From: [d--u--a] at [yang.earlham.edu] (Doug Atkinson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: REPOST: Watchmen Annotation #2
Date: 16 Mar 93 05:21:08 GMT


                           THE ANNOTATED WATCHMEN

                        Chapter 2: "Absent Friends"

     Watchmen is a trademark of DC Comics Inc., copyright 1993.  These
annotations copyright 1993 by Doug Atkinson.  They may be freely copied and
distributed, provided the text is not altered.

     Certain notes are true for each issue.  Each one is written by Alan
Moore, drawn and lettered by Dave Gibbons, and colored by John Higgins.
     Moreover, each issue has a continuing motif, a reoccuring object or
pattern that is seen on the cover, the first and last page (usually), and
throughout the issue.  This issue's motif is the graveyard and the
Comedian's funeral, with the other characters' flashbacks.
     Another trend is the title, which is always an excerpt from an apropos
quote shown in its entirety in the last panel.  This issue's title is from
Elvis Costello's "The Comedians."
     The 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 Burroughs of the same name.)

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 Jon.

Panel 5: Notice the police holding back the 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.

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."

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

Panel 4: Her dressing table has a bottle of Nostalgia.

Page 4, panel 3: Tijuana Bibles are real (though Silk Spectre was obviously
never really in one).

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.

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.)

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 9, panel 5: The attempted organization of the Crimebusters in 1966.
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?)

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).  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." 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.

Page 12, panel 4: Vietnam, 1971.  Dr. Manhattan's involvement led to a
quick Viet Cong surrender.

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

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 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).

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 has cleaned off the blood.

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.

Page 20, 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 5: Notice the "ice cream," "pizza," and "frozen" boxes.  Evidently
Moloch doesn't worry much about calories.  They seem to have been removed
between panels 3 and 4 so Rorschach could fit.

Panel 7: Why didn't Rorschach suffocate?  It takes a while for water to
boil.  Maybe this world has safer refrigerators...

Page 21, 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.

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 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.

Pages 29-32: More of _Under the Hood_.  This section has a lot of
information about the Minutemen.

Page 7, 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).

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.)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks to:

[d--i] at [netcom.com] (Dani Zweig) for the notes on the Crimebusters.
[a--rr--l] at [maths.tcd.ie] (Andrew Farrell) for catching me on "Number
     ten/number one."
[k--i--h] at [shell.portal.com] (Keith Jeffrey Kushner) for his notes
     on Rorschach and the refrigerator.

[d--u--a] at [yang.earlham.edu]                      Doug Atkinson