue, making her look more like a

stereotypical comic-book Asian than the Vietnamese later this issue.

This is, presumably, a production error.

Panel 3: The man in the lighter-colored raincoat in the middle is

Dan, and the man he's shaking hands with is Adrian. The limo is for Dr.

Manhattan, not that he needs it.

Panel 5: Notice the police holding back the onlookers (protestors?)

and the man with the "The End is Nigh" sign.

Panel 8: Sally's copy of the Minutemen group photo (we saw the

Comedian's and Nite Owl's in the last issue.) We see here that the date is

October 16. Laurie is loading her pipe.

Page 2, panel 3: We see here that these pipes are lit by heating the

ball (where the tobacco is stored).

Panel 7: The name of the retirement home is "Nepenthe Gardens."

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary lists nepenthe as "A potion or drug used

by the ancients to drown pain and sorrow; hence, anything causing oblivion."

Panel 9: Ashes from these ball-pipes are dropped out whole when

finished.

Page 3, panel 2: Hollis Mason is the first Nite Owl. Byron Lewis is

Mothman.

Sally's dressing table has a bottle of Nostalgia.

Page 4, panel 3: Tijuana Bibles are real (though Silk Spectre was

obviously never really in one). Their origin was unknown; the name derives

from the theory that they were Mexican.

Panel 4: The speech bubble in the comic says, "Oh! The door. I

wonder who it [is?]."

Panels 8-9: The taking of the Minutemen group photo in 1940; one of

the last times the entire team was together.

Page 5, panel 1: From left to right, the team is: Mothman, Dollar

Bill, Captain Metropolis, the Comedian, Silk Spectre, Hooded Justice, Nite

Owl, the photographer, and Silhouette. The headline reads, "Scientists

Name First Artificial Wonder Element: Plutonium." The day is October 2,

12, or 22, 1940. (I can't tell if the paper is titled Gazette or

Times.)

Research reveals that this is the right time for plutonium to be

synthesized. This foreshadows the Manhattan Project, Dr. Manhattan,

and the obsolescence of the old-style superhero.

Panel 2: The sign on the left reads, "Moloch's Solar Mirror Weapon;"

the case on the right is "King Mob's Ape Mask." The nameplate on the

table is Mothman's, and the symbol on the back of his chair is presumably the

group's symbol.

Panels 3-4: Silhouette's line and Sally's response confirm a)

Laurie's comment about the reason Sally changed her name (in issue #1) and b)

Sally's later comment (issue #9) about how Silhouette was an

unpleasant person to work with. (This line is Silhouette's only dialogue in the

whole series; Dollar Bill has no dialogue at all.) Since Silhouette was a

Jew who left Austria to avoid the Nazis, it makes sense she'd be against

Isolationism.

Page 7, panel 6: There is evidence later that the Comedian's

assumption here is correct (issue #9).

Panel 8: It is believed that the Comedian killed Hooded Justice in

the '50's.

Panel 9: Note the time on the clock.

Page 8, panel 5: Again, my copy has two production errors: in this

panel, Sally also has golden skin and her bathrobe is white.

Panel 6: I believe Varga is a real-world artist.

Page 9, panel 5: The attempted organization of the Crimebusters in

From left to right: Janey Slater, Doctor Manhattan, Captain

Metropolis, Silk Spectre II, Ozymandias, Nite Owl II, Comedian, and Rorschach.

The newspaper reads "French Withdrawing Military Commitment from NATO"

and "Heart Transplant Patient Stable." (Why are the headlines on the last

page?)

In our world, the first human heart transplant was performed on

December 13, 1967.

It has been pointed out that the heroes gathered here cover the

entire spectrum of motivations for super-heroics, and that we learn Captain

Metropolis' underlying motivations here (he wants to fight "social

ills," as he sees them; some of his choices, such as "anti-war demos" and

"black unrest," are very telling). The Comedian's response is perhaps the

second most pivotal event in the story (after the creation of Dr.

Manhattan.)

This scene will be repeated numerous times from different points of

view.

Page 10, panel 1: Again, note the clock.

Panels 2-3: The headline reads "Dr. Manhattan 'An Imperialist Weapon'

Say Russians." An internal headline mentions "Dick." The Comedian is

wearing the leather costume he started wearing in 1941, but still has the

domino mask (which he wore until the '70's).

Panel 5: Janey is saying something to Dr. Manhattan; we find out what

in issue #4.

Note Rorschach's style of speech, and compare it to his later speech.

Page 11, panel 2: Moloch was a stage magician-turned-crimelord; he

appears later this issue.

Panel 7: Nelson Gardner is Captain Metropolis' real name.

Panel 8: Nelson's speech, and Ozymandias' reaction to the Comedian's

outburst, are extremely significant.

Page 12, panel 5: Vietnam, 1971. Dr. Manhattan's involvement led to

a quick Viet Cong surrender. (Note that this panel layout is unusual

for the series; the nine-panel grid is usually altered only by combining

panels, or occasionally by dividing the panels in half.)

Page 13, panel 1: VVN stands for "Victory in Viet Nam."

Panel 5: The yellow man by the helicopter is President Nixon; the two

"V for victory" gestures is a mannerism commonly associated with him.

Page 14, panel 2: "Number ten" is slang for "bad;" "number one" is

slang for "good." (This is authentic slang.)

Panel 7: Note the blood on the smiley-face button. This incident is

the reason Blake changed masks.

Page 16, panel 4: New York, 1977. The riots during the police strike

just prior to the Keene act. The building on the left is "Treasure

Island," the comics shop from the first issue; the beginning of a "Who Watches the

Watchmen" graffito is being added below it.

Page 17, panel 2: The symbol on the middle woman's T-shirt reappears

later in modified form. It's obviously a militant feminist symbol; I am

unsure if it has been used in real life or is original here.

Page 6: The headline reads "Cops Say 'Let Them Do It;' Senator Keene

Proposes Emergency Bill." This leads to the Keene act,

re-illegalizing vigilantism (see issue #4). The spatter on Archie (to the right of

the paper) is the same shape as the blood-spatter on the smiley face.

Page 18, panels 2-3: Jon Osterman is Dr. Manhattan's real name. The

kidnapping referred to is explained in issue #6.

Page 19, panels 2-3: The Comedian's smiley-face button, last

appearance. Dan cleaned off the blood in 1:11:4.

Panels 4-5: The man placing the flowers on the grave is Moloch.

Panel 6: The man shaking hands with Dr. Manhattan here is Adrian, as

seen by the cufflink.

Panels 7-9: The sign man is following Moloch; this is a clue to

something that is revealed later.

Page 20, panel 1: The man on the left has a copy of the _New

Frontiersman_.

Panel 2: The headline reads, "Soviets Will Not Tolerate U.S.

Adventurism in Afghanistan." I'm not sure if this is meant to be the same

headline as in issue #1, page 10, panel 1, or not. If not, it indicates the

Soviets getting more belligerent and confrontational.

Panel 3: The door is latched here, so Rorschach probably entered

before Moloch arrived home.

Panel 5: Notice the "ice cream," "pizza," and "frozen" boxes.

Evidently Moloch doesn't worry much about calories, or housekeeping.

Panel 7: Why didn't Rorschach suffocate? It takes a while for water

to boil. Maybe this world has safer refrigerators... (The glass milk

bottle is interesting, by the way; one wonders if it's still delivered to

the door, too.)

Page 21, panel 4: Rorschach gives us another clue to his identity

here. Since he doesn't have a vast army of assistants, he has to have seen

Moloch there personally.

Panel 5: This is the first good look we get at Moloch's pointed ears.

It is unclear if they have been surgically altered or are natural.

Pages 22-23: All will be made clear later. This is a good summary of

the plot underlying the whole series. (Artistic note: All these panels

are from Moloch's POV, which only changes a little, but does shift as he

moves his head.)

The light changes because of the blinking "The Rumrunner" neon sign

outside his window.

Page 24, panel 4: Laetril (or Laetrile) is a real-world drug,

marketed as a cancer cure but ultimately found to be fraudulent.

Page 25, panel 1: "Enola Gay and the Little Boys" is a reference to

the first atomic bomb used in WWII and the plane that dropped it. This

ties in with Ozymandias' theories in issue #10 about increased warlike

imagery in times of international tension.

Page 28, panel 7: The flowers on this page parallel the flowers on

page 1.

Pages 29-32: More of Under the Hood. This section has a lot of

information about the Minutemen.

Page 7, paragraphs 6-7: Part of the attention to realism that this

series was noted for. Most superhero costumes are very impractical and

flourish by reader suspension of disbelief.

Paragraph 8: An interesting chronological problem. He says he first

became active in "the early months of 1939" and it has been said that he was

the second costumed hero. However, the first article about Sally in

issue #9 is dated January 12, 1939. Three months of preparation after Hooded

Justice's first appearance in mid-October, 1938, would put him right

around that date; but it seems strange that Larry would prepare the Silk

Spectre identity after only one costumed hero had appeared (one is a fluke,

but two is a trend). Moreover, the article referred to the "superhero

bandwagon," which wouldn't have been the case this early. The simplest approach

is to assume that the date on the article is in error.

Page 9, paragraph 3: Captain Metropolis' "strategic approach" stems

from his other career: "Marine Lieutenant USMC Nelson Gardner: Free-Lance

Consultant" (issue #9).

Paragraph 7: Hooded Justice wasn't actually interested in Sally; they

acted as a couple to provide a smokescreen for his real interests. (Issue

9 again.)

Photograph: I presume that's the "Solar Mirror Weapon" on the wall.

That seems to be mistletoe Blake is holding over Sally.

Page 10, paragraph 2: What on earth was the "Solar Mirror Weapon"

for, given Moloch's described MO here?

--

Chapter 3: "The Judge of All the Earth"

Watchmen is a trademark of DC Comics Inc., copyright 1995.

These annotations copyright 1995 by Doug Atkinson. They may be freely

copied and distributed, provided