From: [d--u--a] at [yang.earlham.edu] (Doug Atkinson) Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc Subject: Watchmen Annotation #9 Date: 16 Mar 93 05:31:48 GMT THE ANNOTATED WATCHMEN Chapter 9: "The Darkness of Mere Being" Watchmen is a trademark of DC Comics Inc., copyright 1993. These annotations copyright 1993 by Doug Atkinson. They may be freely copied and distributed, provided the text is not altered. Certain notes are true for each issue. Each one is written by Alan Moore, drawn and lettered by Dave Gibbons, and colored by John Higgins. Moreover, each issue has a continuing motif, a reoccuring object or pattern that is seen on the cover, the first and last page (usually), and throughout the issue. This issue's motif is the liquid-filled sphere. Another trend is the title, which is always an excerpt from an apropos quote shown in its entirety in the last panel. This issue's title is from Jung's _Memories, Dreams, Reflections._ The clock appearing on the covers counts the minutes to midnight, similar to the clock in the _Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists_, which is an estimate of the world's closeness to nuclear war. The clock stands at 3 minutes to midnight. Cover: A bottle of Nostalgia perfume, thrown by Laurie at the end of this issue. Page 1: A flashback to last issue. Panel 1: The thrown Nostalgia bottle. Page 3, panel 1: The Nostalgia bottle. Page 6, panel 7: Another liquid-filled sphere (see next page). Panel 8: Is it possible Jon is doing something to help Laurie remember? The clarity seems unusually good for a childhood memory. Page 7: The man Sally is arguing with is Laurence Schexnayder, her soon-to- be-ex-husband. They are arguing about a tryst she had with another man. (His identity will become clear later.) Panels 7-9: The liquid-filled sphere again. (See issues 3 and 6.) Page 8, panels 1-3: The sphere and the bottle. Panel 4: A good guess, with the information she has, but wrong. Page 11, panel 4: The year is 1964, and the "new boy" in question is Rorschach. Page 12, panel 3: Byron Lewis is Mothman. Panel 7: The Nostalgia bottle again. Page 15, panel 6: The hair is another hint. Compare hers to the other characters. Panel 7: Notice that she's not using the ball filter/holder. Odds are she's just taken up smoking (she's 15 years old). Page 16, panel 8: The Nostalgia bottle. Page 20, panel 2: Ford is Vice-President Gerald Ford. Liddy is G. Gordon Liddy; probably CIA director at this point. Al Haig is/was Secretary of... Defense? Panel 4: In our world, Woodward and Bernstein's discovery led to Nixon's eventual resignation; they didn't get a chance to pass it on in this world. Panel 5: Note the button. I find it interesting that he wore it in both identities but his identity doesn't seem to have been public knowledge (Joe and Steve didn't know it back in issue #1). Especially since for a long time he only wore a domino mask, without even covering his hair... This is a government gathering, and maybe everyone here already knew. The reference to JFK: It has been suggested that Blake had something to do with his assassination. Page 21, panel 4: The splash over the button brings to mind issue #1's motif. Panel 5: Once again the Nostalgia bottle. Panel 6: This scrapbook is the backup to this issue. Page 23, panel 4: The fluid-filled sphere again. Page 24, panel 1: The broken sphere again, and notice the splash across her left slipper's left eye? Panels 2-7: We find out here what this issue's motif actually means. Page 27, panels 1-2: The coincidental smiley-face (tying in to Jon's thesis) once again calls to mind the motif of issue #1. Pages 29-32: Pages from Sally's scrapbook. Page 29, "Daily World" article: The date of 1/12/39 for this article is interesting, because it would make Sally one of the earliest vigilantes (remember, in _Under the Hood_ Hollis said he began "in the early months of 1939" which would probably put Sally before him). This is interesting especially since it would give Larry extremely good foresight in spotting the masked hero fad practically before there was one. Paragraph 5: The movie takes years to be made; the review is on page 31. Page 29, clipping, upper right corner: That's all it is, publicity. See page 31 again. Page 31, letter, paragraph 2: This paragraph is extremely important to a lot of the underlying stuff in the story. Nelly is, of course, Captain Metropolis, and H.J. is Hooded Justice. The date of 1948, however, must be regarded as wrong; according to _Under the Hood_, Dollar Bill died in 1946, and Sally married Laurence in 1947. Page 32, paragraph 6: "One died recently" confirms page 31 (Rorschach, #1: "Captain Metropolis was decapitated in a car crash back in '74"). [d--u--a] at [yang.earlham.edu] Doug Atkinson