WATCHPANELS, Part the Second

WATCHPANELS

One compulsive reader’s observations ...

after gazing into Watchmen for the umpteenth time

 PART THE SECOND

CHAPTER 2:

            On page 3 of the original comic, the chapter title is on two lines, aligned left, with the credits on right.  Also, the title and credits are a little wider than the panel grid.

            In the bound versions, the chapter title is one line filling this whole space, and the title is within the width of the panels.  The credits are gone, too.

            On the same page, I don’t understand why the flag for Blake’s coffin was folded, but not in the ceremonial triangle.

You’d expect that this would take place, hein?  In case you wondered if the triangle is a military-only tradition, it’s not. The triangle fold is a sign of respect for the flag, not for the person being interred.  Of course, one might argue that the non-triangle shape means that Edward Blake was not involved in Adrian Veidt’s Pyramid Deliveries conspiracy!

             Sally Jupiter’s reminiscences of the Minutemen are illustrated with the taking of the group portrait in 1940.  Take a gander at the panel showing the photographer in his shroud.

            Call me weird, but that white shape reminds me of Hira Manish’s illustration of The Infamous Squid (this panel is on page 11 of Chapter Eight.)

            In that same 1940 flashback, we’re privy to Blake’s attempted rape of Sally.

            It’s only appropriate that Sally scratches Blake at the same place where in 1971, Blake’s Vietnamese dolly would slash him.

             In the 1966 “organizational meeting” for the Crimebusters, Blake is reading the New York Gazette.

           It’s only curious because the masthead has the month and year, but no date. “April, 1966.”

             On page 26, can it be coincidental that while Rorschach’s journal talks about “heads between teats,” Blake is hitting the wall with his head between the teats of the nekkid girl on the wall?

             On the last page of Chapter Two, the comic’s final panel has only the clock.

            It’s the bound versions which have Elvis Costello lyrics.

            On “page 8” of Under the Hood, written in 1962, Mason says the vigilantes are on “America’s West Coast.”  Wouldn’t the “EAST coast,” like New York, be much more accurate?  Mothman was in Connecticut, and the Comedian was cleaning up “the city’s” waterfronts, in NYC.

            On “page 10,” the last page of this chapter, the paperclipped note about forthcoming chapters does not appear in bound volumes.

           This is a scan of my Graphitti copy.

            Thanks for obsessing with me!  Stay tuned for my fixations on Watchmen, Chapter Three, next week.

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.

  

WATCHMENUTIA #1: Keep Smiling!

KEEP SMILING!

            If you go over a thing often enough, you might not see everything that’s there ... but you’re also likely to see things that AREN’T there.

            I found a lot of  subtle and not-so-subtle images in Watchmen which reminded me of the good ol’ Smiley.  You tell me if some of these are reaching too far.  others may have noted them, but gosh-darn it, this is my blog!

CHAPTER ONE:

            As Detectives Bourquin and Fine leave the Blake murder scene on page 3, they get on an elevator already occupied by one of the building’s tenants.

            The end of his pipe has a familiar shape.

CHAPTER TWO:

            In this 1977 flashback to the pre-Keene Act riots, note the charging hydrant to the right of this panel from page 17.  And, of course, the splatter on Archie the owlship, in the foreground, is shaped like the blood smear on Edward Blake’s Smiley pin.  But back to the Smiley-face hydrant ...

            Now do you see it?

CHAPTER FOUR:

            At Christmastime in 1963, Janey gets the shivers thinking about Jon Osterman’s view of time, on page 11.

            Check out the Smiley-like reflections in the Christmas-tree ornaments.

CHAPTER SEVEN:

            Here, on the cover of the comic, and just inside on page 1, the smear of dust on Dan’s goggles, left by Janey’s finger, gives a Smiley-like look.

            Here’s one of the more obvious images, from page 18.

            And in the last panel of the chapter, on page 28, there’s another too-obvious-to-miss Smiley.

CHAPTER EIGHT:

            For a change, here’s a “Frowny” face that I cannot believe is coincidental.  Look at the mouthpiece of Sally Jupiter’s phone.

*************** 

            Later in Chapter Eight, a prolonged view of Hollis Mason’s jack o’lantern carving produces a familiar cheerful face.

CHAPTER TEN:

            This cheerful radar screen is repeated in the first panel inside.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:

            For the longest time, I was trying to see a Smiley in the reflective bowl with the zigzag motif.  No, don’t look at the bowl.  Look at Veidt’s plate!  The peas are the eyes, the fork is the bloodstain, and the inner ring of the plate serves as the smile!

CHAPTER TWELVE:

            Along with “Bodies Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings,” we see the now-detached crown of the familiar charging hydrant.

            This time, it has an extra blot, to match the Comedian’s badge!

            A repeated angle of the entrance tunnel into Karnak from the frozen-over vivarium has an ironically brightly smiling countenance.

            And as Rorschach tries to escape Karnak.

            You see it too, don’t you?

            Thanks for joining me on this tour of Smiley faces in the Watchmen comics maxiseries.

PS:  The fun doesn’t stop there!

           

            Watchmen: The Art of the Film, by Peter Aperlo (2009: Titan Books), contains three “comics” pages, reproduced on pages 62-63 of that volume.  They were drawn by Gibbons and colored by John Higgins at the behest of film director Zack Snyder to give us “a taste of what the graphic novel’s climax might have looked like if Adrian Veidt had followed the film's script.  These new ‘pages’ were drawn at Zack Snyder's request during pre-production....”

****************

           

            When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you!  And pretty soon, you may find yourself seeing Smileys everywhere!

            For instance, I’ve had this mini-Mr Coffee for more than a decade.  Over time, parts of the Teflon-like coating of the hot plate have worn off.

            Doesn’t my Mr Coffee hot plate have a cheerful disposition?

   So, no matter what life brews up for you, keep smiling!