Watchmen: Chapter VI - page 8

PAGE 8

Panel 1:  Note the coffee mug just visible off the left side of this panel. It shows half of an “A” and a “D,” which one must assume would represent the word “DAD,” giving us a bit more insight into Dr. Long’s life.

Panel 3:  This early in the case Dr. Long is insistent that anyone discussing it – in this instance, his wife – not use the “fantasy personality” of Rorschach for his patient.  Walter Kovacs is his patient, and losing sight of that could hamper any progress.

Panel 4:  The remarks by Dr. Long’s wife in this panel foreshadow what will happen through the course of Dr. Long’s work with Kovacs/Rorschach, despite Dr. Long’s protests to the contrary.

The coffee mug is fully visible in this panel, and it does say “DAD.”

Also, the odd mobile hanging from the office ceiling – which is more evident in Panel 6 of this page – foreshadows the end of the series.  The form of the mobile being closely related to the “squid” transported to New York by Ozymandias at the end, and symbolizes the threat hanging over everyone in this story.

Panel 5:  In the background, on the wall, we see the shadows of Dr. Long and his wife, shadows that closely resemble the “Hiroshima lovers” spray-painted around the city, as seen in earlier chapters.  The relationship to those silhouettes symbolizes and foreshadows the breakdown of the Long’s marriage, which we will observe through the course of this chapter.

Panel 6:  The shadows of Dr. Long and his wife here, juxtaposed with the dialogue that Long feels he “can guide [Kovacs] out of [his psychosis],” along with his wife agreeing that “if anybody can, it’s you,” symbolizes how this case will not only make him a shadow of his former self, but it will also make their marriage a shadow of its former self.

Panel 7:  Again, Dr. Long’s wife foreshadows what is coming for her husband.  Her anxiety will be proved out.

Panel 9:  Note the inkblot spreading from Dr. Long’s pen, which foreshadows the transformation Dr. Long will go through in this chapter – from the jovial contented man he and his wife discuss on this page, to someone more akin to Rorschach (symbolized by that inkblot).