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etienne02's review against another edition
3.0
Old school comic in it's illustrations styles and story. Not a bad comic book but I just didn't get the Watchmen vibe (the original's one) I was searching for. I bit disappointed...
sageorion's review against another edition
4.0
Minutemen is without question the best of the Before Watchmen series. Great story, great tone and great art -- even the small things that are different from Watchmen still work in this as a stand-alone story. If you are only going to read one arc of Before Watchmen, Minutemen is the one to go with.
Silk Spectre is pretty good as well; for my least favorite character in the original book, I actually thought she was pretty cool in her story. The hippie setting and coloring for the series is pretty and makes the comics stand out among the other Before Watchmen titles.
Silk Spectre is pretty good as well; for my least favorite character in the original book, I actually thought she was pretty cool in her story. The hippie setting and coloring for the series is pretty and makes the comics stand out among the other Before Watchmen titles.
ipacho's review against another edition
4.0
The best stories, both in narrative and drawing, from the Before Watchmen. I loved specially Minutemen: awesome tale, incredible drawings; the perfect "prequel." Silk Spectre was more straightforward, but I was expecting a lot less.
theycallmev's review against another edition
5.0
I became a fan of the Watchmen after watching the movie and reading the graphic novel so when I heard about this Before Watchmen series I was eager to read the back stories of the famous heroes. The first one is about the original Minutemen and how they came to be a group. The second story revolves around Laurie rebelling from her mother pushing her to be another Silk Spectre. Everything was great:the plot, the art and of course the plot twist.
ipacho's review against another edition
4.0
The best stories, both in narrative and drawing, from the Before Watchmen. I loved specially Minutemen: awesome tale, incredible drawings; the perfect "prequel." Silk Spectre was more straightforward, but I was expecting a lot less.
dinospider's review against another edition
4.0
The Minutemen storyline captured the feel of the original Watchmen perfectly. Unfortunately, the Silk Spectre storyline was severely lacking. 5 stars for Minutemen, 2 or 3 for Silk Spectre.
melerihaf's review against another edition
4.0
Yes, I was inspired to read this because of the HBO series. I wanted to know more about the Minutemen, and I was definitely not disappointed. I loved that one. The Silk Spectre wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.
sydbap's review against another edition
3.0
It was okay. Better than The Minutemen.
AND NOW IM DONE WITH MY READING CHALLENGE. IM FREE. HAHahahaHAHAhahHahA
AND NOW IM DONE WITH MY READING CHALLENGE. IM FREE. HAHahahaHAHAhahHahA
sheryl_macca's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Before Watchmen is a prequel graphic novel containing two stories: Minutemen and Silk Spectre.
Minutemen is a great story set in NYC in the 40's and taking us up to the 60's. It's a classic and gripping tale of doing the right thing and that not necessarily being what you first think. It's a character driven story of justice, love, loss and mystery. There's a really clean, crisp yet vintage look to the artwork and I particularly liked the diptychs and triptychs. I also enjoyed the fun points of reference scattered throughout the story that anchor it to its time and place such as the pepsi coolbox on the beach and Marilyn Monroe's cameo appearance. They really bring home the idea of the Minutemen being average people protecting their community, everyday heroes fighting crime in disguise.
Having said that, the crimes they fight are serious, gritty, organised crimes of underground gangs like a child sexual exploitation. Minutemen also features a number of LGBTQIA+ characters in a time when being gay was illegal. This particular thread really focused on the fear and homophobia experienced by the LGBTQIA+ community at the time in what I felt was an authentic way.
I really connected with the Minutemen story and the protagonist, Nite Owl. I was excited to continue on to Silk Spectre right away but I was a little disappointed by this story hence the 4 stars as opposed to the full 5.
In comparison, Silk Spectre was too fast, too short and much too gratuitous. The plot lacked the depth and nuance of Minutemen and the art was also jarringly different. It was more 3D, modern and almost CGI looking. It felt wrong for the story which was set in San Francisco in the 60s and 70s. The story took on a more political message about consumerism and drug use and was based on the daughter of Minutemen's Sally Jupiter. Nite Owl features for a lovely bit of continuity that I'd have liked more of but Laurel Jane, Silk Spectre herself, was too one dimensional. She was young, foolish and had a lot to learn. I didn't feel as though she had fully learnt her lessons before being introduced to the Watchmen by Nite Owl. I really enjoyed how the illustrations conveyed the feeling of an LSD trip though. That was a great touch, a lot of fun. The full frontal nudity though? Completely unnecessary.
Minutemen is a great story set in NYC in the 40's and taking us up to the 60's. It's a classic and gripping tale of doing the right thing and that not necessarily being what you first think. It's a character driven story of justice, love, loss and mystery. There's a really clean, crisp yet vintage look to the artwork and I particularly liked the diptychs and triptychs. I also enjoyed the fun points of reference scattered throughout the story that anchor it to its time and place such as the pepsi coolbox on the beach and Marilyn Monroe's cameo appearance. They really bring home the idea of the Minutemen being average people protecting their community, everyday heroes fighting crime in disguise.
Having said that, the crimes they fight are serious, gritty, organised crimes of underground gangs like a child sexual exploitation. Minutemen also features a number of LGBTQIA+ characters in a time when being gay was illegal. This particular thread really focused on the fear and homophobia experienced by the LGBTQIA+ community at the time in what I felt was an authentic way.
I really connected with the Minutemen story and the protagonist, Nite Owl. I was excited to continue on to Silk Spectre right away but I was a little disappointed by this story hence the 4 stars as opposed to the full 5.
In comparison, Silk Spectre was too fast, too short and much too gratuitous. The plot lacked the depth and nuance of Minutemen and the art was also jarringly different. It was more 3D, modern and almost CGI looking. It felt wrong for the story which was set in San Francisco in the 60s and 70s. The story took on a more political message about consumerism and drug use and was based on the daughter of Minutemen's Sally Jupiter. Nite Owl features for a lovely bit of continuity that I'd have liked more of but Laurel Jane, Silk Spectre herself, was too one dimensional. She was young, foolish and had a lot to learn. I didn't feel as though she had fully learnt her lessons before being introduced to the Watchmen by Nite Owl. I really enjoyed how the illustrations conveyed the feeling of an LSD trip though. That was a great touch, a lot of fun. The full frontal nudity though? Completely unnecessary.