Watching the Detectives: Readings

Watch this space for links to projects that explore reading and interpretation in Watchmen.

Jessica Furé and Stuart Moulthrop
March, 1999

These extended notes explore an unconventional way of reading the comic: connecting adjacent panels in a strip that crosses the page break. Though Watchmen was never meant to be read this way, this odd strategy reveals some interesting things about the structure and meaning of the work. This piece is heavily illustrated, so you'll need some patience if you're on a slow connection.

Jessica Furé and Stuart Moulthrop
May, 1999

This project focuses on the fifth chapter of Watchmen, one of the most structurally and thematically intresting of the work. Every page of this chapter is designed in perfect mirror symmetry so that each panel has a mirror-twin on its corresponding page. In an interpretive essay Jessica discusses the meaning of this tour de force. We also offer a page browser that allows you to view the mirror-spreads and compare each panel with its correspondent.