Scan barcode
A review by adamskiboy528491
Before Watchmen Omnibus by Brian Azzarello, J. Michael Straczynski
3.0
Before Watchmen by Various is a 2012-13 comics miniseries set in the world of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's Watchmen. The event was launched in celebration of Watchmen's 25th anniversary. Both Moore and Dave Gibbons insist that the prequels are not canonical. Each of the miniseries involves some of the best talents in the comics industry to date. This event's purpose is to explore the backstory, characters and setting of Watchmen (comics continuity only), as any previous history not shown in the original series is in hard-to-find RPGs and supplementary materials.
The individual miniseries are:
* Comedian, six issues by Brian Azzarello and J.G. Jones.
* Dr Manhattan, four issues, by J. Michael Straczynski and Adam Hughes.
* Minutemen, six issues by Darwyn Cooke.
* Nite Owl II, four issues by J. Michael Straczynski and Andy and Joe Kubert.
* Ozymandias, six issues by Len Wein and Jae Lee.
* Rorschach, four issues by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo.
* Silk Spectre II, four issues by Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner.
* Moloch, two issues by J. Michael Straczynski and Eduardo Risso.
* Dollar Bill, one issue by Len Wein and Steve Rude.
* Curse of the Crimson Corsair, two-page backup in most Before Watchmen issues, by Len Wein & John Higgins.
Due to its nature exploring periods in the original merely glimpsed and not fully witnessed, many plot threads hinted at in Watchmen are brought out more fully for this series. Each miniseries has a different art style from each of the others, as well as from the detailed but utilitarian art of the original Watchmen. It all depends on the artist because the art styles and ideas differ in some designs. Moloch looks like a regular person in Comedian. Still, in his series, he looks like Count Orlok, and Silhouette has a redesign in Minutemen and Dollar Bill, but her single-panel appearance in Moloch has her design from Watchmen. The arrangements can be interesting, but sometimes the layout of several issues can be a bit off. The 9-panel grid that the original Watchmen used was significant because it could draw the viewer's eye to the world. However, sometimes the author/illustrators like to experiment with the panels; often, they can be distracting.
Alan Moore has expressed dictate with the existence of the series Dave Gibbons, however, is more supportive, if not slightly ambivalent, since he stated that he considers the prequel "subsidiary but not Watchmen and does not consider it canon. The basic idea of a Watchmen prequel dates as far back as Alan Moore came up with ideas for one during the Minutemen days and said had he not been stiffed by DC, he would have worked on Minutemen. The story we got about them here was vastly different from what Alan Moore originally planned. In an interview around the time of Watchmen being published and before DC stiffed him (i.e. the honeymoon period), Moore suggested that Minuteman would have been a huge stylistic shift, recapturing the innocent and childlike attitude of the Golden Age. Dave Gibbons confirmed this, "In fact, the next thing we would've done after Watchmen would've been something like Captain Marvel, you know, something really light and mythical."
The individual miniseries are:
* Comedian, six issues by Brian Azzarello and J.G. Jones.
* Dr Manhattan, four issues, by J. Michael Straczynski and Adam Hughes.
* Minutemen, six issues by Darwyn Cooke.
* Nite Owl II, four issues by J. Michael Straczynski and Andy and Joe Kubert.
* Ozymandias, six issues by Len Wein and Jae Lee.
* Rorschach, four issues by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo.
* Silk Spectre II, four issues by Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner.
* Moloch, two issues by J. Michael Straczynski and Eduardo Risso.
* Dollar Bill, one issue by Len Wein and Steve Rude.
* Curse of the Crimson Corsair, two-page backup in most Before Watchmen issues, by Len Wein & John Higgins.
Due to its nature exploring periods in the original merely glimpsed and not fully witnessed, many plot threads hinted at in Watchmen are brought out more fully for this series. Each miniseries has a different art style from each of the others, as well as from the detailed but utilitarian art of the original Watchmen. It all depends on the artist because the art styles and ideas differ in some designs. Moloch looks like a regular person in Comedian. Still, in his series, he looks like Count Orlok, and Silhouette has a redesign in Minutemen and Dollar Bill, but her single-panel appearance in Moloch has her design from Watchmen. The arrangements can be interesting, but sometimes the layout of several issues can be a bit off. The 9-panel grid that the original Watchmen used was significant because it could draw the viewer's eye to the world. However, sometimes the author/illustrators like to experiment with the panels; often, they can be distracting.
Alan Moore has expressed dictate with the existence of the series Dave Gibbons, however, is more supportive, if not slightly ambivalent, since he stated that he considers the prequel "subsidiary but not Watchmen and does not consider it canon. The basic idea of a Watchmen prequel dates as far back as Alan Moore came up with ideas for one during the Minutemen days and said had he not been stiffed by DC, he would have worked on Minutemen. The story we got about them here was vastly different from what Alan Moore originally planned. In an interview around the time of Watchmen being published and before DC stiffed him (i.e. the honeymoon period), Moore suggested that Minuteman would have been a huge stylistic shift, recapturing the innocent and childlike attitude of the Golden Age. Dave Gibbons confirmed this, "In fact, the next thing we would've done after Watchmen would've been something like Captain Marvel, you know, something really light and mythical."