Author: Len Wein
Publisher: DC Comics
Rating: worthy
Illustrated by Jae Lee and John Higgins.
This pretty much concludes my entire venture into the Before Watchmen series of comics, and I have to say that this particular one was a mixed bag. I loved the Ozymandius story - I think it was the best of all of them, or at least ties with Silk Spectre, but I thought the Crimson Corsair story nonsensical and boring. There was an unexpected treat at the end of this volume in the form of a very short story featuring Dollar Bill, which was appreciated.
I reviewed Minutemen - Silk Spectre back in April, along with Nite Owl - Dr Manhattan, and Comedian - Rorschach
Ozymandius was always, to me, the most intriguing of the Watchmen, and I have to say that although the illustration in general was very good in this story, the Ozymandius character was almost nauseatingly drawn. Maybe this was intentional! If it was, it worked! I certainly disliked it immensely.
His story arc was very well done, fit perfectly with the rest of the stories, especially the attack on the Comedian, and led nicely right up to the start of Watchmen.
The Crimson Corsair was well drawn, but a but too dark and bloody for my taste. But the problem I had was that the story which made no sense to me at all.
The Dollar Bill story was, as I said, welcome, but rather depressing. It's told very well and illustrated excellently. Bill was just a nice guy who was 'grandfathered' into the Watchmen because he was so well known, couldn't fight crime except by bungling and accident, and ended up trapped by his cape in a revolving door, and shot to death. It was really sad!
I liked this volume (as defined above), and I recommend it, even though it's DC, and they never approve my requests for review copies! See, I'm not petty!
