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A review by mazer_nickham
Before Watchmen: Minutemen/Silk Spectre by Darwyn Cooke
3.0
I've read Watchmen enough times to feel that I could be some sort of nerd scholar or at least qualified to be on a panel about it at a really small time convention. It's my favorite book to break down and tear apart because it was built that way. That said, my opinion on Watchmen spin-offs and adaptations is that of indifference. Zak Snyder's film adaptation was fine, but ultimately superfluous. Did it need to exist? No. Is it a serviceable adaptation of the work? Sure.
That's the same attitude I'm adopting with the Before Watchmen books. It's fine that they exist, but they ultimately don't need to because Watchmen is still such a full experience.
That said, I enjoyed the Minutemen half of this book. The Minutemen were perhaps the most ripe to be fleshed out, their moments in Watchmen were quick flashbacks or covered in the in-between chapters. The art is properly retro, the mystery is satisfying, and it all being through the lens of Nite Owl's tell-all book was clever.
Silk Spectre was my least favorite character in Watchmen and remains as such in the prequel series. The issues are more than inessential, chronicling Silk Spectre's teenage struggles and Mommy issues. Later, a psychedelic plot is introduced that is so overwrought that I'm almost positive it was just an excuse for the artist to draw some cool layouts. Hopefully the worst of the bunch.
That's the same attitude I'm adopting with the Before Watchmen books. It's fine that they exist, but they ultimately don't need to because Watchmen is still such a full experience.
That said, I enjoyed the Minutemen half of this book. The Minutemen were perhaps the most ripe to be fleshed out, their moments in Watchmen were quick flashbacks or covered in the in-between chapters. The art is properly retro, the mystery is satisfying, and it all being through the lens of Nite Owl's tell-all book was clever.
Silk Spectre was my least favorite character in Watchmen and remains as such in the prequel series. The issues are more than inessential, chronicling Silk Spectre's teenage struggles and Mommy issues. Later, a psychedelic plot is introduced that is so overwrought that I'm almost positive it was just an excuse for the artist to draw some cool layouts. Hopefully the worst of the bunch.