Pages 12 and 17

Another nine-panel layout, but on each page there is a high degree of complexity in the verbal and graphic relationships. These pages mix the story of the sailor and the news vendor in alternating panels. This combination opens up the possibility of local symmetries, as in panels 17.5 and 17.6, where the mast of the shipwrecked sailor's raft mirrors the pole on which Kovacs mounts his signboard. Ironic connections between panels are also very prominent. Panel 12.9 goes to 13.1, ("Every damned link" juxtaposed with the image of Veidt picking up his cufflink), but so does 17.9, with the ocean's reflective surface compared to the reflective surface of Veidt's desk. The intruded word balloon in this panel says, "It's too late," which resonates against the secretary's reminder, "Time's running out, Mr. Veidt" in 13.1 (as indeed it is -- for her). 17.9 doesn't connect to 18.1 nearly as well as 12.9 does: its image of a folded newspaper and Bernie's remark about "every damned link" both connect strongly to Rorschach's note and his attempts to find some pattern of relationship in events. This spread contains correspondences between adjacent panels on the same page and also between panels that match up in something other than strict mirroring. There are always many levels of connection in Watchmen, many axes of symmetry.