WATCHPANELS, Part 10

WATCHPANELS

One compulsive reader’s observations ...

after gazing into Watchmen for the umpteenth time

 

PART THE TENTH

 

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

 

CHAPTER 10

            On page 3, we’re told that the US is at DEFCON 2.  According to Wikipedia, this is the “next step to nuclear war.”  The Armed Forces are supposed to be ready to deploy and engage in less than 6 hours.

            In our world, DEFCON 2 has been achieved:

·       by the Strategic Air Command during the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 24-November 15, 1962.  The rest of the armed services remained at DEFCON 3

·       by US forces on January 15, 1991, at the beginning of Desert Storm

            Dan knows where Rorschach’s neighborhood is because it was in the news reports.

            It makes fine background noise, but I cannot imagine a world in which somebody would take the time to walk down this blind alley to paste “SOLD OUT” notices over the posters for the Pale Horse concert.

            Here’s a glimpse of Walter Kovacs experiencing (and expressing) compassion.

            What is “the delivery”?  It must be the delivery to Karnak of the Space Squid, as mentioned in Chapter 8 by Max Shea.  Veidt’s servants supervised “the reception” unaided.

             Surely it is not an accident that the tape reels on the shelf of Veidt’s cart look like radiation symbols!

            Another step in the transformation of Rorschach back into Walter Kovacs:  an apology.

            It’s a cute touch by Moore, having Bernard say “Book of Revolutions” instead of “Revelations,” the last book of the New Testament.  A lot of people don’t know that the book is “The Revelation to John,” not plural “revelations.”  The title is from the first word of the book, apokalypsis, which means “the unveiling.”

            I absolutely love Dreiberg’s line about how the upward curve must be Veidt’s IQ or his income!

            Has there ever been any computer on Earth that PROMPTED you to hack it, as Veidt’s does here?

            The epigraph has quotation marks in original.

            The quotation marks aren’t there in the bound editions.

             Well, now we know why Veidt’s computer is so user-friendly.  No matter the nameplate on the computer, this dot-matrix font closely resembles Apple’s Chicago Font.  This had to have been on purpose!

            Well, we’ll see you soon for the final two chapters in Watchmen.