'Before Watchmen: Minutemen' #1 review
Published Jun 7 2012, 12:07 BST | By Mark Langshaw
In the first of our comprehensive series of reviews of DC Comics' Before Watchmen, we take a look at Minutemen #1.
Who's it by?
Minutemen #1 is written and illustrated by Darwyn Cooke. The Curse of the Crimson Corsair back-up short is written by Len Wein and drawn by original series colourist John Higgins.
What's the story so far?
We know all about the Minutemen and their unpleasant fates from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's original Watchmen series. They were the titular superheroes' 1940 predecessors, a group comprising of the first Nite Owl, Dollar Bill, Captain Metropolis, the Silhouette, Mothman, Sally Jupiter, Hooded Justice and the Comedian.
Much of the information we have on these characters came from flashback sequences, as well as Watchmen's supplementary material such as the extracts from Hollis Mason's autobiography. Minutemen turns back the clock to the team's heyday to flesh out the characters us readers have seen only snippets of.
What happens?
Minutemen picks up not long after the original Nite Owl has retired, and opens with him applying the finishing touches to the book that serves as an integral part of the original story.
Mason's autobiography then serves as our narrative as we jump back in time to the early days of the Minutemen. The spotlight shifts from one character to the next as Mason delivers a dossier on each of them, detailing how their crimefighting careers began.
Highlights include Hooded Justice foiling two criminals in Batman-esque fashion, a teenage Comedian showing off his psychotic tendencies, and insight into Mothman's mental breakdown.
What's the verdict?
The controversial aspects of Before Watchmen's launch have already been discussed at length, so this review will purely focus on the quality of the final product (or at least what little of it is available). While Minutemen #1 is unlikely to convert the series' most vehement opponents, the quality of Darwyn Cooke's work cannot be disputed.
The first issue is essentially a guided tour of the characters and setting, telling new readers all they need to know, though prior knowledge of Watchmen helps if you want to fully appreciate this comic.
A fitting tone is one of Cooke's greatest accomplishments here. At times, Nite Owl's narrative is laden with nostalgia and Golden Age optimism, yet there's also a sense of impending doom. This is no doubt heightened by the knowledge that tragedy will befall these characters, but the writer conveys it well regardless.
With eight characters to flesh out, Cooke has his work cut out. No more than a few pages are dedicated to each, but that's enough to lay some groundwork. Longtime fans will come away from the issue with no more than a few morsels of additional info on each, and there certainly isn't anything in these pages that contradicts or dilutes Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's existing work.
© DC Comics
Much like the script, Cooke's artwork has a bittersweet quality to it. The character designs are reminiscent of the Golden Age, in keeping with their heritage, but there's a Silver Age influence in there too. This retrospective style is offset by the muted colour pallet, its dull hues foreshadowing the darkness to come.
Cooke pays homage to the work of Moore and Gibbons, while bringing something all of his own to the table.
The main story is followed by the first chapter of The Curse of the Crimson Corsair by Len Wein and John Higgins. It takes all of its cues from the Tales of the Black Freighter from the original Watchmen, particularly in tone, but it's difficult to offer further comment with it being just two pages long.
In closing, Cooke is a natural fit to work within the Watchmen universe as his writing and artwork demonstrate a firm understanding of what made the original material so iconic. He has a seemingly impossible task on his hands with this one, but is rising to it admirably.
> Buy the digital version of Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1
> Read our Before Watchmen interview with Dan DiDio
Watch a trailer for Before Watchmen below:
Review of Before Watchmen Minutemen #1.
Before Watchmen: Minutemen (6 issues) ? Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke
Out of 10- 5/10
by- Robert Woodyet
There were many debates on the topic of the release of Before Watchmen comic books earlier this year. There were some positive points and then there were the negative points that were over shadowed the positive points. The Before Watchmen comic books are a prequel to a legendary comics/graphic novel called Watchmen, that was written by Alan Moore and draw by Dave Gibbons. The first comic of the series of Before Watchmen is minutemen which was release on Wednesday the 6th of June 2012.
The first comic follows a group of heroes named as the Minutemen, which inspirers the Watchmen. We see how each superhero started there carer as a crime fighter which we didn?t see in the original Watchmen. I firstly thought that bringing out a prequel of Watchmen would be a great idea as we; the audience are not really shown how the Minutemen are formed or how they started. However my mind sonly changed during reading the first issue of Before Watchmen.
When they released the front covers of the Before Watchmen comic books I literally had a heart attack as they are brilliant but still have the uniqueness of the style of artwork of Watchmen. In addition I admit that I judged the comic of Before Watchmen on the front covers as I knew (at that time) that they looked just like Watchmen?s style of artwork. However I was wrong. You could say that I judged a book by a cover and I would agree. As I read through the comic of Before Watchmen I gradually got more and more disappointing with the art work. I was expecting it to be similar to the original Watchmen style. But it wasn?t. This in my opinion is a bad thing. Surly if it?s got the same name with the same story then you would make it look similar? Personally I think that the style of the Watchmen comic artwork is one of the best and I know many agree. So why change it? Maybe because they have changed the pencil drawer and the colour artist?
This leads me to my next point. If you can?t get the original artist or writer than surly you would think about leaving it alone? Obversely not. They?ve got several new writers and several new artists. This can be seen to most people a bad thing but to the small majority it can be seen to be a good thing as its giving people an opportunity to get more known. Well they shouldn?t. I don?t know the details why Alan Moore or Dave Gibbons didn?t get involved so I can?t give more detail as I don?t know but they should have left it alone. I think even changing the art work can be the difference from liking something and not, but that might be biased statement as I prefer the art work to the story.
You might not be bothered about the artwork of Watchmen, so you might still think that the story will be impressive, but you?re wrong. The Before Watchmen comic was very short and it didn?t give much detail, which surprised me. The first comic seemed very rushed as they just through each character at you will with 2 pages to understand them. In my opinion I think they should have had the first issue on just one character and then at the end to just mention the name of the another character, then follow it up on the next comic and then repeat the same process until each character has fully been shown. Therefore we (the audience) have a full understanding for each character. And yes there might be another 5 issues of the Minutemen but it seems to me that they have rushed the background stories just to show them as a team. Which is wrong? My evidence is that at the end of the first comic (Minutemen #1) Captain Metropolis invites several members to join the Minutemen. Therefore if they want to show the more information of the back ground story?s then they would need to bring it back before Captain Metropolis ask them to join, which would confuse the audience and make the structure of the comic out of place.
However there are some good points to the first issue of Before Watchmen comic book, but there isn?t many, only minor things. Such as mentioned before, the front covers, which I think are outstanding. The costumes are good as they haven?t changed them from the original Watchmen comic and in the movie, which I think is a good thing as I like them and it personally frustrates me when they change things in prequels. And finally I like how they have kind of kept the structure of the writing the same. And yes you can tell that it hasn?t been written by Alan Moore but in my opinion it?s hard to tell.
In conclusion I think you should buy it as then you can judge for you self to see if you like it or not as I think it?s dubitable. However if the points in my review would sound like something you would say then don?t! I personally think the artwork is a major problem which should be changed as then I would defiantly like it more, and so would other fans. I enjoyed reading it even with all its major faults and I will carry on reading the others. Only because I like watchmen and even if they mess up Before Watchmen (which is looking that way) then it doesn?t change my view of watchmen as a hole.
June 9th 2012 at 8:45pm
Yeah the art and writing themselves are very good and I can't add any more than the review itself has already said regarding them.
It being the first issue it was entirely occupied by introducing the cast so no real plot details have emerged meaning I can't comment on the story either.
I was disappointed that he decided to go for the flashback route. I was hoping for it to transpire real time like showing Nite Owl on the job, showing him see the Batman comics, seeing him first hear about Hooded Justice, seeing him suit up, seeing the team form around him. Instead it basically rehashes what the novel sections at the end of watchmen said anyway.
Brings me the an oddity. He acknowledges the book's writing from watchmen and then goes into explaining each Minutemen member... but they were already explained in that writing?
Noticed a nice touch where Hollis kind of breaks the 4th wall by saying that there's no deep point to any of this, as if to say to the fans 'just enjoy the ride'. Does beg the question: If there was no planned point then the only point would be to make more money from Watchmen right?
I dunno, it's too early to say. I did enjoy it though and will be buying the rest of them too.
June 7th 2012 at 6:33pm
I kind of botched that. I just went back and checked again. This is what I meant as the oddity:
He's reflecting back to himself and he thinks "I've already detailed how I [..cough..]". Why would he say he's already detailed something when he's thinking back to himself?
At another point before that he says "I hope it doesn't sound like I'm judging [..cough..]" and it comes off like he's speaking to the reader again, but he's not, he's reflecting to himself.
I think it's a simple case of Cooke forgetting the frame he set up to do the narrating by. He sets it up so that Hollis is thinking to himself but then executes it like he's speaking directly to the reader.
I'm over-examining it sure, I just find it jarring.
June 7th 2012 at 6:58pm