From: [d--u--a] at [yang.earlham.edu] (Doug Atkinson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Watchmen Annotation #7
Date: 16 Mar 93 05:28:54 GMT


                           THE ANNOTATED WATCHMEN

                     Chapter 7: "A Brother to Dragons"

     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 reflection in the oval.
     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
Job 30:29.
     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 5
minutes to midnight.

Cover: Dreiberg's ship, "Archie," reflected in his goggles.  The smear in
the dust is reminiscent of the smiley-face motif.

Page 1, panel 1: The reflection in the oval.

Page 3, panel 1: Dan is replacing the Sweet Chariot sugar Rorschach took.

Panels 2, 4, 6: Flashback to issue #1.

Panel 7: On the right are Dan's trophies.  The picture is of Twilight Lady
(page 5).

Page 4, panel 5: While Laurie's judgement is harsh, it is true that
Rorschach is _very_ suspicious.

Panel 9: A reflection in an oval.

Page 5, panel 1: Another reflection in an oval.

Page 7, panels 2-4: Not quite a reflection in an oval, but close.

Page 9, panel 2: Big Figure appears in the next issue.

Page 10, panels 2-3: Devo is a real band.

Panel 9: Reflection in an oval.

Page 11, panel 3: Clearly Laurie has no problem with her Polish background,
unlike her mother.

Panel 4: Confirming the theory that the cancer list is a setup.

Page 12, panel 1: Godfrey and his assistant reappear later.

Panel 3: This places the date as the 25th.

Pages 13-15: These pages have one of the best examples in the series of
ironic background dialogue, commenting on the foreground.  Read the stuff
from the TV as commentary on what Dan and Laurie are doing.

Page 13, panel 1: This is a reference to the real-world group "Manhattan
Transfer."

Panels 4-7: Pay attention, this is important.

Panels 8-9: The background is a commercial for Nostalgia.

Pages 14-15: This is the event all the Ozymandias Famine Relief posters are
a reference to.

Page 15, panel 4: Benny Anger returns.  Note that Red D'Eath has a knot top
and leather jacket; he seems to be the one popularizing the style, since
Aline, a Pale Horse fan, wears it in issue #11.

Red D'Eath's name refers, probably, to Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The
Masque of the Red Death."

Panel 5: A Mmeltdowns ad.

Panel 9: A reflection in an oval.

Page 17, panel 6: The "Hiroshima Lovers" imagery again.

Page 18, panel 3: The finger streak in the mist hearkens back to the cover.

Panel 9: Another reflection.

Page 25, panel 7: As identified later, this is Billy Holliday's "You're My
Thrill."

Page 26, panel 7: A reflection in an oval.

Page 28, panel 4: Another one.

Pages 29-32: An excerpt from the _Journal of the American Ornithological
Society._

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