What!? An Error!? In WATCHMEN!???

[Craig DeBoard]

Yes sir! I couldn't quite believe it myself either. Even the great Alan Moore can make a boo boo or two (or perhaps it could be blamed on Dave Gibbons...) anyways, I was pretty shocked.

OK so what error was it?

Rorschach, busts out of prison with the help of Nite Owl and Miss Jupiter. While on the run though that very same night in issue 8 on page 25 we see a newspaper heading that reads:

SING SING ERUPTS: VIGILANTE SPARKS RIOT. FIVE DEAD.

So I ask....how did the news get out so quickly???

[F!]

It's called the late edition.

[DJ Kenobi]

I'm going to go with Finch and say the late edition as well.

Also, this isn't really a review or comics analysis, so I'm going to bump it on over to Fanboys Unleashed since it concerns the finer points of comics continuity, as the description of Fanboys Unleashed says.

[Craig DeBoard]

I can't buy it as the late edition. Especially given th fact that the police are still in pursuit of them at the time of the paper release. I mean hell, Rorschach hasn't even gotten back home to his costume yet at that point.

[F!]

Well, the headline is about the riot, not the jailbreak and pursuit. The gang do talk about the jailbreak, which could have simply spread by TV news and subsequent word of mouth.

Plus, the length of time between them escaping the prison and leaving Dan's place is unspecified, but it's long enough for them to have packed up his stuff and loaded it into the Owlship. We also know that at that point it's already 11pm since Laurie says “Another hour, it'll be November.”

Also unspecified is the length of time between the police arriving at Dan's place and the beginning of the next scene, but we can assume it's roughly another hour as counting down to midnight is a thematic thread running through the whole book.

[Craig DeBoard]

Or people are just petrified of the great Alan Moore making a mistake at some point. Sorry but I'm not biting. I really believe this is an error. The "late edition"? Sorry but it's apparent (especially with the scenes of the folks in the pre-press room of the New Frontiersman) that publications were done the old school way, pasting type and photos, not using Quark or InDesign. There is no fathomable way the news could have gotten out to the media, and then to various other other papers, that quickly, a story written on the incident, then edited, got pasted up in pre-press, all the papers printed, and then distributed, then from their shipped to each vending outlet, in such a short time.

I really think Moore and Gibbons rushed this part of the background descriptions and art, and didn't think this part through as meticulously as the rest of the book. And to be fair this is one of those very very rare books where you can pick it apart with a fine tooth comb, because it's so well done and almost flawless.

[F!]

I don't think you know this book or the newspaper business as well as you think you do.

[Craig DeBoard]

Yeah.....I'm done. :rolleyes:

[Wild&Uncouth]

My knowledge of newspapers, having worked at one, are ready for brekaing news to happen. That riot headline was probably prepared for print as soon as Rorscach dumped grease on that guy, or better yet, as soon as he was arrested! LOL

[acosby]

Wow Craig you have the most negative rep. I've ever seen.
Thats kind of an accomplishment.

[dfbovey]

Wow Craig you have the most negative rep. I've ever seen.
Thats kind of an accomplishment.

He's also banned.