Watchmen: Chapter II - Page 25

PAGE 25

Panel 1:  The name of the act performing at the Burlesk theatre is “Enola Gay and the Little Boys” which is a reference to the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in WWII (nicknamed Little Boy) and the nickname of the B-29 bomber that dropped it (Enola Gay).  This also ties into Ozymandias's theories in Chapter X about increased warlike imagery in times of international tension – evidenced by the news headlines about the Russians not tolerating America in Afghanistan.

Panels 2-7:  It is again interesting to compare Rorschach’s journal entries, which are darkly poetic, with his conversational dialogue from the previous page, which comes across as stilted and direct. 

Panel 6:  Rorschach’s comment, “nothing is insoluble” also refers to his ability to easily pick the lock to the cemetery gate.

Panel 7:  “Nothing is hopeless.  Not while there’s life.”  These statements overlaid on a scene of Rorschach walking into the cemetery where Blake is buried is another example of the ironic juxtaposition Moore & Gibbons utilize in Watchmen.