WATCHPANELS, Part the First

WATCHPANELS

One compulsive reader’s observations ...

after gazing into Watchmen for the umpteenth time

PART THE FIRST

All right, I’ve got photons in my teeth and my wrist brace on ...

CHAPTER 1

On page 6, we have the Chapter Title.

Compare the original comic page (with quotation marks and credits) with the reprint versions.

 – In Annotated, Klinger says that Rorschach’s jagged word balloons are reflections of the distortions in his voice caused by the mask. In his first speech balloons, 1:7:3 and 1:7:8, you get the idea.

However, in 1.10 and 1.11, his speech balloons are just as jagged when his mask is up.

             When the detectives investigating Blake’s murder enter the building’s elevator to descend, we get the first sight of the ball-pipes which feature throughout the story.

            Maybe the ball-pipes are newfangled or just plain pricey, because Hollis Mason smokes old-fashioned cigarettes, as seen in 1:9:3.

             On page 19, Rorschach sneaks in to see Laurie and Doctor Manhattan.

            In Annotated Watchmen, Klinger joins me in noting the similarity of the sign’s logo to Superman’s original “S”-shield, shown here from Action Comics #1 in 1938.

           On page 22, these are a few of the only word balloons from Dr Manhattan that somebody forgot to color blue.  (It also happens in Chapter 8, as we’ll notice.)

             In the comic, the Dylan song lines don’t appear – nor in the Graphitti version.

            In the supplemental matter, page 1 of Hollis Mason’s Under the Hood, we have a nice paperclipped note telling us what we’re going to read.  You can see that “corn” in the word “corner” is not touched by the shadow of the note.

            However, for Annotated Watchmen, this page was redone.  There’s slightly more space between the note and the text.  Also, the shadow of the note touches the “rn” in “corner.”

            You’ll note that Mason describes Moe Vernon as a guy with “three chins,” in the comic printing.

            But for Annotated, Vernon had “three thins” – what?

            On “page 2” of Under the Hood, the photo caption mistakenly says that Mason was 21 years old.  In the original comic, that is! 

            In bound editions, this goof was fixed so that Mason is twelve years old.

           On the last page of the comic, we have a “coming attractions” note which does not appear in bound versions.

            Thanks for stopping by.  We have eleven chapters to go!

See you next Monday for our nit-pickings on Chapter Two of Watchmen.