From: [d--u--a] at [yang.earlham.edu] (Doug Atkinson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: REPOST: Watchmen Annotation #5
Date: 16 Mar 93 05:27:15 GMT
THE ANNOTATED WATCHMEN
Chapter 5: "Fearful Symmetry"
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 skull-and-crossbones, and
mirror images in general.
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
William Blake's poem "The Tyger."
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 7
minutes to midnight, and advances by one minute per issue.
Cover: Reflection of the "The Rumrunner" neon sign outside Moloch's window.
The "Forecast: Cloudy, heavy rain later" line on the paper is
symbolic foreshadowing.
A note on the layout of this issue: The entire issue's story pages are a
mirror image. Page 1 reflects page 28, page 2 reflects page 27, and so
forth; the two-page spread on pages 14-15 is where the "mirror" lies. Each
page is a reflection both of layout and content.
Page 1, panel 1: The sign reflected again. That's a copy of the _Gazette_
with the "Russians Invade Afghanistan" headline, and a Gunga Diner menu.
Panel 2: The foot belongs to Rorschach.
Panel 9: The speaker is Moloch.
Page 3, panel 4: Note the broken Gordian Knot lock.
Panel 6: Checking the refrigerator, remembering issue #2.
Panel 9: Rorschach signs all his notes with the "blot" symbol.
Page 5, panel 5: Rorschach is correct in this assumption; the list in
question was the cancer list. More later.
Panel 6: Rorschach either believes in checking every
possible lead, no matter how remote, or is a raving paranoid. The
likelihood that Moloch could be behind all this is somewhat farfetched.
Page 6, panel 5: We see the island later. (It all ties together.)
Panel 7: The puddle again.
Page 7, panel 1: The triangle symbol, with an Eastern connection. The
smear of blood across the face repats the smiley-face from #1.
Panel 3: The lamp in the upper right repeats the very minor theme of a zig-
zag pattern on a sphere. Officer Capaldi is the woman on the left of the
panel.
Panel 6: Note the skull-and-crossbones in the "Grateful Dead" poster. (The
other posters read, "Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life" and
"No Nukes.")
Page 8, panel 1: More "Tales of the Black Freighter"
captions. The truck is, again, from Pyramid Deliveries. Page 9: This is a
complete "Black Freighter" page.
Page 10, panel 1: The Gunga Diner interior. The speaker is Laurie. Most
of this page is seen in a mirror.
Panel 4: The Diner is across from the Utopia. (The people walking on the
street have been shown in passing before.) They're now showing "Things to
Come" (reflecting the theme of change).
Page 11, panel 1: The hands on this page belong to Rorschach. Notice the
stain pattern on the plate.
Panel 4: We see his mother in the next issue.
Panel 5: Another mirror-image. "Who Watches the Watchmen" graffiti in the
background.
Panel 6: Once again, Rorschach is either investigating _all_ leads or is
behaving like a paranoid loon.
Panels 7-9: Rorschach is creating a Rorschach blot with the napkin. The
gang sprays another "Hiroshima Lovers" image on the wall.
Page 12, panel 1: "Afghanistan: Is Pakistan Next?" The radiation symbol is
still on the wall. This page is the first to alternate real and "Black
Freighter" panels.
Panel 5: Note the "...don't people see the *signs*? Don't they know where
this is *headed*?" viz. the sign-man in the background.
Panel 8: Another mirror image, and streak across eye (the issue #1 smiley
face).
Panel 9: Notice the "The End is Nigh" man going through the trash. From
this we can postulate the layout of this corner, Fortieth and Seventh:
GungaI I Promethean
DinerI I Cab Co.
------- ------------
Newsstand
------- ---------------
UtopiaI I Institute for
I I Extraspatial
I I Studies
(Does this corner exist in "our" New York? What's located there?")
Page 13, panel 1: The shiny desk and floor provide another mirror. The
hands belong, of course, to Adrian; the woman is his secretary.
Panel 3: Is Veidt foreshadowing the end of this issue? Does he know too
much?
Pages 14-15: This split-page panel is unique in the series. The pool is
another mirror surface.
Page 17, panel 4: The _Gazette_ headline reads, "Industrialist in Murder."
Notice the sign man in the background. The person by the corner might be
Joey.
Panel 8: And the sign man is here again; we learn the significance of this
later. Ironic line from the newsvendor.
Page 18, panel 1: The same graffiti we saw on page 11. The hands in the
panel (mirror image) appear on 2/3 of the panels on the page. If alert,
you can work out the identity of Rorschach here.
From the slant, the writing could be by someone left-handed. Moloch is
left-handed; look at the way he holds the gun in the beginning of this
issue. If this is a fake, it's a good one.
Panel 4: Another Pale Horse poster on the left, above a torn Ozymandias
Famine Relief poster; on the right, more "Who Watches the Watchmen?"
Panel 5: A Nostalgia ad.
Panel 6: Compare Rorschach's pulling on the glove with the woman's pulling
on her stocking.
Panel 8: Note the similarity of mugger and victim's silhouette to the
graffiti.
Page 19: Another mirror.
Panel 6: On the table is "Under the Hood." The old heroes have been on
Dan's mind lately.
Page 21, panel 2: Joey, last seen in issue #3.
Panel 8: Another triangle image (compare with Pyramid Deliveries) and the
militant feminist symbol. The poster read, "Pink Triangle LIVE at the Gay
Women Against Rape Benefit Concert."
It's hard to tell if the triangle is connected to the other triangle
symbols; putting the point at the top is unusual (it derives from the
symbol male homosexuals were forced to wear in Nazi Germany, which was
point-down) but not unprecedented (see any "Silence=Death" item).
Also note that the term is "gay women," not "lesbians." We learn later
that "gay woman" has become the accepted term.
Panel 9: The ad on the back of the _Hustler_ reads, "For Smokers With
Balls" and is for cigarette holders. (The copy is sort of ironic. We've
seen the holders used by people in Happy Harry's, a man in New York in #4,
page 4, and a minor character in this issue on page 13, but Janey and
Laurie use them too, as well as the man embracing the other man in issue 1.
Surely not *all* these people are in _Hustler's_ target audience.)
Page 22, panel 7: He means "Rorschach," of course.
Panel 9: The skull-and-crossbones on the poster again.
Page 23, panels 1-3: A return to page 1.
Panel 4: New graffiti on the wall by the Rumrunner.
Panel 6: The broken Gordian Knot lock; it may be newly broken, or Moloch
may have never repaired it.
Page 24, panel 3: Underboss was a major mob crimelord; Rorschach and Nite
Owl eventually apprehended him.
Page 25, panels 3-6: Rorschach is gathering makeshift weapons here. The
aerosol can reads "Veidt For Men Hair Spray."
Page 26, panel 3: "Here be tygers" refers both to the quote giving us the
story title, and the practice of filling in unknown areas on old maps with
"Here be dragons." It may be NYPD slang for the unknown and dangerous.
Page 28, panels 1, 5: The "Rumrunner" logo is similar to that of the real-
life Ramrod club, placing the apartement on West Street off Christopher.
The cop's "goddamned queer" line also points to that area, and is similar
to Comedian's line from issue #2, page 7, panel 6.
Panel 9: Once again the puddle.
Pages 29-32: "A Man on Fifteen Dead Men's Chests," Chapter 5 of the
_Treasure Island Treasury of Comics._ An overview of the history of DC's
"Tales of the Black Freighter." EC and DC are/were both real publishers.
Joe Orlando is a real person; he's a VP at DC now. In the real world,
comics centered on superheroes, which declined in the '50's: the horror
comics of that period brought about public disapproval. In this world
there were few superhero comics: there was no witchhunt and EC remained
strong. (Ironically, though, the superheroes helped the survival of the
form; see page 59, paragraph 1.) Marvel never made it (since, in the real
world, their growth can be traced to FANTASTIC FOUR #1).
Page 61, paragraph 4: "Marooned" is the story Bernie is reading.
Page 62, panel 2: Another reference to Max Shea's
disappearance (first mentioned in issue #3).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks to:
[k--i--h] at [shell.portal.com] (Keith Jeffrey Kusher) for his notes on the
Rumrunner's location.
[z--nk--r] at [splinter.coe.northeastern.edu] ( Regis ) for pointing out this
issue's symmetrical nature.
[d--u--a] at [yang.earlham.edu] Doug Atkinson