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tasharobinson's review against another edition
4.0
I've been working my way through the Before Watchmen compilations lately, inspired by the HBO Watchmen show, and this is probably the best of them. They're unnecessary by definition, and too many of them just spell out in vast detail the things that Moore already told us in a few spare panels in his original book, or try to build out characters that already felt perfectly well defined. This collection, though, comes the closest to actually feeling vital. The Minutemen adds a lot to the old group's mythos, filling in some of the group's adventures, finally giving Silhouette a backstory and personality, and complicating the relationships between the team members. Darwyn Cooke's art seems particularly appropriate at this point to any story about a kind of alt-mythos of a famous team. The Silk Spectre half of the book similarly gives a lot more color and depth to Laurie Jane, with a story where she runs off to San Francisco with a boyfriend in order to escape her controlling mom, and has adventures of her own. Amanda Conner's art is lovely, very rich and detailed, and it gives Laurie more life and warmth than she had in the original Watchmen.
chaoticbeing's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Minutemen - 5 stars. THIS IS THE ONLY BEFORE WATCHMEN YOU SHOULD READ. It perfectly captures the world of the Minutemen, expertly written and illustrated to feel like an old comic. Every character is given an arc even in the short amount of time, but it’s So heavy. You might need to take breathers during it.
Silk Spectre - 3 stars. Eh! The art was amazing and I loved seeing young Laurie, but it really felt like a repeat of her story being just about how much she likes a boy. There were moments where her personality really shines through, and DEFINITELY explores her relationship with her mom a lot more than the actual comic, but I just wish there wasn’t a romance plot. She can stand on her own just fine.
Silk Spectre - 3 stars. Eh! The art was amazing and I loved seeing young Laurie, but it really felt like a repeat of her story being just about how much she likes a boy. There were moments where her personality really shines through, and DEFINITELY explores her relationship with her mom a lot more than the actual comic, but I just wish there wasn’t a romance plot. She can stand on her own just fine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Lesbophobia, Suicide, Child death, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Drug use, Violence, Murder, Drug abuse, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual content, War, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Hate crime, and Kidnapping
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, War, and Racism
octanexit's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
sfletcher26's review against another edition
4.0
By far the most complete pair of stories in the whole Before Watchmen project.
evanmc's review against another edition
4.0
Minutemen: Darwyn Cooke's character designs in this volume are brilliant. They have a classic, simple look that still heavily references Gibbons' original. The plot, as well, is superb. The spirit of the characters from the original is maintained, and a lot of difficult issues about sexuality, violence, justice, and ego are taken on with class and style.
Silk Spectre: Amanda Connor's art is AMAZING in this book. Although our heroine seems a tad 'ditsy' at times, she has an authentic innocence that makes it even more heartbreaking when the Comedian rains on her parade.
Overall, a solid pair of stories that plays on the periphery of the Watchmen plot in a way that is additive to the pathos of the chaacters and does not infringe upon the original in any way.
Silk Spectre: Amanda Connor's art is AMAZING in this book. Although our heroine seems a tad 'ditsy' at times, she has an authentic innocence that makes it even more heartbreaking when the Comedian rains on her parade.
Overall, a solid pair of stories that plays on the periphery of the Watchmen plot in a way that is additive to the pathos of the chaacters and does not infringe upon the original in any way.
kandicez's review against another edition
3.0
I would have given Minutemen 5 stars, but Silk Spectre only 2 so this is an average.
I want to say that I loved, loved, loved the art and attention to detail. Little things like scattered pirate comics were excellent touches. Moore and Gibbons said that the reason they included the Black Freighter in the original was that people wouldn't want to read comics about masked superheroes when they were reality. Pirates would be a good substitute. Cooke does a great job keeping that continuity, and depending on how much direction he gave her, Conner drew them beautifully, tilting covers so they were legible, but not in your face. Nice touch.
Another favorite little touch of mine was the look on Comedian's face when he sees the smiley face jewelry on Laurie's nightstand. I actually want to go back and see if he wore a smiley face button before this took place. I don;t think so, but because dates and years are all over the map, I'll need to check. If not, how awesome that Conner included this. Or Cooke. Whoever wrote/drew it first made a terrific decision.
All that gushy love aside, Minutemen was excellent. My favorite parts of the original Watchmen (besides every single panel with Rorschach or Kovacs!) were the excerpts from Under the Hood. This was just more of that. I would read endless comics on the subject! There were a lot years the Minutemen were active. The right writer could create many, many issues and keep me happy. :)
The story of Laurie was just a bit silly. I understand her mother groomed her to take over her "mantel", so to speak, and that portion was pretty interesting. When Laurie leaves for San Francisco it just gets stupid. There was nothing about it that even made much sense, much less added to my understanding of what makes Laurie tick. I would much have preferred a story written between when she first sees Dr. Manhatten and he in turn SEES her. We know he leaves Janey, but how does it get to that point? That's a story I want.
I want to say that I loved, loved, loved the art and attention to detail. Little things like scattered pirate comics were excellent touches. Moore and Gibbons said that the reason they included the Black Freighter in the original was that people wouldn't want to read comics about masked superheroes when they were reality. Pirates would be a good substitute. Cooke does a great job keeping that continuity, and depending on how much direction he gave her, Conner drew them beautifully, tilting covers so they were legible, but not in your face. Nice touch.
Another favorite little touch of mine was the look on Comedian's face when he sees the smiley face jewelry on Laurie's nightstand. I actually want to go back and see if he wore a smiley face button before this took place. I don;t think so, but because dates and years are all over the map, I'll need to check. If not, how awesome that Conner included this. Or Cooke. Whoever wrote/drew it first made a terrific decision.
All that gushy love aside, Minutemen was excellent. My favorite parts of the original Watchmen (besides every single panel with Rorschach or Kovacs!) were the excerpts from Under the Hood. This was just more of that. I would read endless comics on the subject! There were a lot years the Minutemen were active. The right writer could create many, many issues and keep me happy. :)
The story of Laurie was just a bit silly. I understand her mother groomed her to take over her "mantel", so to speak, and that portion was pretty interesting. When Laurie leaves for San Francisco it just gets stupid. There was nothing about it that even made much sense, much less added to my understanding of what makes Laurie tick. I would much have preferred a story written between when she first sees Dr. Manhatten and he in turn SEES her. We know he leaves Janey, but how does it get to that point? That's a story I want.
jessjarbinks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
tylertylertyler's review against another edition
4.0
I received a free ecopy of this from Netgalley.
I was among the tentative when I first heard about the Before Watchmen project; I was not, like some, vehemently opposed to the idea, but I was decidedly on the fence. I wasn't sure how well it would work. I'm familiar with new writers taking on old characters (what else is comics, really?), but I wasn't sure what kind of stories could be given to these characters that would make them more effective. Would taking away the remaining mystery out of our mystery men make them less striking? Would Silk Spectre's elaborated backstory be handled well?
This collection is the only part of the project that I've read, though I considered buying Silk Spectre's single issues. And I have to say: I'm impressed.
One thing I remember distinctly is that when the movie first came out, a friend of mine complained that there wasn't more footage of Silhouette, outside of the montage at the beginning. I remember rolling my eyes somewhat at this, because she wasn't a part of the story-- she'd been interesting to me, in the comic, sure, but I'd never cared to see that much more of her. The core story of Watchmen didn't need more of her or, for that matter, any more of the other original Minutemen than it already had. After reading Cooke's take on the team, and his expanded characterization of them? I find myself retroactively agreeing with that friend. Cooke whet my appetite for a lot of these characters-- Ursula, especially-- and now I feel like it wasn't enough. I love them more than I did before, and that's a great thing to have accomplished as a writer. He took decades old characters that had not been (professionally) explored further and really made them come out onto their own.
Silk Specter's story is just as good, I think. Conner did a wonderful job with it. It was a story that seemed to fit Laurie, that introduced who she once was and how she grew into the woman we see later on. The job in Silk Specter was just as challenging (if not more so) than the one in Minutemen: the latter had to tell us more of who these characters were, but the former had to take a character we already knew and then tell us why. In that light, it was effective. It was a fun romp that suited her young self, and does seem to do a good job of telling us how and why it all happened. We get frustrated with her (in both the senses of 'at' and 'alongside'), and we can root for her, too.
As an aside, both stories managed to make me feel even more like the Comedian was a dirtbag than the original comic did! I wasn't aware it was possible to think even worse of him.
To be more serious, it obviously deserves mention that the art in both stories is no less than phenomenal. In the first half, with the Minutemen, the art manages to capture the era perfectly. It has the same old, gritty feel that I would expect from war-time era stories. It's not a perfect imitation, but it gets the same mood across with effective certainty. In the second half, while the art is less stylistically parallel to that of the era, it carries a sort of rounded feel that just suits the time period perfectly. Especially given the focus on particular counter-cultures, the art's bright, poignant colours and bold shapes work wonders for the story.
The creators deserve a lot of credit for this. They took a difficult task and they went straight to the top.
I was among the tentative when I first heard about the Before Watchmen project; I was not, like some, vehemently opposed to the idea, but I was decidedly on the fence. I wasn't sure how well it would work. I'm familiar with new writers taking on old characters (what else is comics, really?), but I wasn't sure what kind of stories could be given to these characters that would make them more effective. Would taking away the remaining mystery out of our mystery men make them less striking? Would Silk Spectre's elaborated backstory be handled well?
This collection is the only part of the project that I've read, though I considered buying Silk Spectre's single issues. And I have to say: I'm impressed.
One thing I remember distinctly is that when the movie first came out, a friend of mine complained that there wasn't more footage of Silhouette, outside of the montage at the beginning. I remember rolling my eyes somewhat at this, because she wasn't a part of the story-- she'd been interesting to me, in the comic, sure, but I'd never cared to see that much more of her. The core story of Watchmen didn't need more of her or, for that matter, any more of the other original Minutemen than it already had. After reading Cooke's take on the team, and his expanded characterization of them? I find myself retroactively agreeing with that friend. Cooke whet my appetite for a lot of these characters-- Ursula, especially-- and now I feel like it wasn't enough. I love them more than I did before, and that's a great thing to have accomplished as a writer. He took decades old characters that had not been (professionally) explored further and really made them come out onto their own.
Silk Specter's story is just as good, I think. Conner did a wonderful job with it. It was a story that seemed to fit Laurie, that introduced who she once was and how she grew into the woman we see later on. The job in Silk Specter was just as challenging (if not more so) than the one in Minutemen: the latter had to tell us more of who these characters were, but the former had to take a character we already knew and then tell us why. In that light, it was effective. It was a fun romp that suited her young self, and does seem to do a good job of telling us how and why it all happened. We get frustrated with her (in both the senses of 'at' and 'alongside'), and we can root for her, too.
As an aside, both stories managed to make me feel even more like the Comedian was a dirtbag than the original comic did! I wasn't aware it was possible to think even worse of him.
To be more serious, it obviously deserves mention that the art in both stories is no less than phenomenal. In the first half, with the Minutemen, the art manages to capture the era perfectly. It has the same old, gritty feel that I would expect from war-time era stories. It's not a perfect imitation, but it gets the same mood across with effective certainty. In the second half, while the art is less stylistically parallel to that of the era, it carries a sort of rounded feel that just suits the time period perfectly. Especially given the focus on particular counter-cultures, the art's bright, poignant colours and bold shapes work wonders for the story.
The creators deserve a lot of credit for this. They took a difficult task and they went straight to the top.
mrackover's review against another edition
3.0
Lots of nudity. Not for kids at all. But an interesting Midrash.