Before Watchmen: Reviews and Discussion (Spoilers ahoy)

I'd expect to see regular hardcovers for each mini-series (not sure where they would put the epilogue) and then like Allyn suggested, we'll probably see an Absolute Before Watchmen next year.

 

UOTE]

Dave Gibbons doesn't consider "Before Watchmen" to be canon.

So how have the various "Before Watchmen" series been so far? As I said upthread, I am depending on word of mouth to make a decision on whether or not to buy the trades. I was hoping to get a lot of that in thyis thread.

 

To me the following have been exceptional

-Before Watchmen Minutemen
-Before Watchmen Nite-Owl
-Before Watchmen Silk Spectre

Before Watchmen Comedian started off with a bang, but I thought suffered a drop off in issue two and I'm borderline debating about dropping the thing. The art is fantastic.

Before Watchmen Ozymandias was exceptionally good, something that surprised me since I'm not really a fan of the character or Len Wein, but he did such a great job.

 

*rimshot*

 

Not sure that anyone is going to care at this point, but DC have just announced Before Watchmen: Moloch by JMS.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/jms-talks-moloch-before-watchment.html

 

I'm not sure I ever thought to myself: "Gee, I wouldn't mind seeing a back story for him."

 

Yeah. My thoughts exactly when I saw this. I will be passing.

Just an update on what I'm still continuing to read:

-Before Watchmen Minutemen (this is arguably the best of the bunch and most like what I'll be getting in trade when it comes out)

-Before Watchmen Silk Spectre (this has been exceptional so far, both Amanda Connor's artwork and Cooke's writing compliment each other)

-Before Watchmen Ozymandias (this has been the surprise hit for me. Len Wein's writing has exceptional and Jae Lae's art spectacular)

-Before Watchmen Dr. Manhattan (just came out this week, but already awesome. JMS captures the voice so well and Adam Hughes' art is exceptional).

-Before Watchmen Rorschach (this was okay. Much better than the Nite-Owl book has been so far which I'm contemplating dropping).

 

Coming soon from DC...

Before Watchmen: Joe Bourquin
Before Watchmen: Doug Roth
Before Watchmen: Bernard

Don't remember who they are? Well, that's just one more reason to buy the books! $$$

 

Really? It's only two issues in, and I could have sworn the last time we talked about it you were defending it to me, since I wasn't too hot on issue 2.

 

I did like it...I'm only contemplating dropping it. It pales in comparison to JMS's work on Dr. Manhattan.

 

The only one I've really been disappointed with was The Comedian. Seems he's the most difficult character to write for. And yet he seems just fine when he appears in the other characater's books. Weird.

 

The Nite-owl book is the worst of the bunch.
Dan was arguably the most well adjusted of the WM. Yes, he had some mild issues but compared to the rest of the group he was a contrast: a decent guy with a lot of money who wanted to play superhero.
Now we have back story were he's the victim of child abuse, has a complicated relationship with his mother and dark sexual hang-ups.
JMS obviously would have preferred to write the Rorshach book. Which explains why he's conflated what the original tended to indicate were occasional team-ups (basically making the WMU "world's finest") into a full-time partnership between the two characters.
The only thing going for it is the Kubert art and, sadly, unless all the issues are already in the can that won't be around much longer.

 

I don't belive that in Nite-Owl they ever say that Rorshach and Dan are partners. I could be wrong because I usually only read each issue once. However, if they did come out and say that, I don't believe it goes against anything that was mentioned in the original comic, at least when I read it, I understood that they used to team up a lot in the past.

 

It's a four issue mini-series. DC is not going to cancel any of these...and I've been under the impression that these have been all finished some time ago. People have been taken off other projects just to focus on Before Watchmen. Such as Adam Hughes.

 

Bill Sienkiewicz to replace the late Joe Kubert on the last two issues of Before Watchmen:Nite Owl.

Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. What's he been up to?

 

He does a lot of stuff even if it isn't series work, and not always in places you'd expect. For example, he does the cover art for the Venture Bros DVDS

I don't remember if they come right out and say it but the story is written so that pretty much every time Dan is in costume he's working with Rorshach.

It would be like if "Batman: Year One" had every issue be about his team-ups with Superman.

 

My apologies, I guess I was wrong about them being finished.

 

That's a good point. But again, to me at least it doesn't feel like it's going against anything the original comic established. Even when they're at the "trial" meeting for the Crime Busters, Rorschach and Dan are standing together and talking about how they are making real progress.

 

I assume you mean Joe Kubert.

 

Just re-read issue 2. Dan does say he and Rorshach are partners