After reading the first chapter of Watchmen, one of the first things that I noticed were the intricate details of each panel created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Many of these details provide context to the time that is created within the comic, most of the subtleties are reflections of the political situation in the time period. I believe that the reflection of nuclear anxiety in this story is still relevant in today's society as the nuclear clock has moved a minute closer to midnight (nuclear armageddon). With words like 'Viet Bronx', 'Krystalnacht' depicted in graffiti on the walls and hints in newspaper headlines we get a very clear idea of what is happening in this alternate universe where Richard Nixon serves another term.
In regards to the smiley face that belonged to The Comedian, I think that the blood splatter is reflective of the nuclear clock. In one of the newspaper headlines it says that scientists had moved the minute hand to five till midnight and the way the blood is splattered it looks very close to where the eleven is on the clock.
So far, my first impression has been good, I enjoy reading comics like these so it's easy to forget that this is homework. I'm looking forward to learning the backstories of these characters as the story continues to develop and looking for more tiny details in Moore and Gibbons writing and illustrations.
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I really enjoyed reading about each of the small details that you picked up on and then going back to the text to find them. It's so easy to just read the little chat bubbles and ignore the rest of the story that is depicted within each panel. I need to remember that half the story is in the pictures too. Also, like Mr. Farrenkopf said many stories are a product of their time, this is very prevalent in comics like watchmen because people are always afraid of something and being able to play on these fears is relevant to the people. If these comics were about the fear of dragons and came out the same time that watchman did, they probably would have gotten a different reaction and would not have become as famous.
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