PAGES 2-6
Over
the course of these first six pages of Chapter
XII, Moore & Gibbons slowly and quietly “pan” around the intersection
that has been ground zero for much of the storytelling, and which became ground
zero for Veidt’s ultimate plan. They
utilize full-page images for each of these opening pages. For the reasons cited in the notes for PAGE 1, this is a powerful and
effective use of the comic page, enhanced by the “rhythm” these two artists created
with the 9-panel grid over the course of the previous eleven chapters.
Throughout
these opening pages all, or most, of the visual echoes that we have seen over
the course of Watchmen can be found in these images of death and
destruction. Most prominent on PAGE 2 are the blimp (having crashed
into a building behind Madison Square Garden), the apocalyptic associations with
the knot-top concert for Pale Horse and Krystalnacht (posters of which have
been scattered throughout the story), the feeling that nuclear devastation has
been looming over the heads of the entire world as symbolized by the newspaper
headline, “War?” and the watch (and, by extension, watchmaker) motif as seen by
the watch peddler’s case in the lower part of the image.
On PAGE 3 we see the Utopia movie theater,
which has been showing the classic film The Day the Earth Stood Still,
more watches strewn across the pavement leading to the watch peddler, a number
of knot-tops dead on the steps leading into the theater, and the floating
elephant advertising the Gunga Diner in tatters to the right of the image,
while the newspaper with the War
headline floats across the image.
PAGE 4 is in front of the Gunga
Diner, with the elephant face of its advertising balloon coming in from the
left of the panel, Detectives Fine and Bourquin seen in the lower middle of the
image, while a Rorschach blot from Dr. Long’s brief case is visible at the very
bottom of the page. And, again,
newspapers flutter across the image.
PAGE 5 has both Joey & Aline and
Dr. & Mrs. Long in macabre embraces – these couples seemingly only able to
overcome their differences in death.
There are more echoes from earlier chapters as this image is in front of
the Promethean Cab Company where we can see the overturned Gordian Knot Lock
truck. At the corner of the building
where Promethean was headquartered is the nuclear fallout shelter sign, while
in the foreground are more copies of the newspaper with its War headline, another Rorschach blot,
and a bottle of Nostalgia perfume.
And,
with PAGE 6, we finally see the body
of the creature – having only perceived the arms, or tentacles, in previous
pages. Fittingly, the creature was
teleported to the Institute for Extraspatial Studies – a Veidt holding where he
could secretly build the receiver for his teleportation device. The greenish liquid covering the front of
this building, and the tentacle to our right, is actually the squid’s blood,
which is yet another bit of verisimilitude, as squids do actually have green
blood. Also note that the letters not
covered with its blood (and including the “L” formed by the newspaper corner
floating over the scene) spell out: “OR
ALL DIE.”
We
also have more echoes from previous chapters as we see the Pink Triangle poster Joey asked Bernie, the newsvendor, to put up
at his newsstand, the spark hydrant developed by Dr. Manhattan, more instances
of the newspaper with the War
headline – which is not only symbolic of the threat humanity has been living
under throughout this narrative, but also foreshadows the feelings about this
creature (that it might be a scout for an alien invasion force) that will
propel the narrative toward its end – the Black
Freighter comic the younger Bernie has been reading throughout Watchmen
with its back cover advocating the Veidt Method (the opening of portion of its
slogan: “I will give you bodies…” an ominous phrase given Veidt’s actions),
another Rorschach blot from Dr. Long’s briefcase, and the cover to the spark
hydrant spattered with blood, which echoes the blood spattered smiley-face
button of the Comedian.
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