PAGE 3
Panels 2-3: The discussion of Hiroshima
is another symbol of the impending apocalypse (Hiroshima
being one of the two cities upon which the United
States dropped an atomic bomb to bring about the end of
WWII) and it will be echoed by the “Hiroshima
lovers” graffiti we will see later in the book.
Panels 4-5: Jon’s father is about to throw the pieces of
his pocket watch out the window. He
wants his son to go into atomic science.
As we have seen thus far, Jon – as Dr. Manhattan – is a passive
character, doing what others ask of him but rarely taking initiative,
especially with respect – once he changes into Dr. Manhattan – to
world-changing events that he already knows will happen. This is another example of Jon doing what
others tell him to do and failing to choose that which he wants to do.
Panel 6: “Professor Einstein says that time differs
from place to place.” This statement is
an apt description of Dr. Manhattan’s quantum viewpoint of time and the
world.
Panel 7: All three aspects of Dr. Manhattan’s time
reality are expressed in this panel.
Jon’s father mentions his “profession is a thing of the past” while lamenting that his “son must
have a future.” And all of this is taking place in the present of 1945 as experienced by us and
by Dr. Manhattan.
Panel 8: Note, just off-panel – left, that this time
when Dr. Manhattan speaks of the future, we are seeing him in the future as he stands on the glass balcony mentioned in panel
2 of the previous page.
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