Watchmen: Chapter III - page 15

PAGE 15

Panels 1-2:  Moore & Gibbons continue to play the imagery off the words as Agent Forbes’s remark in panel 1, which ends with, “. . . getting aroused,” leads into panel 2 where Dan and Laurie are coming down from their adrenaline rush, both panting with hair disheveled as if they’d just finished having sex.

Also note, in the background of panel 2 we can see a promotional poster for Ozymandias’s performance to help raise money for India Famine Relief – a poster we saw in his penthouse office when Rorschach visited him in Chapter I

Panels 3-4:  Forbes’s dialogue ending panel 3 – “. . . not here to answer questions on intimate moments!” – leads into panel 4 where Dan and Laurie, still panting, turn to look at each other, as we readers look in on an intimate moment between these two.

Panels 5-6:  And again, Forbes in panel 5 says, “. . . safest not to pursue this line of thinking . . .” leads into the next panel where Dan and Laurie turn away from each other, realizing what the other is thinking and afraid to go there.  And, to emphasize the undertone of this symbolic post-coital reaction, Laurie lights a cigarette.