Watchmen Part 4 of 12. Writer, Alan Moore. Illustrator, Dave Gibbons. Described by Liana Kerr https://twitter.com/lianaleslie Last modified March 2, 2015. Chapter 4. Cover. The words "Chapter IV" are printed vertically in yellow on black over the left third of the page. Above them is a yellow and black clock with no numbers or markings that indicates that the time is 11:52. The right two-thirds of the page show a picture of a man and a woman at an amusement park, lying in red sand. A few inches underneath the picture is a footprint, and a few inches above it is another footprint, both pointing in the same direction, away from the picture. The top left corner of the picture is covered by a blob of sand. A couple of small rocks and ripples in the sand surround the picture. The picture itself is black-and-white, weathered and tattered at the edges. The woman is white and has short black hair flipped up at the ends, and is smiling as she reaches for a kernel of popcorn in the bucket the man is holding. The man is white, has close-cropped hair and a rather awkward expression, and has his arm around her shoulders. The structure of his face is very similar to that of Jon's. Balloons are flying in the air behind the pair. Page 1. Panel 1. Jon is holding the photograph in one hand straight out in front of him. It's framed by the night sky. Jon narrates "The photograph is in my hand. It is the photograph of a man and a woman. They are at an amusement park, in 1959." Panel 2. The same image as was on the cover of this chapter. The picture is lying on the red sand, the top left corner covered by sand, footprints walking away from it. Jon narrates, "In twelve seconds time, I drop the photograph to the sand at my feet, walking away. It's already lying there, twelve seconds into the future. Ten seconds now." Panel 3. Jon is still sitting stiffly on the rock, looking at the picture. Among the myriad stars in the night sky that look like dots of white light is one particularly large and bright one. He narrates "The photograph is in my hand. I found it in a derelict bar at the Gila Flats Test Base, twenty-seven hours ago." Panel 4. Jon is walking towards the bar in the Gila Flats Test Base, standing next to a barstool that has the stuffing in its pillow coming out. He looks at a bulletin board posted behind the bar. It's the size of a poster, and was once under glass, but the glass has broken and the top half of the board is exposed. Several photographs are pinned to it, under a handwritten phrase reading "At play amidst the Strangeness and Charm." He narrates, "It's still there, twenty-seven hours into the past, in its frame, in the darkened bar. I'm still there, looking at it." Panel 5. A close-up of the woman in the picture. She's white and in her mid to late 20s, has straight, black hair cut short and flipped up at the ends, and is wearing pearl earrings, a pearl necklace and a sleeveless shirt. She has a wide, relaxed smile, and is taking a piece of popcorn from a bucket. Jon narrates, "The photograph is in my hand. The woman takes a piece of popcorn between thumb and forefinger. The ferris wheel pauses. Seven seconds now." Panel 6. Jon brings the picture up closer to his face, looking down at it with a slight frown on his face and his brows knitted together. He narrates, "It's October 1985. I'm on Mars. It's July, 1959. I'm in New Jersey, at the Palisades Amusement Park. Four seconds. Three." Panel 7. Jon lets the picture fall out of his outstretched hand. Near his fingers is the particularly bright star. He narrates, "I'm tired of looking at the photograph now. I open my fingers. It falls to the sand at my feet." Panel 8. Jon walks away from the photograph, which is lying by the base of the rock upon which he had been sitting. He leaves footprints in the sand, and a small cloud of dust is kicked up around his feet as he walks. The bright star glitters in the sky above his head. He narrates, "I am going to look at the stars. They are so far away, and their light takes so long to reach us..." Panel 9. The same image as was on the cover of this chapter. The picture is lying on the red sand, the top left corner covered by sand, footprints walking away from it. Jon narrates, "All we ever see of stars are their old photographs." Page 2. Panel 1. Jon is standing on the surface of Mars, a line of footprints trailing behind him to the rock upon which he was sitting. He looks up at the sky, a gloomy look on his face. He narrates, "I am two hundred and twenty-seven million kilometers from the sun. Its light is already ten minutes old. It will not reach Pluto for another two hours." Panel 2. Jon lets the picture fall out of his outstretched hand. Near his fingers is the particularly bright star. He narrates, "Two hours into my future, I observe meteorites from a glass balcony, thinking about my father. Twelve seconds into my past, I open my fingers. The photograph is falling." Panel 3. Jon continues walking through the sand, further away from the rock upon which he had been sitting, his footsteps trailing behind him. He looks up at the sky and narrates "I am watching the stars. Halley's Comet tumbles through the solar system on its great seventy-six-year ellipse. My father admired the sky for its precision. He repaired watches." Panel 4. Jon continues to narrate, "It's 1945. I sit in a Brooklyn kitchen, fascinated by an arrangement of cogs on black velvet. I am sixteen years old." The right hand of a white man wearing a white dress shirt is holding a metallic, pencil-like tool over a small, shiny cog. Arranged around it on a large square of black velvet are other cogs, screws and other parts, placed in neat rows. Panel 5. Jon continues, "It is 1985. I am on Mars. I am fifty-six years old." Jon is standing on Mars, surrounded by the red dust of the plains and small rocks on all sides, with low hills far in the distance. He seems to be a small figure compared with the expanse of the plains and the night sky above. Stars glitter above him, including the one particularly bright star. Panel 6. Jon is holding the photograph in one hand straight out in front of him. It's framed by the night sky. He continues, "The photograph lies at my feet, falls from my fingers, is in my hand. I am watching the stars, admiring their complex trajectories, through space, through time." Panel 7. A large panel the size of three regular panels. Jon continues to narrate, "I am trying to give a name to the force that set them in motion." He is just a tiny figure in a panoramic view of the landscape, surrounded by the dusty plains, the rolling red hills and the clear night sky. The large star twinkles among the smaller white dots of starlight. Underneath this panel, in black text on white, is the chapter title, Watchmaker. Page 3. Panel 1. Sixteen-year-old Jon is holding a watchmaker's tweezers in his right hand over a small, shiny cog. Arranged around it on a large square of black velvet are other cogs, screws and other parts, placed in neat rows. Jon narrates, "It is August 7th, 1945. The Brooklyn morning is humid and the fire escape door has been left open." A voice from offscreen says "Jon? Where *are* you?" Panel 2. Jon replies, "In *here*. I'm practicing on your old *pocketwatch*, before it's time for *school.*" He is sitting at a kitchen table, and he picks up the cog with the tweezers, holding it out in front of him, wiping his other hand on a small white towel. The other speaker, an older man, has come up behind Jon through the kitchen door. He points to a newspaper he is holding up and says "*Forget* pocketwatches! Have you seen the *news*?" The younger man has short-cropped reddish brown hair, a rather long face and straight nose and a serious expression. He wears a sweater vest, a dress shirt and a blue necktie. The older man is white and wears a pinstriped vest and pants, a dress shirt with sleeve cuffs and a necktie that hangs loosely around his neck, still untied. He is balding and has a small mustache, but there is a definite resemblance between the two. The newspaper he holds is the New York Times, and its headline is "Atomic Bomb Dropped On Hiroshima." It is accompanied by a picture of a mushroom cloud. Panel 3. Jon looks behind him, alarmed, and asks "News?" The man holds the newspaper to his side, and the reader gets a clearer view of the headline and the image. He answers "They dropped the *atomic bomb* on *Japan!* A whole *city*, *gone!* *Ach!* These are no times for a repairer of *watches*..." Behind Jon, the small kitchen counter is piled with pots and pans, and a tear-away calendar reads August 7. Panel 4. The man reaches for the black velvet square, picking it up quickly with both hands. Not even looking at Jon, he continues "This changes *everything!* There will be *more* bombs. They are the *future.* Shall my *son* follow *me* into an *obsolete trade*?" Jon, looking alarmed, looks up at his dad and says "Father? What are you *doing*?" Panel 5. His father, still holding the square of velvet out in front of him, walks towards the open fire escape door, saying "I'm doing what is best for *you*. This *atomic science*... *This* is what the world will need! Not *pocket-watches!*" Jon gets out of his chair, saying "*Hey!* Give me that *back!*" Panel 6. Jon's father is standing out on the fire escape, on the edge of the balcony. He looks down and says "*Professor Einstein* says that *time differs* from *place* to *place*. Can you *imagine*? If *time* is not true, what purpose have *watchmakers,* hen?" Jon, standing in the doorway, says "*Wait! Don't...*" Panel 7. Jon's father shakes the cogs off of the square of velvet over the side of the balcony, and they fall towards the ground. He says "My *profession* is a thing of the *past*. Instead, my *son* must have a *future*." Jon reaches toward the falling cogs, saying "Father, *no!*" Present-day Jon narrates, "Forty years ago, cogs rain on Brooklyn..." Panel 8. Jon continues to narrate, "One hundred and fifteen minutes into the future, the meteorites hail down through the rarefied atmosphere of Mars..." All the reader sees is Jon's blue arm resting on a pink structure that looks something like the rim of a glass. Light glints off of it, and off two large spikes that are coming from the base of the panel and appear to be made from the same material, as a shower of meteorites strike the surface of Mars. The sands and foothills of Mars are far in the distance. Panel 9. Jon narrates, "It is 1948, and I am arriving at *Princeton University*. It is 1958, and I am *graduating* with a *Ph.D.* in *atomic physics*." A shower of cogs fall through the air in silhouette. He continues to narrate, "The cogs are falling..." Page 4. Panel 1. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Jon narrates, "It's May 12th, 1959: my first day at *Gila Flats*. Professor *Glass* is shaking my hand, asking *Wally Weaver* to show me around. The scent of his Turkish cigarette is thick in the cramped office." Jon is older now, tall and handsome in his brown suit and blue tie. His hair is still close-cropped, and he still looks rather young, although there are lines on his forehead. He is shaking the hand of a stooped-over older white man with neatly-brushed white hair and a bow tie. He is smoking a cigarette, and its smoke drifts up and fills the space between his head and the ceiling. He gestures expansively as he shakes Jon's hand. In his back pocket is a slide rule. Standing near the door, smiling as he watches the two men, is a brown-haired white man wearing a lab coat and a green shirt. He smiles genially as he watches the exchange, and he has a friendly face and a double chin. Behind him, on the wall, are several framed diplomas and stacks of books and papers, and on the desk near Jon and Professor Glass are even more books and papers. Panel 2. Present-day Jon continues to narrate, "I'm thirty years old..." Jon and Wally are walking down a hallway. Wally is a head shorter than Jon and looks more relaxed.. He points at Jon and says "So you're this new guy from *Princeton* we heard about, huh? Say, wasn't *Einstein* at Princeton?" Jon, walking next to Wally with both hands in his pockets, replies "Not while *I* was. Heard him *lecture* once, though." Panel 3. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Jon and Wally arrive in a huge room, its ceiling easily 30 feet high. It is filled with scientific equipment. In the middle is what looks like a large computer of the times, almost as tall as the ceiling, with spaces for three people to sit in front of it. To each side are metal tubes that look like half circles, sunk into the floor, and to the right is a test chamber with a thick door, partially open. As Wally and Jon enter the room, Wally says "Gee, that musta been *somethin'*. Y'know, I heard he argued with his *wife*. Crazy, huh? A guy like *that*, a *genius*, even *he* couldn't figure *women!*" Jon replies, "Well, I guess he's just human, like everybody else. What's *this* place?" Panel 4. Wally gestures with both hands, smiling, as he replies "Ahh, this is just where they're doing the *intrinsic field experiments.* It's like, what if there's some *field* holdin' stuff *together*, apart from *gravity*? Beats *hell* outta me, but I'm only an *assistant*..." Jon, touching the open door of the test chamber, asks "And *this*?" Panel 5. A large panel the size of two regular panels. The reader views Wally and Jon as if we are in the test chamber. Jon is looking through the thick green glass window into the test chamber, both hands up by his face, his visage distorted. Wally is seen through the open door of the chamber, as he opens another door on the wall nearby. Inside the chamber is a concrete block with handles. Wally replies, "This is our time-lock *test vault*, so that when they're tryin' to separate *objects* from their *intrinsic fields*, no *radiation* gets out. We gotta *lot* o'new safety features like that here." Panel 6. Wally is walking out the back door and down the stairs. Near the base of the stairs is a Jeep, and in the foreground is a sign mounted on a pole jutting out from a building that reads "Bar." As Wally walks down the stairs, he continues, "But *hey*, listen... *Nobody* at *Gila* gives a *damn* about all this junk. C'mon... I'll show you where the *real* heavy-duty thinkin' gets done around here. We call it the *Bestiary*..." Jon, standing in the doorway, turns to follow him. Page 5. Panel 1. Jon walks through the bar's open door, Wally following behind him. People are sitting and chatting at the tables, and there's a fan on the ceiling and a framed picture on the wall. The surface of the bar is shiny, and the bartender is pulling on one of the taps, filling up a mug of beer. Wally says "It's right through here..." Present-day Jon narrates, "Wally steers me from the Arizona sunlight into the crowded bar. There's a sudden sensation of *deja vu*: I've seen this place *before*..." Panel 2. He continues to narrate, "... Except that it was *deserted* then, derelict, with starlight shining down upon its rotted floorboards, through the collapsed ceiling..." Present-day Jon walks through the doorframe of the bar. The door is off its hinges and hanging to the side, its window broken and an "open" sign hanging from it. The building's roof is now just some slats of wood lying over each other, and the walls are cracked and broken away in places. A ceiling fan, one of its blades bent down, hangs from the ceiling. A picture hangs askew on the wall, its glass cracked. There are chairs placed upside down on the tables, and the bar is covered with old bottles and trash. Panel 3. Present-day Jon continues to narrate, "The illusion vanishes, almost before it has registered. It's May 12th, 1959. Wally is introducing me to someone..." Jon is shaking hands with a woman with straight black hair, cut short and flipped up at the ends. She wears a neat pink shirt dress with a red grid pattern, white cuffs and a white collar. Wally, standing to the side, says "Janey Slater, meet Jon Osterman. Jon's from *Princeton.*" Janey says "Ohhh... The *new* guy! You're replacing *Hank Meadows*, right?" Panel 4. A large panel the size of three regular panels. Jon looks at her, smiling and saying "I am?" She replies, smiling, "I *guess* so. Hank died last *fall*, some kinda *tumor.* There's his *picture* behind the *bar* there. The guy with the *glasses*. Y'know, you're pretty *young* for a *research scientist.*" The two are shown in profile, his craggy, strong-jawed face contrasted with her pert nose and delicate features. She gestures towards a green bulletin board under glass, with a couple of pictures tacked up to it. Handwritten at the top is the phrase "At play amidst the Strangeness and Charm." There's a picture of a man, a picture of a couple, and a picture of a man with glasses wearing a suit and posing in front of a car. Panel 5. Jon rests his elbow on the bar and says "Well, you know... My *dad* sort of *pushed* me into it. That happens to me a *lot.* Other people seem to make all my moves *for* me." Janey, sitting at the bar, rests her chin on her hand and gestures towards him, saying "Mm. I'll bet. Can I get you a *drink*?" Panel 6. Present-day Jon narrates, "She buys me a beer, the first time a woman has ever done this for me. As she passes me the cold, perspiring glass, our fingers touch..." Janey is holding the glass mug of beer by the handle, and the tips of Jon's fingers touch her knuckles as he reaches for it. Janey is wearing a watch on her thin wrist. The background of the panel is yellow, with no other details. Panel 7. The picture of Jon and Janey is lying on the red sand, the top left corner covered by sand, footprints walking away from it. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's 1963. We're making love after an *argument*, our *tenderness* in direct proportion to its *violence*... It's 1966, and she's packing: tearful, careless with anger... The photograph lies in the sand at my feet." Page 6. Panel 1. Present-day Jon lets the picture of him and Janey fall out of his outstretched hand. Near his fingers is the particularly bright star. He narrates, "It's July, 1959. I'm returning to New Jersey on vacation, visiting old university friends. Janey shares the trip from Arizona. Her mother lives in Jersey." Panel 2. Jon continues to narrate, "She calls home from the station, but nobody answers. We visit the *amusement park*, killing *time* until her mother returns." The two of them are walking side by side down the boardwalk, some pieces of litter blowing by their feet. Jon is holding a bucket of popcorn, bringing it over to Janey so she can take a piece. In the background are a Ferris wheel and a rollercoaster, and a crowd of carnival workers and visitors. A young boy loses hold of his balloons behind them, and they float into the sky. A man dressed in a garish suit coat and hat carrying a camera accosts them, saying "*Hey,* young *lovers!* *Hold* it!" He is standing in front of a sign that says "Take Home A Memory, 75 cents." Panel 3. Jon and Janey pause. Janey is smiling as she reaches for a kernel of popcorn in the bucket Jon is holding. Jon looks awkward, but has his arm around her shoulders. Balloons are flying in the air behind the pair. Jon says "But we're not..." The photographer, from off-screen, says "*There!* That's just *beautiful*. A beautiful *picture*, particularly of the *lady*..." Panel 4. Present-day Jon narrates, "He gives us an address where we can pick up 75-cent prints, and we walk off towards the tilt-a-whirl, laughing at his mistake." Jon and Janey walk off. Jon is holding the address card in one hand and the bucket of popcorn in the other, and Janey is holding on to his elbow, holding her clutch purse in the other hand. In the foreground, the little boy cries and points up towards his lost balloons, as his mother pats his head and tries to console him. Panel 5. Present-day Jon narrates, "By the shooting gallery, Janey's watchband snaps. Before I can pick it up, a fat man steps upon it. I tell her I can fix it." Jon is standing in the foreground, a serious expression on his face as he looks at the broken watch resting in the palm of his hand. To his side is Janey, turning towards the fat man and shaking her fist at him as he walks away. Beyond them, a boy is trying his luck at the shooting gallery, and far in the distance the sun is starting to set. Panel 6. Present-day Jon narrates, "Her mother still isn't answering. We decide to call again from my hotel. We both know what's going to happen. Events mesh together with soft precision..." Sixteen-year-old Jon is holding a watchmaker's tweezers in his right hand over a small, shiny cog. Arranged around it on a large square of black velvet are other cogs, screws and other parts, placed in neat rows. Panel 7. Present-day Jon narrates, "We reach the hotel. She calls again. Her mother still isn't home." Jon is lying on top of Janey, their backs and lower bodies covered by the blanket on the hotel bed and their arms wrapped around each other. Their clothes lay in an untidy pile on the floor. The curtains are open, and the lights of the tall buildings outside can be seen in the night sky. Panel 8. Present-day Jon narrates, "She asks if I can really fix her watch. We sit together on the edge of the bed, examining the damage." The watch is on a thick book on the nightstand, and light is glinting off of it. In the foreground, Jon is kissing Janey's neck and she has her eyes closed and her mouth open, one hand on his back and the other lightly touching the back of his head. Panel 9. A close-up of the watch, its glass broken. It is stopped at 8:16. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's 1959. A pulse flutters in her belly, beneath my cheek. It's 1966. The suitcase won't shut and she's crying. It's 1985. In one hundred minutes, the meteorite shower begins." Page 7. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's August, 1959. We've been back from Jersey a month. In my future, the *accident* is waiting for me." Jon and Janey are sitting across from each other at one of the small round tables at the Bestiary. Janey slips one of her feet out of its shoe and touches his leg with her toes, nudging them underneath his pants leg. Her white lab coat drapes over her chair, and she's holding her glass on the table in both hands, while Jon is having a beer. She asks, "*Jon?* Did you fix my *watch* yet?" Jon reaches into his breast pocket, saying "Yes! Matter of fact, I *did*! It's right... Oh." The background is plain yellow with no other details. Panel 2. Janey looks up at him, concerned, asking "What's the *matter*?" Jon stands up, gesturing with his thumb and saying "Nothing. I left it in my *lab coat* when we were resetting the *I.F. Chamber* this morning. You wait right *there*." Panel 3. Present-day Jon narrates, "I cross the square to the intrinsic field center. My coat's inside the *test chamber*: I can see it through the foot-thick *window*..." Jon is stepping inside the chamber, a small structure with a small rectangular window and a thick door. Panel 4. Present-day Jon narrates, "The accident is almost *upon* me now." Through the window, we can see Jon picking up his coat. The door slams shut. A timer on its front reads "00:02." Underneath that is a panel labeled "Operating" in red. Panel 5. Present-day Jon narrates, "The others return from lunch and I ask them to let me out, laughing at my own *stupidity.* Nobody else laughs. Dr. Glass is turning white." Jon, wearing his lab coat, smiles and waves jovially at the collection of people outside, the light through the thick glass turning him and them green. The reader sees the panel as if we are inside with Jon, looking out at the shocked faces of Dr. Glass, Janey, Wally and an unidentified man. Panel 6. Jon, putting his hands to the bottom of the window, looks alarmed. Dr. Glass is explaining something gravely, not looking at Jon, and Janey looks horrified, looking away from Jon and covering her open mouth with the back of her hand. Present-day Jon narrates, "He explains that the door has locked automatically while the generators warm up for this afternoon's *experiment*: removing the *intrinsic field* from concrete block *fifteen.* I ask him what happened to the other *fourteen*..." Panel 7. Present-day Jon continues, "... And he *tells* me." Jon presses his hands against the glass, looking out desperately and crying "No! No, no, *no!*" Panel 8. Jon backs away from the glass, concrete block number 15 at his back, spreading out his arms and looking out the window. Dr. Glass looks through the window and says "I-I'm *sorry*, Osterman. The program's *locked in*, and we can't override the *time-lock.* It..." Then, in small text, he continues "...It's a safety feature." Janey, covering her face with her hand, says "Oh, *God*, let me *out*. Let me *out* of here..." Panel 9. Jon watches her go, saying "*Janey*? Don't *go*! I need..." She rushes out of the room, her mascara running with her tears down her stricken face, her hand over her throat. She says "*No!* Don't *ask* me! Oh, *God*, I *can't* stay and watch. Please, I... I just *can't*, okay?" Page 8. Panel 1. A bright white light is shining from both sides of the chamber. Jon continues to stand near the window, putting his hand in his pocket. Present-day Jon narrates, "The door slams behind her. I look at Dr. Glass but he looks away. I can hear the shields sliding back from the *particle cannons.* There's something in my *pocket*. I take it out to *examine*..." Panel 2. Present-day Jon continues, "Good as new." Jon holds the mended watch in the palm of his hand, up in front of his face. Outside, Dr. Glass and Wally watch, their faces horrified, and a third person puts his hands over his face. Their faces are green through the thick glass, while Jon's skin appears white because of the bright light. Present-day Jon narrates, "The air grows too warm, too quickly. I want very much for a beautiful woman to hand me a glass of very cold beer..." Panel 3. Present-day Jon narrates, "All the atoms in the test chamber are screaming at once." Janey is holding the glass mug of beer by the handle, and the tips of Jon's fingers touch her knuckles as he reaches for it. Janey is wearing a watch on her thin wrist. The background of the panel is yellow. Present-day Jon continues to narrate, "The *light*..." Panel 4. A large panel the size of six regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "The light is taking me to *pieces*." The bright white light seems to be pushing against Jon and the concrete block from both sides. Jon's body and bones turn black, his flesh and entrails seeming as if they're burning off of his skeleton and flying out to the sides, becoming dotted lines of matter curving in an hourglass shape. His arms and legs are spread out, and he is screaming, his head already disintegrated down to the skull but one eye remaining in its socket. His skeleton is starting to come apart, ribs coming loose and finger bones being pulled away from each other. The concrete block behind him seems like the light is burrowing into it from both sides, and it too is disintegrating. Page 9. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's September. A token funeral service is being held. There's nothing to bury. It's October. Janey places our Jersey snapshot behind glass in the Bestiary. It's the only photograph of me anyone has." Janey's hand is closing the glass over the poster in the Bestiary with the pictures tacked on it. The picture of the two of them is placed under the word "Charm." Panel 2. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's *November*..." Two men are standing in front of a large mirror in the men's bathroom, finishing shaving their faces. The one on the left reaches for the towel, saying to the other "Did you read about this *communist* guy who's running *Cuba*? This *Castro?*" The man on the right leans over the sink, splashing water on his face and replying "I saw a *picture!* Jesus H. *Christ*, what's *wrong* with guys these days? That *beard!*" Panel 3. The man on the right splashes water on his face and continues, "I mean, I remember when our *Carol-Anne* started stickin' up pictures of that pimpy-eyed *singer*, that punk *Presley*... I thought I'd just about seen it *all*." The man on the left, toweling off his face, is staring into the mirror. Behind them is a fuzzy shape that looks like lines of tightly-spaced green dots in a vaguely human-shaped pattern, with two staring eyes where the head should be. Panel 4. A large panel the size of three regular panels. The man on the left turns to look behind him, screaming "*Eeeiiighh!*" The other man starts to turn as well, holding the towel in front of his face and looking startled. Behind them is a green nervous system, bathed in blue light. Smaller nerves branch off of three main cords of nerves, one for the left side of the body, one for the right and one for the spinal cord. They meet at the neck, leading to a fully-formed brain with two eyeballs hovering in front of it, staring straight ahead. Panel 5. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's November 10th now. There is a *circulatory system* walking through the *kitchen*..." The cook, still holding a ladle in his hand and holding it as if to protect himself with it, is staring slack-jawed at a blue system of blood vessels and organs shining with a bright white light and walking through the kitchen. Two other cooks huddle in the corner, terrified, and there are broken dishes and an upside down colander on the floor. Panel 6. Present-day Jon narrates, "November 14th: A partially muscled skeleton stands by the perimeter fence and screams for thirty seconds before *vanishing*..." The base's tall chain-link fence is guarded by two men, one of whom is on his hands and knees vomiting in front of the "Gila Flats Test Base" sign. In front of them, a fully-formed blue skeleton is standing, its head thrown back and its mouth open, one arm raised above its head. Its bones are partially covered by muscles, and the ones that are present are fully formed, but several are just missing, particularly the ones covering his face and hands. Panel 7. Present-day Jon narrates, "Really, it's just a question of reassembling the components in the correct sequence..." Sixteen-year-old Jon is holding a watchmaker's tweezers in his right hand over a small, shiny cog. Arranged around it on a large square of black velvet are other cogs, screws and other parts, placed in neat rows. Page 10. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's November 22nd..." Wally and Janey are sitting at a table in the cafeteria, eating lunch. Other workers are seated at other tables around them, and there's a stack of empty trays on a trolley to the side. Wally, a fork full of food halfway to his mouth, says "Y'know, I'm thinking of *quitting* this place. Something's *haunting* us..." Janey, spearing some food with her fork, says "Wally, *please*. I don't want to *hear* about it." Panel 2. Wally answers, "Gee, I'm sorry, but..." He hunches over, pressing his palm tightly against his ear, and says "Hey, can you hear *that*? That *whistling*? Is it in my *ears*, or *what*...?" Janey answers, "No. No, I can hear it. It's..." She extends her left arm, looking down at it in surprise, and says "*Hey!* My *arm!* All the *hairs* are standing up..." Wally and Janey's hair is starting to fly straight up, and behind them, people are looking surprised and holding their hands over their ears. Panel 3. A man in the background, his hair flying away from his head, stands up, puts out his hands and says "Don't *panic!* Nobody *panic!*" Janey drops her fork, which has sparks coming from it, and says as she looks down at it, "*Aaaah!* What's *happening*? The *cutlery*, it's *sparking..." Wally, all of his hair standing up, looks forward, his eyes and mouth wide open, and says "Oh, holy God, willya look at that..." Panel 4. A large vertical panel the size of four regular panels. Forks, knives and trays fly as the people in the cafeteria, their hair flying straight up and awe and terror on their faces, back away from a man who is floating in the middle of the room, several feet in the air. He is naked and bright blue, and he is radiating a bright white light. He is entirely hairless, and he is physically perfect, very muscular and trim. His penis is on the small side and hangs limply over his scrotum, both of which are drawn without much detail, giving his genitalia a look similar to the ones found in classical sculpture. He has his feet pointed towards the ground and his arms extended slightly away from his body, palms pointed out, and he has his head held high, looking ahead of him with a neutral expression. His eyes are a blank white with dark circles underneath them. Panel 5. A large vertical panel the size of two regular panels. As the people around her look up, hands covering their mouths or eyes, Janey stares up at the man, an astonished look on her face and her arms at her sides, and says, in small text, "Jon?" Her skin, and the skin of everyone around her, is pale whitish-blue. Papers, forks and knives continue to float around them. Present-day Jon narrates, "Their bleached faces stare up at me, pale and insubstantial in the sudden flare of ultraviolet. Sunburn in November." Page 11. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's October, 1985. I'm basking in the two-million-year-old light of *Andromeda*. I can see the *supernova* that *Ernst Hartwig* discovered in 1885, a century ago." Jon is standing on the surface of Mars, looking out towards the night sky. A oval-shaped supernova is among them. Panel 2. A close-up of the supernova. It is oval-shaped, bright white and yellow, and has two curved arms spiraling away from it. Jon continues to narrate, "It scintillates, a wink intended for the *trilobites*, all long dead. Supernovas are where *gold* forms; the only place. *All* gold comes from *supernovas*." Panel 3. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's Christmas, 1959..." Jon's hand is holding a thick gold ring which glints brightly. Janey is kneeling on the floor, looking up at him nervously. Next to her is a Christmas tree with a couple of presents underneath it, and on her other side is a wrapped present and an unwrapped bottle of perfume. Behind her is a series of Christmas cards on the window ledge. She gestures with one hand and says "Do... Do you *like* it? I mean, is that the sort of thing that you like, now that you're, uh... You know." Panel 4. Jon is standing in front of her, holding the ring to his chest. He wears a pair of blue slacks, shoes and a tight, sleeveless black shirt. He replies, "I like it very *much*. Its *atomic structure* is a perfect *grid*, like a *checkerboard*. It's..." He notices that she is holding her arms tightly over her chest and asks "Janey? What's up? Are you *cold*? I can raise the *temperature*..." Panel 5. Janey, still hugging herself tightly and looking to the side, answers "No... I'm not cold. I'm *scared.*" Panel 6. Jon approaches her, a concerned look on his face and his hand over his heart, and says "Of me?" Janey answers "No. Yes. Oh, *God*. Look, I..." She puts her hand to her forehead, a weary look on her face, and continues, "I'm just scared because everything feels *weird*. It's as if *everything's* changed. Not just *you*: *everything!*" The background is plain yellow. Panel 7. The reader sees Jon and Janey as if we are looking from the sidewalk through their window. They are in a perfectly ordinary one-story house, with a Christmas wreath on the door. Janey continues, "I mean, *I* don't know what you are. *Nobody* does. You were *disintegrated*. You put yourself back *together*... They say you can do *anything*, Jon. They say you're like *God* now." Panel 8. Janey looks up, a tired, disturbed expression on her face, as Jon caresses her jaw and head with his large, blue hands. He answers "I don't think there *is* a God, Janey. If there *is*, I'm not him. I'm still the same person. Nothing's *changed*. I still *want* you..." Panel 9. His expression full of tenderness, he leans towards her, saying "I'll *always* want you." She closes her eyes, reaching for him. Present-day Jon narrates, "As I lie I hear her shouting at me in 1963; sobbing in 1966. My fingers open. The photograph is falling..." Page 12. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's February 1960, and everything is frozen. I am starting to accept that I shall never feel cold or warm again." A photographer smiles and says "Perfect" as he looks through a complicated camera. Jon's image is reflected upside down in the camera lens. He is standing straight up and holding his hands on his hips. Panel 2. Jon is wearing a skintight black suit with a thin blue belt that covers everything from the neck down except for his hands. He brings his hands to his head, touching his helmet. The photographer continues, "When we go *public* next *month*, every magazine in the *world's* gonna want these pictures! How do you like your *costume*? Pretty slick, huh?" Panel 3. Jon takes the helmet off and holds it in front of him, pointing at the front. It is a shiny black helmet with an atom symbol on the front. He answers "I don't like it... especially this *helmet*. What's this *symbol* stand for?" The photographer, standing straight up now, answers "Uh, well, it means, like, *atoms*, atomic *power*, like that..." There are several other people standing in the back of the room, some taking pictures, some dressed in military uniform. Panel 4. Jon sets the helmet down on a table, saying "It's *meaningless*. A *hydrogen atom* would be more *appropriate*. I don't think I shall be *wearing* this." The photographer puts out his hands and says "B-but that's the only place where your *symbol* shows! The marketing boys say you *need* a symbol..." Panel 5. A determined look on his face, Jon answers, "*They* don't know what I need. *You* don't know what I need. If I'm to have a *symbol*, it shall be one I *respect*." He is drawing a circle with a dot at its topmost point on his forehead with his finger. A wavy line of white smoke comes from his fingertip where it touches his skin. The background of the panel is red. Panel 6. Jon removes his finger. On his forehead is a circle with a dot at its topmost point, with another dot in the middle of the circle. A line of white smoke is coming from the center dot. He says, "There." The background of the panel is red. Panel 7. The photographer looks up at Jon, studying him with an eager look on his face and one hand touching his chin. He says "I... I *like* it! It's *got* something, you know? It's *simple,* but it's... *Yeah!* Yeah, that's *good.* People will *remember* it. When they see it they'll think of *Dr. Manhattan.*" Jon, looking at the man in dismay, replies "Doctor *what*?" In the background, a man in a military uniform smiles. Panel 8. Present-day Jon narrates, "They explain that the name has been chosen for the ominous associations it will raise in America's enemies. They're shaping me into something gaudy and lethal..." Sixteen-year old Jon looks behind him, alarmed. His father holds the newspaper to his side. It is the New York Times, and its headline is "Atomic Bomb Dropped On Hiroshima." It is accompanied by a picture of a mushroom cloud. Panel 9. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's all getting out of my *hands*..." Jon lets the picture of him and Janey fall out of his outstretched hand. Near his fingers is the particularly bright star. Page 13. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "March, 1960..." The sides of the panel are curved, as if the reader is watching TV, and remain so throughout this sequence. A dignified newscaster in a striped suit and glasses, sitting in front of a microphone, is saying "...Still *reeling* from this morning's announcement, possibly the most significant event in recent world history. We *repeat*: the superman *exists*, and he's *American.*" Panel 2. The newscaster continues, "According to Pentagon sources, this astonishing individual can control *atomic structure* itself. We see him here dismantling a *rifle* without *touching* it..." Jon, wearing his long-sleeved uniform, is shown in front of the Gila Flats fence, looking at all the parts of a rifle which are hanging apart from each other in midair. Behind him are three men, one in the uniform of a high-ranking military officer, one in a suit and sunglasses and one who is Jon's colleague Dr. Glass. Panel 3. The newscaster continues, "...And *here*, demonstrating that a *Patton tank* poses him no greater difficulty." Jon is shown sending a thin beam of light from the palm of his hand to a tank, blowing up its gun turret. The newscaster continues, "There has been no response from the Kremlin as of this time..." Panel 4. The newscaster continues, "...And indeed, how this almost unbelievable development will affect the race in *weaponry* and *space technology* has yet to be *assimilated*." A close-up of the destroyed gun turret. It looks as if the metal has been melted away, and white smoke rises from the edges. Panel 5. The newscaster continues, "Although photographed late this afternoon at the *Gila Flats Test Base*, the *superhuman*... code-named *Dr. Manhattan*... has not spoken to the *press*." Jon is wearing a black suit and tie and standing rigidly, facing a circle of photographers taking pictures of him. The man in the military uniform is gesturing as if to introduce Jon, and has one hand on his shoulders. Beside Jon, Dr. Glass is waving. They are standing in front of the chain-link fence, next to the Gila Flats Test Base sign. Panel 6. The newscaster continues, "Instead, we asked those *costumed vigilantes* remaining from the 1940's *masked hero fad* how *they* felt." Captain Metropolis, wearing his full costume and mask, adjusts his collar and smiles nervously as he says "Well, uhh, we're *pleased*, obviously. Very, *very* pleased." He is standing against a brick wall, and a subtitle shows his superhero name, set off by quotation marks. Panel 7. The reader sees the whole television, which is showing Sally Jupiter, who is wearing a dress with a frilled collar and dangling earrings. A subtitle shows her names, quote The Silk Spectre unquote, with Sally Jupiter in parentheses. She raises one hand and smiles dismissively, saying "Well, you know... They say he walks through *walls* and stuff. I'll *believe* it when I *see* it." A voice from offscreen says "*Ha!* You knocked'em all *dead*!" Panel 8. Jon and Janey are watching the television, newspapers scattered on the floor around them. Jon is sitting in a chair, with Janey sitting on the floor at his feet. They're both wearing robes, and one of his hands is on her shoulder, his other touching his chin. She gestures, smiling happily, and says "I mean, you wear an old double-breasted *suit* for that *photo session*, and next thing, everybody's talking about its *fashion significance*! Can you *imagine*? You've *arrived.*" Panel 9. Jon, holding his hand to his chin and looking thoughtful as he watches the TV, replies, "Have I? Sometimes I feel as if I've been here all the *time*." Present-day Jon narrates, "I'm there *now*, in 1960, saying those words, watching that T.V. set..." Page 14. Panel 1. A large panel the size of three regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "Now it's *June*, a charity event with several costumed adventurers attending... Friendly middle-aged men who like to dress up. I have nothing in common with them. Only the youngest, called *Ozymandias*, seems interesting..." Jon is standing in a large room with several other masked adventurers in full costume. The room has high windows and a polished floor, and a banner stretched along one wall reads "Indian Red Cross. Jon, in his full-body black outfit, is shaking hands with Adrian, who is smiling and wearing his mask and purple and golden outfit. Behind them, Mothman is sipping at a drink and talking to the original Nite Owl, who is looking to the side at the Comedian smoking a cigar and talking to a solemn -looking Captain Metropolis. The other attendees are wearing suits, tuxedos and formal gowns. Panel 2. A large panel the size of three regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's November. The newspapers call me a crimefighter, so the Pentagon says I must fight crime. In Moloch's underground vice-den, the sighs turn to screams of terror. The morality of my activities escapes me." Jon, in his full-body suit, is pointing one finger at a man in a suit pointing a gun at him, causing his head to explode. The gambling men and half-naked women look on in terror, and Moloch as a young man is shaking his fist and pointing to Jon angrily. He is wearing a suit, bow tie and a heavy chain with a skull pendant, and his pointed ears and pointed goatee give him a devilish look. On the wall is a sign reading "Dante's" and paintings of orgies, and a layer of cigarette smoke floats near the ceiling. Panel 3. A large panel the size of three regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's September, 1961. John Kennedy is shaking my hand, asking what it's like to be a super-hero. I tell him he should know, and he nods, laughing..." Jon and President Kennedy are standing on a White House balcony, shaking hands, surrounded by members of the press photographing and videotaping them On John's side are two men in military uniform and Dr. Glass, and on Kennedy's side is his wife Jackie and their two children, along with a Secret Service agent. Present-day Jon continues to narrate, "Two years later, in Dallas, his head snaps forward and then back. Two shots..." Page 15. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "In May, 1962, a masked man retires to open an auto business. His real name is *Hollis Mason*. We are talking after a civic banquet in his honor. Dallas is still eighteen months away..." Hollis is holding a glistening gold statuette of himself wearing his Nite Owl uniform in both hands in front of him. The plaque on the base reads "In Gratitude." Panel 2. Hollis and Jon are standing on a balcony, looking out on the lights of the skyscrapers in the distance. Both men are wearing suits. Hollis holds the statuette out to Jon, who is standing next to him with his hands clasped behind his back. Looking at it, Hollis says "See *this*? Almost makes me sorry I'm *quitting* this ridiculous business." Jon replies, "Then why have you chosen to retire now? Is it your age?" Panel 3. Holding the statue in front of him and looking pensive, Hollis replies, "*Partly.* Partly, I guess it's *you*... With someone like *you* around, the whole *situation* changes. You can do *anything*. All *I* got to offer is a good *left hook*." Hollis now has a line of white hair around his temples and a line on his forehead. Panel 4. Hollis smiles at Jon, saying "Nah, I'm better off *retiring*, writing my *autobiography*, repairin' folks' *cars* for'em... *Cars* are something I'm *happy* with... And it'll be awhile before even *you* affect *General Motors.*" Panel 5. A large panel the size of two regular panels. The low balcony on which they are standing is near the parking lot, where several large, boxy cars are parked. Hollis gestures at them and says "See, I *understand* cars, how they *work*. That's more'n I can say for the *rest* o'this world." Jon says "Well, the new *electric* cars should be even *simpler*." Hollis replies, "Electric?" Panel 6. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Jon replies, "That's right. They'd have appeared before, but there wasn't enough *lithium* to mass-produce *polyacetylene batteries.* Of course, *I* can synthesize it easily." He places one hand on Hollis' shoulder, saying "Anyway, it's been interesting meeting you again. I hope you enjoy your *retirement*." Behind them, many men in suits are milling about in the ballroom. Panel 7. Jon turns and walks back towards the ballroom, leaving Hollis to look at him, a shaken look in his eyes. He holds the statuette by his side and says "Y-Yeah. Yeah, I hope so too." Present-day Jon narrates, "Eighteen months away, an electric limousine is pulling onto Dealey Plaza..." Page 16. Panel 1. Janey is holding up a newspaper in one hand, her shiny red fingernail in stark contrast to the headline in black and white. It reads, "President shot - feared critical." Underneath it is a photograph of Jackie cradling her husband's body in the back of the limousine, other people running towards them. Janey asks, "So, what you're saying is you *knew* he'd get shot? Jon, I... I mean, if you're *serious*, I mean, why didn't you do *something*?" Panel 2. The two of them are standing in their living room. Jon, wearing his robe and facing away from her, says "I can't prevent the future. To *me*, it's already *happening*." Janey looks over at him, gesturing angrily and still holding the paper, saying "Jon, what are you *saying*? That you know the *future*? About everything? About *us*?" Panel 3. Jon, his hands clasped behind his back, is looking at the picture "The Persistence of Memory" by Dali, with its famous images of melting clocks draped over branches and other surfaces. He replies, "In 1959, I could hear you shouting, here, now, in 1963. Soon we make *love*..." Janey stands facing him a few feet away, her hand on her hip. She says "Just like *that*? Like I'm a *puppet*? Jon, you know how everything in this world fits together except *people*. Your prediction's *way off*, mister." Panel 4. Still facing towards the picture, Jon replies "No. We make love right after *Wally* arrives with the *earrings* I ordered for you..." Janey, coming closer to him and shaking her fists at him, cries "Shut *up*! You're messing up my *mind*, Jon! Sometimes I think you're messing *everything* up!" Panel 5. She continues as he looks at the picture, "I mean, all this *new technology*, all because of *you!* Things are happening too *fast*. Things shouldn't..." She whips her head around, her expression still angry, and asks "Was that the door-bell?" Panel 6. Wally Weaver is at the door, holding a package. He smiles as she answers, saying "Janey? The mailman delivered this to me by mistake. Sorry I didn't drop it by *earlier*. Say hi to Jon for me." Looking uncertain, she holds out her hand and says "Uh... Uh, *sure*. Thanks, Wally." Panel 7. As she unwraps the small package, she looks at Jon, a surprised expression on her face. Jon is still looking at the picture. Panel 8. Jon turns toward her as she pulls two silver earrings out of the box. The earrings are formed in the shape of a hydrogen atom. Panel 9. Janey has her arms around Jon's neck, hugging him tightly, and he puts one arm around her shoulder. The box and the earrings lay on the floor behind her. She says "Jon? I--I'm scared. I feel like there's big invisible things all around me. Will you hold me, please?" Present-day Jon narrates, "It's 1963. An hour into the future her sweat cools and dries in the November bedroom." Page 17. Panel 1. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's 1964. I'm informing the Pentagon that I'll no longer be wearing the whole of my costume. It's 1966. I'm in a room of people wearing disguises." Jon is at the Crime-busters meeting, with Janey standing close to him and holding his arm. His new costume looks similar to a one-piece woman's swimsuit, skintight and leaving the arms and legs bare, with a deep V neck and a blue band at the waist. Ozymandias is already seated, Laurie is pushing herself onto the table near Jon, the Comedian is sitting down and picking up the newspaper in front of him and Rorschach and Nite Owl stand to the side as Captain Metropolis puts his map on a large easel in front of the room. Panel 2. Captain Metropolis says "...Third, uh, I guess I should *welcome* everybody to the *first ever* meeting of the *Crime-busters!*" Jon looks to the side, at Laurie, who looks at him and smiles. Janey is looking straight ahead. Present-day Jon narrates, "A very young girl sits to my right. She looks at me and smiles..." Panel 3. Present-day Jon continues to narrate, "In 1985, my hands are encircling her face." Laurie, her eyes closed and her face relaxed and smiling, touches Jon's light blue hand as it caresses her jaw. His other hand holds her head, and her dark brown hair is loose and flowing. She appears to be naked, wearing only silver earrings in the shape of a hydrogen symbol. Present-day Jon continues to narrate, "In 1966, the costumed people are arguing. Janey is tugging at my arm..." Panel 4. Laurie looks down and smiles demurely as Jon turns to Janey and whispers, "What's the matter?" She pokes him in the chest and whispers angrily, "You were staring at that *girl* is the matter! Now pay *attention!*" In the foreground, Rorschach is saying "Obviously, I agree... But a group *this* size seems more like a *publicity exercise*..." Panel 5. Present-day Jon narrates, "She's beautiful. After each long kiss, she plants a smaller, gentler one upon my lips, like a signature." Jon and Laurie, both in costume, are sitting on a rooftop at night. They're kissing, with his arms wrapped around her waist and hers caressing his back and neck. Present-day Jon narrates, "In 1966, the masks are still squabbling..." Panel 6. Present-day Jon narrates, "Soon, the meeting breaks up. Janey's voice is cold, furious..." She and Jon have turned away from the rest of the group, and she holds onto him as she says with a bitter snarl on her face, "Jon, I think I'd like to go *home* now, please." Jon looks down at her. Behind them, Laurie is smiling at him and watching them go. Rorschach is turning away, towards the door. Nite Owl has one hand on Captain Metropolis' shoulder, and Captain Metropolis has both hands out in a pleading gesture, saying "Please! Don't all *leave*..." Panel 7. Present-day Jon narrates, "Outside, Janey accuses me of quote chasing jailbait unquote. She bursts into angry tears, asking if it's because she's getting older." The two of them are walking outside, a troubled look on Jon's face as Janey walks a pace ahead of him, her mascara running and one hand by her mouth. In the background, Rorschach's silhouette can be seen ducking by some trees, a car is parked by the house and the Owlship is flying in the air. Present-day Jon continues, "It's true. She's aging more noticeably every day..." Panel 8. Present-day Jon narrates, "... While I'm standing still." Jon is standing on Mars and looking up at the stars, a line of around a dozen footprints in the red sand leading from the discarded picture. Page 18. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "May, 1966..." Jon and Laurie are walking along the edge of a rooftop side by side. It's night time, and behind them the Chrysler building is all lit up and the stars twinkle in the sky, including one particularly red star. Laurie spreads her hands apart and says "It's nice of you to come out on *patrol* with me. My mom taught me everything she *knew*, but I'm still pretty *new* to all this. Uh... Your *girlfriend* won't *mind*, will she?" Panel 2. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Jon, wearing his robe, is looking impassively straight ahead of him. To his left side, Janey is taking off one of her earrings. Her mascara is running, and she looks furious, the scowl and ruined makeup making her look older than she is. She says "You *pig!* I *knew* you were seeing her! I *knew* it! You're *sick!* How *old* is she? Fourteen? Fifteen?" Behind them both is the Dali picture. Panel 3. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Jon and Laurie are sitting on the edge of a rooftop, the city skyline and night sky in the background, the red star above Jon's head. Laurie crosses her legs at the ankles and, gesturing with one hand, smiles as she says "I... I don't know what I should *call* you. My name's *Laurie.* Do *you* have another name, apart from *Dr. Manhattan?" Jon, sitting next to her with his hands clasped at his waist, answers with a smile, "Yes. My name's Jon." Panel 4. Janey throws the two earrings onto the table, and they strike it and bounce in different directions. Jon looks on, expressionless. She says, "You *tell* her! You tell her what it's gonna be *like* when her *face* wrinkles up and her *boobs* start sagging and you're still goddamned *thirty!* You *tell* her, and see what she says to *that!*" Panel 5. Jon and Laurie, both in costume, are sitting on a rooftop at night. They're kissing, with his arms wrapped around her waist and hers caressing his back and neck. Panel 6. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's 1959. Janey is handing me the glass. It's 1966, and she's packing: tearful, careless with anger... The photograph lies in the sand at my feet." Janey is in their bedroom, attempting to close a suitcase packed full of unfolded clothes. The lights are off, and a small clock by the bed reads 11:50. She is crying still, her hair disheveled, her lips trembling. Jon is standing in the doorway, looking on. Page 19. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "In 1969, I'm receiving news of my father's death. In 1959, he's opening a telegram from the military informing him of his son's accidental disintegration. I never correct their mistake." His father is lying in a hospital bed, his eyes and mouth open. It appears that he has thrashed around before he died, as an IV line in his arm has been disconnected from an IV bag, which has spilled on the floor, and on his other side, a vase of flowers has been knocked over, spilling the water on the floor along with other items that had been on the nightstand. A nurse opens a door, causing a shaft of light to illuminate the top half of his body. Panel 2. Present-day Jon narrates, "*Gila Flats* closes down in 1970. On Laurie's twentieth birthday, we move into our new Washington apartment. I've revealed my true name to the public. After Father's death, there seems little point in concealing it." Jon is carrying Laurie over the threshold of their new apartment. There are some boxes on the bare wooden floor, along with some pictures propped against the wall and a floor lamp that's not plugged in. Panel 3. Present-day Jon narrates, "In January, 1971, President Nixon is asking me to intervene in Vietnam, while ten years earlier, Kennedy is avoiding any mention of Cuba." Jon, wearing a suit, is sitting across a desk from President Nixon, who is sitting next to an American flag. Jon looks thoughtful, bringing a hand to his chin, and Nixon is holding a piece of paper and pointing at him. Present-day Jon narrates, "Later in November I'm told that Wally Weaver has died of cancer, aged 34." Panel 4. A large panel the size of three regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's March. I'm in Saigon, being reintroduced to Edward Blake, the Comedian. He works mostly for the government now. I suppose I do, too." Jon, wearing a suit, is in a bar built from bamboo and rattan, shaking hands with the Comedian, who's wearing his black leather outfit. The Comedian is sitting on a barstool and facing away from the bar, holding a cigar, a glass of whiskey on the bar behind him. A Vietnamese woman smiles, her arms around his neck, and he has his hand on her back. She has high cheekbones and glossy hair pulled back into a ponytail. The bar is filled with other soldiers and women. A group of men are playing cards at the table near Blake and Jon, and a woman whispers to a man at another table. Behind Jon is a military official in a crisp green uniform. Present-day Jon narrates, "Blake is interesting. I have never met anyone so deliberately amoral." Panel 5. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "He suits the climate here: the madness, the pointless butchery... As I come to understand Vietnam and what it implies about the human condition, I also realize that few humans will permit themselves such an understanding." The Comedian is carrying a flamethrower, dousing an unseen target with white-hot flame and smiling a triumphant, cruel smile. Behind him, a hut is on fire and a soldier is aiming at shadowy figures with their hands on their head, and other soldiers run to the side. Panel 6. Present-day Jon narrates, "Blake's different. He understands perfectly... And he doesn't care." A close-up of the Comedian's smiling face, with hellish red fire in the background. His eyes glow red, and sweat drips off of his chin, splashing his yellow smiley-face button. Page 20. Panel 1. A large vertical panel the size of six regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's May. I have been here two months. The Vietcong are expected to surrender within the week. Many have given themselves up already..." Jon, a hundred times the size of a normal man, is walking through the jungles of Vietnam. He wears nothing but black briefs and has a grave expression on his face as he points down, causing a great explosion and ripping an area with trees and soldiers to bits. From his feet comes a great red cloud of smoke that rises to the sky, turning black. Three helicopters swarm around him, and a group of three Vietnamese soldiers run from him in terror. Panel 2. Present-day Jon narrates, "Often, they ask to surrender to me personally, their terror of me balanced by an almost religious awe." Jon, normal size now and still wearing only his briefs, is standing within a U.S. army base, as American soldiers herd a line of captured Vietnamese past him. They walk with their hands on top of their heads, and look upon Jon with wonder. Present-day Jon continues, "I am reminded of how the Japanese were reported to have viewed the atomic bomb, after Hiroshima." Panel 3. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's June, V.V.N. Night, and the Comedian is sliding a gun from its holster, blood streaming from his lacerated face..." The Comedian is reaching for his gun in the holster at his waist. Jon, standing in the doorway of the bar, raises one hand and looks at him. Panel 4. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's October, 1985. Deciding to create something, I turn away from stars that may have burned out aeons ago. I no longer wish to look at them. I no longer wish to look at dead things." Jon is standing on Mars and looking up at the stars, a line of around a dozen footprints in the red sand leading from the discarded picture. Page 21. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's 1975. The papers are full of the President's proposed *constitutional amendment*, allowing him to run next year for a third term. Amidst all this, the unmasking and retirement of *Ozymandias* goes almost unnoticed." A close-up of a newspaper. The main headline, in large type, is "Third Term For Dick?" To the side is another article, with its headline in smaller type. It reads "Ozymandias Quits," and its subtitle is "Quote Smartest man in world unquote goes public." There is a picture of Adrian in full costume, holding the mask to his side and smiling, his demeanor relaxed and friendly. Underneath is a caption reading "Adrian Veidt alias Ozymandias." Panel 2. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "His real name is *Adrian Veidt*, a self-made millionaire. After retiring from adventuring he invites Laurie and me to visit him at his Antarctic retreat." A view of Adrian's retreat, under a dark Antarctic sky. It rises from the snow-covered hills and is shaped something like an ancient Egyptian temple, though the main portion is particularly tall, with several thin windows rising from the ground to the top of the building, and the roof is covered with satellite dishes and other high-tech objects. In front of it are two obelisks, and several glass domes that seem to be rising from the snow. The airplane that Jon and Laurie took is parked in the shadow of an overhang that protects it from the snow. A voice from inside the building says "Ooh! What *is* it? It's *beautiful!*" Panel 3. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Adrian and Jon are standing in a large room decorated with Egyptian-patterned columns and various treasures under glass, while Laurie is kneeling on the highly polished floor, petting a sleek, docile lynx-like animal with red fur, black stripes and long, feathery ears. Adrian, wearing a purple coat and black pants, answers, "That's *Bubastis.* She's a genetically altered *lynx*. They cost rather a lot to *feed*, I'm afraid." Laurie, wearing a brown fur coat and pillbox hat, beams at it and says "I hadn't realized that *eugenics* was so *advanced* now..." Jon still wears the briefs that he started wearing in Vietnam, leaving most of his body bare. Panel 4. Adrian, Jon and Laurie walk down a large staircase leading to another room with paintings, art treasures and flowers growing in flowerbeds around the Egyptian-style columns, which are decorated with triangles, some of which form a purple V shape. Adrian says "It's leapt *forward* in the last fifteen years. *Everything* has, from quantum physics to *transport*. For *example*, I understand that fast and safe *airships* may soon be economically viable..." Panel 5. Adrian, facing Jon, puts out his hands and continues "...And we owe it all to *you*. With your help, our scientists are limited only by their *imaginations*." Jon answers, "And by their *consciences*, surely?" Laurie is looking around her in wonder, and Bubastis is licking her paw. Panel 6. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Adrian looks out the window, a solemn look on his face as he watches the snow fall, and says "Let's hope so." Behind him, Jon holds a hand to his chin and looks equally grave, while Laurie, wearing earrings in the shape of a hydrogen atom, is looking to the side, distracted by the beauty of the room. Present-day Jon narrates, "His eyes are sad and knowing. His servants bring us Indonesian food and he talks about his business plans, all the time feeding scraps to his beautiful monstrous cat..." Page 22. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's 1985. Choosing a spot to begin my creation, I sit down. Pink sand lies pooled in my blue palm. This deserted planet: it is so wonderfully, completely silent." Jon is sitting cross-legged on the flat, sandy surface of Mars, some rocks scattered on the ground beside him, and the low hills and starry sky in the distance. He sits with his back perfectly straight, one arm stretched straight out with the hand resting on his knee. He tilts his head down slightly, looking at the mound of sand in the palm of his hand. Panel 2. Present-day Jon narrates, "In 1977, a city is shouting. Claiming that costumed adventurers are making their job impossible, the police are on strike. Everyone is frightened, scenting anarchy." A mob of people, several ages, races and genders, are shouting and waving their fists angrily. Some carry signs with slogans such as "Badges Not Masks," "Give Us Our Police Back" and "Ban Vigilantes Now," and one is waving his middle finger. The panel is colored entirely in black and red. Panel 3. Present-day Jon narrates, "Below me, Laurie hauls the ringleaders from the crowd, but the process is too slow..." It's night time, and Jon and Laurie are stationed by the tall fence surrounding the White House. Jon is hovering five feet above the ground, wearing nothing but a thin black G-string. He looks down at Laurie, who is wearing her costume. She's holding a man by the back of his shirt as he raises his baton. Around her, other members of the mob shout and shake their fists. One of them points up at Jon and cries "*Look* at him! *Look* at that *freak!* It's against *God!*" Panel 4. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "I'd best do something..." Floating in front of the crowd stiffly, his back straight and his arms flat against his sides, he proclaims, in large text, "*Pay attention. You will all return to your homes." Laurie looks up at him in alarm, as she pushes the man's head down, pushing on his back with her knee as his baton falls out of his hands. A man from the crowd yells back, "Oh, *yeah*? And what if we *don't*, ya big blue *fruit*?" Panel 5. A close-up of Jon's face, deadly serious. He furrows his brows and says "You misunderstand me. It was not a request." Panel 6. A large panel the size of three regular panels. All of the people have vanished, leaving Jon floating in front of the White House. Laurie stands in the light of a streetlamp, holding her hands out, a shocked look on her face. She says, "Jesus." The only trace of the mob are the dropped signs, pieces of litter, a discarded shoe and some makeshift weapons such as a pipe and a bat on the street. Present-day Jon narrates, "The next day, I am reading in the paper of two people who suffered heart attacks upon suddenly finding themselves indoors. More would have suffered during a riot, I'm certain." Page 23. Panel 1. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "August 3rd, 1977: The emergency bill proposed by *Senator Keene* has been passed. Vigilantism is now *illegal* again, as it was before they altered the laws to accommodate strategically useful talents such as myself." A newscaster, the same one who announced Jon's existence to the world several years earlier though now with a fatter face, is reading from a paper in front of two microphones. Behind him is a board labeled "Keene Act." There are headshots of Nite Owl, Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan, Silk Spectre and the Comedian mounted on it, and those of Nite Owl, Rorschach and Silk Spectre are crossed out with large red Xs. Panel 2. Present-day Jon narrates, "As long as I continue to act under U.S. Government supervision, I am exempt from the law. They can hardly outlaw me when their country's defense rests in my hands." Jon is still sitting on the surface of Mars. He lets the sand fall from one hand, running it through the fingers of his other hand and letting it fall in a little heap on the ground in front of him. Panel 3. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "Blake is also exempt, since he too works entirely for the government. Later, after his handling of the Iranian hostage situation, even his harshest critics fall silent. Laurie still hates him, however." The Comedian is standing at the door of an airplane, in full uniform and mask, raising his arms in the air triumphantly. A procession of weary, haggard men and women is going down a set of stairs out of the airplane in front of him. The men look like they haven't shaved for some time, and one of the women shields her eyes from a photographer's flash. There appears to be a group of people welcoming them with banners, American flags and ticker tape. Panel 4. Present-day Jon narrates, "She herself has been forced to retire by the Keene Act, but having never really enjoyed the life, she doesn't mind. Her mother is more disappointed than she is." Laurie, wearing civilian clothes, is packing her neatly folded costume away in the bottom drawer of a dresser. On top of it rest her earrings, pinned onto a small white card. They are in the shape of S's. Panel 5. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "The new *Nite Owl* has stated that he will be retiring, although he will not be making his identity public. Laurie's met him several times. She says his name is Dreiberg." Dan, wearing the skin-tight part of his uniform but not his cloak or mask, is covering the Owlship with a large green tarp. We see him from the side, and although we can't see his face his shoulders are slumped. Panel 6. Present-day Jon narrates, "The only other active vigilante is called *Rorschach*, real name unknown. He expresses his feelings toward compulsory retirement in a note left outside police headquarters along with a dead multiple rapist." In front of the steps of a large stone building is the body of a white-haired white man. He's laying on his back with his eyes open and his arm and neck are bent at unnatural angles. A note pinned to his chest reads "Never!" and underneath it is Rorschach's symbol, two lower-case Rs and two dots mirroring each other. Page 24. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's 1981 now. Laurie and I are settling into our new quarters at the Rockefeller Military Research Center in New York. It's well-equipped for my work, but Laurie feels we've lost our *privacy*." Laurie, dressed in her robe and carrying a towel, toothbrush, tube of toothpaste and soap, is glowering at a uniformed guard who is standing at attention, saluting. She's entering a room labeled "Bath Room: Special Talent Only." Panel 2. Present-day Jon narrates, "She'd like it here. Through my blue fingers, pink grains are falling, haphazard, random, a disorganized stream of silicone that seems pregnant with the possibility of every conceivable shape..." Jon is still sitting on the surface of Mars. He lets the sand fall from one hand, running it through the fingers of his other hand and letting it fall in a little heap on the ground in front of him. Panel 3. Present-day Jon narrates, "...But this is illusion. Things have their shape in time, not space alone. Some marble blocks have statues within them, embedded in their future." The picture of Jon and Janey is lying on the red sand, the top left corner covered by sand, footprints walking away from it. Panel 4. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "In New York, we go walking. The streets smell of ozone rather than gasoline. Flat intangible blots of gray slide across the summer sidewalks, the shadows of overhead airships." Jon, wearing a suit, is walking alongside Laurie, who is wearing a red shirt and purple slacks and is hanging on to his arm, looking up at him. They pass a Gunga Diner franchise, with ads for Nostalgia and mmmeltdowns painted on top of the sign. A white man in a green suit wearing a futuristic hat with the Veidt logo passes them. He's smoking a long, thin cigarette holder with a ball at the tip and holding a copy of the New Frontiersman. There is litter on the ground and pedestrians everywhere, and a policeman stands at the side with his hands clasped behind his back, watching. A paper reading "Four More Years" is posted on the base of a lamp post, and a Gunga Diner takeout box is discarded on the sidewalk. is In the distance, birds and airships fly in the afternoon sky, and a clock shows that it is 11:50. Panel 5. Present-day Jon narrates, "In 1959, a child is weeping for its lost balloons." Jon and Janey are walking towards the Tilt-a-whirl. Jon is holding the address card in one hand and the bucket of popcorn in the other, and Janey is holding on to his elbow, holding her clutch purse in the other hand. In the foreground, the little boy cries and points up towards his lost balloons, as his mother pats his head and tries to console him. Present-day Jon narrates, "Any moment now, Janey's watchband will break. Somewhere, the fat man is already lumbering toward the shooting gallery, steps heavy with unwitting destiny." Panel 6. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's August, 1985. I'm walking through Grand Central Station with Laurie. We stop at the newsstand and buy a copy of Time Magazine, commemorating *Hiroshima Week.*" Jon and Laurie are standing in front of a news stand, with Laurie holding up a magazine. Behind them, a porter is pushing a suitcase on a trolley, and a father smiles down at his daughter, his hands on her shoulders, as she looks back up at him happily and hugs a stuffed bear to her chest. The composition of this panel is very similar to that of the previous panel. Panel 7. Present-day Jon narrates, "On the cover there is a damaged pocket-watch, stopped at the instant of the blast, face cracked..." He holds the magazine. Its title is written in large, dignified red letters, and it shows a black-and-white, very damaged pocketwatch with its hands stopped at 8:15. Panel 8. Present-day Jon narrates, "...Hands frozen." Janey is holding the glass mug of beer by the handle, and the tips of Jon's fingers touch her knuckles as he reaches for it. Janey is wearing a watch on her thin wrist. The background of the panel is yellowish green. Page 25. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's Saturday, October 12th, 1985, and we are being informed of Edward Blake's murder. Laurie's mood seems restless for the remainder of the weekend." Jon and Laurie are standing in front of a white man wearing a suit and glasses. He's holding a binder in front of him, with pictures of the Comedian in it. Jon looks ahead of him, impassive, but Laurie has her arms crossed and looks grouchy. Panel 2. Present-day Jon narrates, "Wednesday the 16th. Laurie is visiting her mother while I attend Blake's funeral. A thin man in a black coat leaves roses, then walks away. Do I know him?" At the Comedian's funeral, as the man who had been carrying the wreath adjusts his coat collar around his neck and starts to leave, Jon turns his head to watch him go. In the background, Adrian and Dan are talking and shaking hands, Adrian clapping his other hand on Dan's shoulder. Panel 3. A large panel the size of two regular panels. Present-day Jon narrates, "Saturday the 19th now. My hands encircle Laurie's face... In 1966, the costumed people are arguing. In 1959, I am telling Janey I shall always want her." Laurie, her eyes closed and her face relaxed and smiling, touches Jon's light blue hand as it caresses her jaw. His other hand holds her head, and her dark brown hair is loose and flowing. She appears to be naked, wearing only silver earrings in the shape of a hydrogen symbol. Panel 4. Present-day Jon narrates, "It's later. Laurie is walking out on me. On a rooftop in the past, I pull her sixteen-year old body to me, breathing her perfume, never wanting to lose her, knowing that I shall." Laurie, still dressed in nothing but her robe, has put on her high heels and is grabbing her coat from its hook on the way out the door, passing the armed guard outside. She walks out the door, towards the setting sun, her back in shadow. Jon stands inside, a few feet away, watching her go, one hand in a loose fist. Panel 5. Present-day Jon narrates, "Later still, and in the crowded T.V. studio, I am being accused of killing those closest to me. The word quote cancer unquote runs through the audience on a firecracker string of anxious whispers." Doug Roth is standing up in the audience, with Jon looking up at him. The host's grin has been wiped off his face, and he looks dismayed and as if he might stand up from his chair. The producer has his hand over his face, and Forbes is getting up from his seat. The people around Roth are looking at him anxiously. Panel 6. Present-day Jon narrates, "I am tired of this world; these people. I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives. In Arizona, I'm entering the ruined bar with a sensation of deja vu..." Jon walks through the doorframe of the bar. The door is off its hinges and hanging to the side, its window broken and an "open" sign hanging from it. The building's roof is now just some slats of wood lying over each other, and the walls are cracked and broken away in places. A ceiling fan, one of its blades bent down, hangs from the ceiling. A picture hangs askew on the wall, its glass cracked. There are chairs placed upside down on the tables, and the bar is covered with old bottles and trash. The taps are covered with an old cloth that is rotting away. Panel 7. Present-day Jon narrates, "...And I'm taking the snapshot from its broken frame..." Jon reaches out and takes one of the photos from the poster behind the bar. It is weathered and tattered at the edges, and it shows a man and a woman at an amusement park in black and white. The woman has short black hair flipped up at the ends, and is smiling as she reaches for a kernel of popcorn in the bucket the man is holding. The man has close-cropped hair and a rather awkward smile, and has his arm around her. Balloons are flying in the air behind the pair. Panel 8. Present-day Jon narrates, "...And I'm gone." The broken fence and the sign for the test base. In the distance, on top of the sand dune, four thin lines of blue smoke drift towards the sky. Page 26. Panel 1. Present-day Jon narrates, "Gone to Mars." Jon is still sitting on the surface of Mars. He lets the sand fall from one hand, running it through the fingers of his other hand and letting it fall in a little heap on the ground in front of him. Panel 2. Present-day Jon narrates, "Gone to a place without clocks, without seasons, without hourglasses to trap the shifting pink sand." Jon places his right hand on his knee, allowing the remainder of the sand to fall out of his left hand onto the mound of sand. Panel 3. Present-day Jon narrates, "Below me, in the sand, the secret shape of my creation is concealed, buried in the sand's future. I rise into the thin air." Still in a cross-legged, stiff-backed position, Jon levitates, sand falling from his thighs and feet as he rises into the air. Panel 4. A large panel the size of three regular panels. Jon overlooks the flat Martian landscape, sitting cross-legged in the air perhaps six feet above the ground. He narrates, "I am ready to begin." Panel 5. A large panel the size of three regular panels. In front of Jon, around twenty thin, tall pink glass spikes begin to emerge at regular intervals from the red sands of Mars. The one in front of him is particularly large and taller than the others. Page 27. Panel 1. A large panel the size of three regular panels. Jon narrates, "A world grows up around me. Am I shaping it, or do its predetermined contours guide my hand? In 1945, the bombs are falling on Japan, the cogs are falling on Brooklyn, seeds of the future, sown carelessly..." Jon remains in place, floating several feet above the surface of Mars. In front of him, the gleaming glass spikes have continued to emerge from the ground, turning into long thin shapes reminiscent of the hands of a clock. In the middle of these spikes, behind the largest one which is in front of Jon, a large shiny cup shape has emerged, pierced through in four places by the spikes. The shape is reminiscent of the top part of an hourglass. Another dome shape is starting to emerge from the ground. Panel 2. A large panel the size of three regular panels. Jon continues as he floats in front of the emerging shape, "Without me, things would have been different. If the fat man hadn't crushed the watch, if I hadn't left it in the test chamber... Am I to blame, then? Or the fat man? Or my father, for choosing my career? Which of us is responsible?" The spikes continue, rising several feet into the air, and the top of the dome emerges. It is intersected by two large cog-like shapes, thin wheel-like slices of glass with regular teeth-like edges. At intervals, the small teeth turn into large spikes, and then return to the small teeth pattern. The cog-like shapes seem to have glass spokes, which are continuing to emerge from the ground. Panel 3. A large panel the size of three regular panels. The base of the structure emerges from the ground. The entire structure rests on a floor of shiny glass, on which the spikes appear to rest. It is ringed with shapes that resemble hourglasses, sliced vertically and placed along the ground. Inside the large cog-like shapes are a complex formation of gears and spokes, ending at the center in a half sphere embedded the floor. Jon, still floating in front of it, narrates "Who makes the world?" Page 28. Panel 1. A large panel the size of three regular panels. The reader changes viewpoints, and it is as if we are seeing the glass structure and Jon from further away. It is magnificent, a complex and delicate pink glass structure the size of a palace. Its complex pattern of cog-like structures and clock hand-like structures stand stark and straight against the black night sky, and the flawless glass glitters in the starlight. Jon, still floating in the same place in front of it, narrates "Perhaps the world is not made. Perhaps nothing is made. Perhaps it simply is, has been, will always be there... A clock without a craftsman." Panel 2. Jon stands on the balcony, which is part of the top structure that looks like a cup or the top part of an hourglass. He has both hands on the edge, and is looking down. The spike of one of the clock hand-like structures gleams to his side. He narrates, "I am standing on a balcony of pink sand, hardened to glass. It glitters in the ten-minute-old sunshine. The light of two hours past will just be reaching Pluto." Panel 3. Jon continues to narrate, "If they have strong telescopes there, they can see me; the photograph in my hand, falling... Lying in the sand at my feet." The picture is lying on the red sand, the top left corner covered by sand, footprints walking away from it. Panel 4. Jon continues to narrate, "I am standing on a fire escape in 1945, reaching out to stop my father, take the cogs and flywheels from him, piece them all together again..." A shower of cogs fall through the air in silhouette. Jon continues, "But it's too late, always has been, always will be too late." Panel 5. A large panel the size of two and a half regular panels. Jon stands stiffly at the edge of the balcony, his hands on the edge of the balcony. He is looking up towards the sky, where a meteor shower is starting to happen. Several of them are falling in straight lines towards the surface of Mars, one striking the far-off hills. The spires of his glass palace glint all around him. He narrates, "Above the Nodus Gordii mountains, jewels in a makerless mechanism, the first meteorites are starting to fall." Panel 6. White text on a black background. "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking... The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker. Albert Einstein." Underneath the quote is a white clock with no numbers or markings. The time is 11:52. Supplementary Material Page 1. A cover of a book or magazine article, titled "Dr. Manhattan: Super-Powers and the Superpowers." Underneath the title is an image of Dr. Manhattan drawn in the same pose and style as Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing of the Vitruvian Man. He is facing forward, drawn in two positions superimposed on one another. In the first position, his arms are stretched out to his sides and his legs are straight down, and in the second position, his arms are raised slightly above his head and his legs are spread. As with the original picture, he is drawn within a circle and a square, his hands touching the edge of the square and his feet touching the edge of the circle. However, the circle has a dot at its top and a second dot is centered in Jon's abdomen, turning the circle into his symbol, the hydrogen atom. The square is extended at the top and bottom into a large rectangle, and underneath the circle is split into two pieces, turning it into a stylized American flag on the left and a Soviet flag on the right. Underneath the rectangle are the words "By Professor Milton Glass." Page 2. Introduction. For those of us who delight in such things, the twentieth century has, in its unfolding, presented mankind with an array of behavioral paradoxes and moral conundrums hitherto unimagined and perhaps unimaginable. Science, traditional enemy of mysticism and religion, has taken on a growing understanding that the model of the universe suggested by quantum physics differs very little from the universe that Taoists and other mystics have existed in for centuries. Large numbers of young people, raised in rigidly structured and industrially oriented cultures, violently reject industrialism and seek instead some modified version of the agricultural lifestyle that their forebears (debatably) enjoyed, including extended communal families and in some instances a barter economy in miniature. Children starve while boots costing many thousands of dollars leave their mark upon the surface of the moon. We have labored long to build a heaven, only to find it populated with horrors. It is the oldest ironies that are still the most satisfying: man, when preparing for bloody war, will orate loudly and most eloquently in the name of peace. This dichotomy is not an invention of the twentieth century, yet it is in this century that the most striking examples of the phenomena have appeared. Never before has man pursued global harmony more vocally while amassing stockpiles of weapons so devastating in their effect. The second world war -— we were told -— was The War To End Wars. The development of the atomic bomb is the Weapon To End Wars. And yet wars continue. Currently no nation on this planet is not involved in some form of armed struggle, if not against its neighbors then against internal forces. Furthermore, as ever-escalating amounts of money are poured into the pursuit of the specific weapon or conflict that will bring lasting peace, the drain on our economies creates a run-down urban landscape where crime flourishes and people are concerned less with national security than with the simple personal security needed to stop at the store late at night for a quart of milk without being mugged. The places we struggled so viciously to keep safe are becoming increasingly dangerous. The wars to end wars, the weapons to end wars, these things have failed us. Now we have a man to end wars. Since my association with Dr. Jonathan Osterman and the being he eventually became are well documented elsewhere, I feel I need only recap them briefly here. In 1959, in an accident that was certainly unplanned and just as certainly unrepeatable, a young American man was completely disintegrated, at least in a physical sense. Despite the absence of a body, a form of electromagnetic pattern resembling consciousness survived, and was able, in time, to rebuild an approximation of the body it had lost. Page 3. Perhaps in the process of reconstructing its corporeal form, this new and wholly original entity achieved a complete mastery of all matter; able to shape reality by the manipulation of its basic building blocks. When news of this being's phenomenal genesis was first released to the world, a certain phrase was used that has -— at varying times -— been attributed both to me and to others. On the newsflashes coming over our TVs on that fateful night, one sentence was repeated over and over again: quote 'The superman exists and he's American' unquote. I never said that, although I do recall saying something similar to a persistent reporter who would not leave without a quote. I presume the remark was edited or toned down so as not to offend public sensibilities; in any event, I never said quote The superman exists and he's American unquote. What I said was quote *God* exists and he's American unquote. If that statement starts to chill you after a couple of moments' consideration, then don't be alarmed. A feeling of intense and crushing religious terror at the concept indicates only that you are still sane. Since the mid-1960S when the dazed and numbed mass consciousness first began to comprehend the significance of this new life form in humanity's midst, the political balance has changed drastically. Many people in this country feel that this is for the best. America's unquestioned military supremacy has also provided us with a certain economic leverage where we can dictate the economic policies of the western world and direct them to our advantage. There is little wonder, then, that the idea of a world run by an omnipotent God-King owing allegiance to the United States seems eminently desirable. By placing our superhuman benefactor in the position of a walking nuclear deterrent, it is assumed we have finally guaranteed lasting peace on earth. It is with this last contention that my most serious point of issue lies: I do not believe that we have a man to end wars. I believe that we have made a man to end worlds. The assumption that America's opponents are powerless before Dr Manhattan, while comforting, begins to fail before closer examination. As I understand current Pentagon thinking, the conventional wisdom suggests that when faced with an insoluble problem, the Soviet Union will have no other option than acceptance of a loss of world influence culminating in its eventual defeat. It has been demonstrated, at least in well-supported theoretical terms, that Dr. Manhattan could at any time destroy large areas of Soviet territory instantly. It has been similarly theoretically demonstrated that, were a full scale nuclear assault to be launched upon America from Soviet bases in the U.S.S.R, and Europe, Dr. Manhattan would be able to deflect or disarm at least sixty percent of all incoming missiles before they had reached their targets. Against odds like that, it is argued, Russia would never risk instigating a full-scale global conflict. Since it is not in America's interests to promote such a conflict, does that mean that global peace is once and finally assured? No. It does not. For one thing, it is an assumption based upon the belief that American psychology and its Soviet counterpart are interchangeable. To understand the Russian attitude to the possibility of a third world war one must first understand their attitude to the second. In WWII, none of the allied powers fought so bitterly or sustained such losses as did the Russians. It was Hitler's lack of success in his assault upon the. Page 4. Soviet heartland that assured his eventual defeat, and though it was paid for mostly by Soviet lives, the entire world reaped the benefits. In time, the Russian contribution to the war effort has been downplayed and dismissed -— most noticeably as our political differences became wider -— as we glorified our own contribution while forgetting that of our estranged former allies. The Russians, however, have not forgotten. There are still those who remember the horror of a war fought on their soil, and almost certainly there are members of the Politburo in that category. From my reading of various pronouncements made by the Russian high command over the years, I am convinced that they will never again permit their nation to be threatened in a similar manner, *no matter what the cost.* The presence of a deterrent such as Dr. Manhattan has doubtless curbed Soviet adventurism, as there have been numerous occasions when the U.S.S.R, has had to step down over some issue rather than risk escalation into a war it certainly could not win. Often, these reversals have been humiliating, and this has perhaps fostered the illusion that the Soviets will suffer such indignities endlessly. This is a misconception, for there is indeed another option available. That option is Mutually Assured Destruction. Stated simply. Dr. Manhattan cannot stop all the Soviet warheads from reaching American soil, even a greatly reduced percentage would still be more than enough to effectively end the organic life in the northern hemisphere. The suggestion that the presence of a superhuman has inclined the world more towards peace is refudiated by the sharp increase in both Russian and American nuclear stockpiles since the advent of Dr Manhattan. Infinite destruction divided by two or ten or twenty is still infinite destruction. If threatened with eventual domination, would the Soviets pursue this unquestionably suicidal course? Yes. Given their history and their view of the world, I believe that they would. Our current administration believes otherwise. They continually push their unearned advantage until American influence comes uncomfortably close to key areas of Soviet interest. It is as if -— with a real live Deity on their side -— our leaders have become intoxicated with a heady draught of Omnipotence-by-Association, without realizing just how his very existence has deformed the lives of every living creature on the face of this planet. This is true in a domestic sense as well as a broader, international one. The technology that Dr. Manhattan has made possible has changed the way we think about our clothes, our food, our travel. We drive in electric cars and travel in leisure and comfort in clean, economical airships. Our entire culture has had to contort itself to accommodate the presence of something more than human, and we have all felt the results of this. The evidence surrounds us, in our everyday lives and on the front pages of the newspapers we read. One single being has been allowed to change the entire world, pushing it closer to its eventual destruction in the process. The Gods now walk amongst us, affecting the lives of every man, woman and child on the planet in a direct way rather than through mythology and the reassurances of faith. The safety of a whole world rests in the hands of a being far beyond what we understand to be human. We are all of us living in the shadow of Manhattan. The page opposite the last page from Glass' book is black. At the very bottom is half of a clock, with a red, white and black edge and Roman numerals. The time is 11:52. Blood has covered the top inch or so of the page, and it continues to slowly drip down over the expanse of black that separates it and the clock.