Watchmen: Chapter XII - page 15

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Panel 2:  The gun Laurie appropriated from the detective on Page 8 is revealed.

Panel 3:  The visual technique of drawing ghost images through a physical motion, as Gibbons utilizes in this panel, shows just how fast Veidt is moving as he jumps into action.

Watchmen: Chapter X - page 15

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Panel 2:  It feels like a throwaway line, but the fact that this guy’s boss from Pyramid Deliveries is the one who had him find a reliable hitman points right back to Adrian Veidt – Ozymandias – whose Egyptian motif is rife with pyramids and who is the owner, through a number of front companies, of Pyramid Deliveries.

It is also worth noting that this is not the first time we have seen this character.  He showed up at the newsstand in Chapter V, page 8 to charge his Pyramid Deliveries van at the electric charger the younger Bernie has been using to keep himself warm while he reads the Black Freighter comic.

Panel 3:  Notice the body language of Nite Owl, compliments of artist Dave Gibbons, as he notices the knot-top who seems intent on not watching the torture scene that everyone else in the bar is interested in.  This could get lost with the focus on Rorschach, but it’s these little details that help to elevate Watchmen.

Panel 4:  This conspiracy revolving around the freight handlers mirrors the conspiracy to take out all of the costumed adventurers, which makes sense as the same man – Veidt – is behind both of these conspiracies. 

Watchmen: Chapter IX - page 15

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Panel 9:  This outburst by Sally could be attributed to her experience when Blake raped her, as seen in Chapter II.  But we will come to find out there are additional circumstances inspiring this rage.

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Panel 1:  And we see Rorschach’s motivation for his “fat chance” remark.  He forced Lawrence to lose his cool, and now Big Figure’s guy is pinned to Rorschach’s jail cell door, right in front of the lock mechanism.

Panel 4:  This blood stain mirrors the one Rorschach got on his trench coat during his metamorphosis from Kovacs to Rorschach, as seen in Chapter V on Page 24, panel 4.

Panel 6:  Rorschach’s line here – “…come and get me...” – transitions directly into

Panel 7:  where we are inside the cockpit of the owlship as Dan and Laurie come to get Rorschach.

Watchmen: Chapter VII - page 15

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Panel 1:   Dan’s inability to “get it up,” as evidenced by the curse under his breath, “Aw, hell,” (as shown by the smaller lettering font in a word balloon too big for the dialogue, which leaves a lot of white space to indicate the softer aspect of this speech) is played off the commentator, once more, who exclaims that Veidt’s performance is “…just perfect…”

Panel 2:  We get more ironic juxtaposition as we watch Veidt land a “perfect Hecht dismount” while Dan apologizes to Laurie for his inability to perform as he tells her, “…it isn’t you, it’s just [my hang-ups]…”

Panel 3:  Note that the clock is at 7:00 pm. 

Panels 4-6:  In these three panels, we get more of the apocalyptic symbolism replete throughout this story:  Panel 4 has “Pale Horse” and one of that band’s members “Red D’Eath”, Panel 5 has the advertisement for “MMMMMeltdowns,” and Panel 6 has the ABC sign-off remarks asking for people to “take care of each other.” 

Also note that it is now 2:00 am, and Dan has been unable to perform over that whole time – whereas, in a more typical narrative, these two would have been fornicating that entire time as a climax to the release of their sexual tension.  It is a testament to Moore’s writing that he did not go the expected/easy route with this.

Panel 8:  Laurie’s remark to Dan, “Just sleep,” is played over the television set “going to sleep,” as broadcasting for the evening ceases – something that does not occur today, but was common practice at the time this was written. 

Panel 9:  The image of Dan’s glasses sitting on the floor beneath the coffee table transitions directly into

Watchmen: Chapter VI - page 15

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Panel 4:  Yet another image of a clock at 5 to midnight.  Also, from this angle – in a flashback that we’ve seen before in Chapter II, Page 11 – we are able to verify that Captain Metropolis was indeed worried about “Black Unrest” as something for the Crimebusters to tackle.

Panel 6:  Kovacs’s voiceover in this panel, particularly the lines that, “we do not do this thing because it is permitted.  We do it because we have to,” is related over imagery showcasing the illegality and suspicion the populace has toward “masks.”  Specifically, we see the unfinished graffiti, Who Watches the Watchmen?, the news headline that the Keene Act has passed, outlawing masked vigilantes, and the sign that says:  “Badges not Masks,” all of which are being ignored by Rorschach, who has turned his back on these cries against him as well as the person who was spray-painting the graffiti whom Rorschach obviously “worked over” to stop him from defacing the building.

Watchmen: Chapter V - pages 14-15

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This is the only two-page spread to be found in the entire book, and the utiliziation of this technique, and the larger panel bridging the two pages, not only adds drama to the action and accentuates what is happening, but the fold of these two pages acts as the mirror for this symmetrical chapter of Watchmen. 

Panel 2:  Note that the pool in the foreground is another reflective surface, reinforcing the overall theme.

Panel 4:  This tall panel bridging the gap is the mirror for the chapter.  The pool reflects the action while the stance of Veidt and the collapse of his attacker coupled with the large “V” in the background forms another symmetrical “X” to reinforce, yet again, the theme of the issue. 

Panel 6:  More reflection in the pool and the floor in the background.

Panel 7:  As Adrian crushes the assailant’s skull against the bronze Egyptian mask on the edge of the pool, it forms a rather morbid, and blood-soaked, symmetrical image of two faces coming together.  Also, note that a spot of blood has fallen onto Adrian’s yellow flower, echoing the blood on the Comedian’s yellow smiley face button.

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Panel 1:  The cryptic mention of “Dallas” in the second caption box refers to November 22, 1963, the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Panels 2-7:  The conversation between Hollis Mason and Dr. Manhattan signified not only the changeover from the “old guard” of the Minutemen to the “new guard,” eventually, of the Watchmen, but also, again, highlights the differences between humanity and Dr. Manhattan, while also accentuating the way in which he has changed, and will change, the world. 

And yet, some horrible incidents of history still occur, as evidenced by

Panel 7:  where Dr. Manhattan mentions – in the caption box – Dealey Plaza, the spot in Dallas, Texas where President John F. Kennedy was gunned down on November 22, 1963.

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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.

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Panel 1:  Blake’s unflinching murder of the woman carrying his child is yet more evidence of his unrepentant personality.  But the fact that Dr. Manhattan stands there doing nothing is an even more telling indication of how detached from humanity he has become, a fact that Blake will articulate in panels 4 & 5 of this page.

Panel 5:  Blake continues to accurately analyze Dr. Manhattan, telling him how he did not care for Janey Slater and soon will drop Laurie (“Sally Jupiter’s little gal”), foreshadowing what will happen – and, more importantly, what Manhattan already knows will happen.

Panel 6:  There is irony in the Comedian’s remark, “God help us all,” as Blake is talking to God in the form of Dr. Manhattan.

Panel 7:  Dr. Manhattan is phased through the table, visually symbolizing again how out of touch he is becoming if he doesn’t even take notice of a table running through his legs.

Panel 8:  As with other transitions in this issue, we see Dr. Manhattan – now in the present – standing in exactly the same pose as he was in the previous panel fourteen years in the past.

Watchmen: Chapter I - page 15

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Panel 6: The Pale Horse jacket is again symbolic of the “end of days” feeling during the 1980s.

Panel 7: The remark, “Musta changed his deodorant!” gives us another clue into Rorschach’s personal habits, which are less important than his pursuit of criminals.

Panels 7-9: The 9-grid layout also allows the writer and artist to create a sense of timing within the book. By having this very rigid panel layout, it sets up a rhythm within the readers’ minds, something that is not possible in a comic that does not employ such a rigid layout.