THE ANNOTATED WATCHMEN

                     Chapter 7: "A Brother to Dragons"

     Watchmen is a trademark of DC Comics Inc., copyright 1995.  
These annotations copyright 1995 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 reflection in the 
oval.
     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 Job 30:29.
     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 5 minutes to midnight.

Cover: Dreiberg's ship, "Archie," reflected in his goggles.  The 
smear in the dust is reminiscent of the smiley-face motif.

Page 1, panel 1: The reflection in the oval.

Panel 7: The smear Laurie is making mirrors the one in the first 
panel.

Page 3, panel 1: Dan is replacing the Sweet Chariot sugar Rorschach 
took.

Panels 2, 4, 6: Flashback to issues #1 and 3.  Panel 4 is seen in a 
mirror.  (All three panels are from Dan's POV.)

Panel 7: On the right are Dan's trophies.

Page 4, panel 5: While Laurie's judgement is harsh, it is true that
Rorschach is _very_ suspicious.

Panel 9: A reflection in an oval.

Page 5, panel 1: Another reflection in an oval.

Page 7, panels 2-4: Not quite a reflection in an oval, but close.

Panel 5: _The Sword in the Stone_ is a book by T.H. White, concerning 
the childhood of King Arthur.

Page 9, panel 2: Big Figure appears in the next issue.

Page 10, panels 2-3: Devo is a real band.

Panel 9: Reflection in an oval.

Page 11, panel 3: Clearly Laurie has no problem with her Polish 
background, unlike her mother.

Panel 4: Confirming the theory that the cancer list is a setup; if 
Dr. Manhattan were carcinogenic enough to affect Moloch, he would 
certainly have afftected Laurie by now.

Page 12, panel 1: Godfrey and his assistant reappear later.

Panel 3: This places the date as the 25th.  "This afternoon?" Since 
they're watching the six o'clock news (look at the clock in 7:13:5 and 
7:15:3), this is an odd way to phrase it--it should probably be past tense.

Panel 8: Hiroshima week (the 40th anniversary) was only two months 
before the start of the series, so naturally it would be close to Dan's 
mind.

Pages 13-15: These pages have one of the best examples in the series 
of ironic background dialogue, commenting on the foreground.  Read the 
stuff from the TV as commentary on what Dan and Laurie are doing.

Page 13, panel 1: This is a reference to the real-world group 
"Manhattan Transfer."

Panels 4-7: The background information here is important setup for 
later events.

Panels 8-9: The background is a commercial for Nostalgia.  This may 
be Nat King Cole's song "Unforgettable."

Pages 14-15: This is the event all the Ozymandias Famine Relief 
posters are a reference to.  (Famine in India is a common thread in the series, 
since there was another benefit for it in the early '50s.  This may be 
intended to replace the real-world famine in eastern Africa occurring around 
this time.

Page 15: Though it may be a little unkind to point this out, look at 
the times in panels 3-6 and look at how long they keep trying: 6:40, 
nearly 11:00, sometime after midnight, 1:59 AM...

Panel 4: Benny Anger returns.  Note that Red D'Eath has a knot top 
and leather jacket; he seems to be the one popularizing the style, since 
Aline, a Pale Horse fan but not a gang member, wears it in issue #11.

Red D'Eath's name refers, probably, to Edgar Allen Poe's short story 
"The Masque of the Red Death."

Panel 5: A Mmeltdowns ad.

Panel 9: A reflection in an oval.

Page 17, panel 6: The "Hiroshima Lovers" imagery again.

Page 18, panel 2: The Chrysler Building is in the background.  This 
whole page is Dan's POV.

Panel 3: The finger streak in the mist hearkens back to the cover; 
the streak, the two raindrops, and the cloud form the spattered 
smiley-face image.

Panel 9: Another reflection.

Page 25, panel 7: As identified later, this is Billy Holliday's 
"You're My Thrill."

Page 26, panel 7: A reflection in an oval.

Page 27, panel 13: The street view here demonstrates that there are 
at least three geodesic domes in the city.

Page 28, panel 4: Another reflection.  "Come out of the closet" is a 
common phrase for revealing one's homosexuality; others writers have 
commented that some superhero comics may be seen as a metaphor for the 
homosexual lifestyle.  (We will note that out of 13 costumed characters in the 
series, three are known homosexuals, although two of them seem to be 
unhealthy about it.)

Panel 9: Archie, with the smoke and the moon behind him, makes 
another smiley-face.

Pages 29-32: An excerpt from the _Journal of the American 
Ornithological Society._ Note that this is the least informative backup feature in 
the series, telling us nothing new.

douga@yang.earlham.edu             Doug Atkinson