From: [d--u--a] at [yang.earlham.edu] (Doug Atkinson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Watchmen Annotation #10
Date: 16 Mar 93 05:32:38 GMT


                           THE ANNOTATED WATCHMEN

                Chapter 10: "Two Riders Were Approaching..."

     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 computer/TV screens, as well
as a "two riders" theme.
     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
Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower."
     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 2 minutes to midnight.

Cover: A control tower radar screen.

Page 1, panel 1: Notice the time and date: 10/31/85 (a jump backwards in
time), 11:59:30.  "DEFCON 2" refers to the state of military readiness;
DEFCON 5 is complete peace, and DEFCON 1 is outright war.

Panel 4: Notice that two riders are approaching in the truck.

Page 2, panel 1: President Nixon, carrying the control to launch the U.S.'s
nuclear arsenal.

Panel 7: Both the cars have two riders.

Page 5, panel 4: Lots of ongoing themes on the fence in the background.
From left to right, a Pale Horse "Krystalnacht" poster ("Sold Out"), a "The
End is Nigh" sign, a Nostalgia ad, a Gunga Diner box, a "Four More Years"
sign, a sign reading "Badges Not Masks: Support the Keene Bill," an
Ozymandias Famine Relief poster, another "Four More Years," another "The
End is Nigh," "Krystalnacht," "Badges Not Masks," "Nixon the One," "Badges
Not Masks," "The End is Nigh," "The End is Nigh," "Nixon the One" and,
finally, a Pink Triangle poster.  (The downward-spiralling arrow has been
around for a while, too; maybe it's symbolic of the way the world situation
is going.)

Page 6, panel 2: A really old coat; that's the bloodstain from the dog he
killed.  Next to it is his journal.

Panel 7: Does he have a human side, after all?

Page 7, panel 1: This is Karnak, Adrian's Antarctic retreat.

Page 8: TV screens.

Panel 5: The shape of the recording reels is reminiscent of the radiation
symbols.

Page 9, panel 1: Computer screens.

Page 13, panel 1: The headline reads, "Eastern Europe: Tanks Mass as
Conflict Escalates."  The back of the comic reads, "The Veidt Method: I
Will Give You Bodies Beyond Your Wildest Imagination." Those are Jehovah's
Witnesses in the background.

Page 17: Notice the symbol on the side of the boat.  All the people
referred to as missing in the _New Frontiersman_ except James Trafford
March show up or are referred to on this page, and he may be among the
unindentified people in panels 2-4.

Also, doesn't this beach bring to mind the one from _Tales of the Black
Freighter_

Panel 3: The brain referred to is that of Robert Deschaines, the only
character besides Dr. Manhattan known to have superhuman abilities.

Page 18, panel 7: That's the picture Mira was drawing in issue #8, page 11.

Page 19, panel 7: Notice the pyramid on Adrian's desk...

Page 20: Another computer screen.  The computer is a Veidt product, but
that's hardly surprising.

Panel 4: A reference to the '75 Roche kidnapping, presumably.

Page 22, Panel 1: The pink-looking tower in the background is the Chrysler
Building.

Panel 3: They're flying over Madison Square Garden, where Pale Horse is
playing tonight.  Notice the time on the clock.

Panels 6-7: This is the mailbox next to Rorschach's trashcan maildrop: next
to the Promethean offices, across from the Gunga Diner and the newsstand.
In panel 7, Rorschach's
sigil is miscolored and looks like a sign on the wall.

Page 23, panel 1: The mailman's getting Rorschach's journal out of the
mailbox.

Panel 2: Two riders again.

Panel 9: The journal is the "Urgent" package.  The watch salesman is in the
background.

Page 24, panel 4: The graffiti read "Sieg Heil," a swastika, and "Scum."
Apparently not everybody approves of the _Frontiersman._ We see through the
window that Pioneer Publishing is opposite Woolworth's, which has a
Mmeltdowns ad.

Panel 5: Feinberg drew the cartoon in issue #8 (it was signed just "F.").

Panel 6: Odd that the journal is from 1984-1985, but the 10/12/85 entry is
on the first page.  (In issue #1, it read "Dog carcass," not "Dead dog."
Either Seymour is paraphrasing or the captions were from his notes, not the
final version.)

Page 28, panels 4-6: More TV screens.

Pages 29-32: Various papers from Adrian's desk.

Page 29, paragraph 1: He vetoed them in issue #5, page 13.

Page 30: Notice "Call Laurie" and the beginning of a phone number on the
left.  One wonders if the Rorschach figure's mask would shift patterns;
it's theoretically possible, but might be expensive for a cheap plastic
action figure.

Page 31, paragraph 5: In issue #12 we see some of the Millennium
advertising.

Page 32: The new "Veidt Method" ad (looking like it was printed on a
Macintosh).

Interestingly, Adrian's signature is identical on all three pages.

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