Monday, June 01, 2020

WATCHPANELS, Part the Seventh

One compulsive reader’s observations ...
after gazing into Watchmen for the umpteenth time

PART THE SEVENTH

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



           On page 2, the chapter title is in quotation marks in the comic, but has no quotation marks in bound versions.

            What is Laurie holding in her right hand?  Maybe it’s a “pack” of tobacco balls, as in Janey Slater’s “three packs a day” in 3:6:3?

In the first panel of page 10, both of Laurie’s hands are in “Curt Swan style” – reference my blog post http://markssuperblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/curt-swan-gave-us-fingers.html?m=0

Panel 3 of page 11 Dan's Kitchen Clock.  As seen in 3:8:6, Dan’s kitchen clock is on 24-hour time.  17:58 = 5:58PM.

 Page 13:  In Watchmen’s New York, there’s an Astrodome, although on our Earth it’s in Houston.  On the other hand, the fact that the announcer specifies “the New York Astrodome” here and on the next page implies there MIGHT be more than one.

Likewise on page 13:  In Annotated Watchmen, Leslie Klinger makes a silly statement.  He says, “The song playing is part of Dan’s record collection.”  Where does this left-field guess come from?  Where in Watchmen are we provided with a list of Dan’s records?
 MORE TO THE POINT:  It seems that Klinger wasn’t paying attention.  It is obvious that “Unforgettable” is coming from the TV, the soundtrack music for A DANG TV COMMERCIAL.  The “voice balloon” of the song is even pointing to the TV screen in panels 8 and 9 – and referenced in the commercial’s voiceover on 1st panel of the next page.

On page 20, When Dan says “get myself straight,” does he know that it’s a common druggie term for “smoothing things out” by getting a fix?

Page 23:  Now we see the New York Astrodome for ourselves.

In the supplemental material at the back, we are meant to assume that the “sick friend in Maine,” whom Dan was visiting, was Byron Lewis, Mothman, on behalf of Hollis Mason.


The bound versions do not have this paperclipped note about “next issue.”  Further, note that the paperclipped note misspells the paper’s name as Frontiersmen, not “-man.”

            Seven chapters down, five to go!  Buckle your owl-belts, kiddies!

See you next Monday for who-knows-what?!?
    
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© by Mark Alfred