sixthreezy readsies

So far, the Before Watchmen series has been hit or miss for me. The volume that stuck out the most to me, was the one that was the most poorly reviewed of all four. I liked this volume too however, and I'm not sure how it stacks up against the Ozymandias volume but it's pretty close. The Comedian and Rorschach are probably the two most likable characters from the Watchmen world, but that doesn't make them the most easily likable. The Comedian is pretty much a character you're supposed to hate, and even in this book they do a pretty good job of doing that. They tie him in to a lot of actual American history and while it provides for a somewhat entertaining read, it wasn't really anything I couldn't have figured out for myself about the character. The ongoing problem with these books is that they're telling back stories to characters that didn't really need back stories, but merely just other stories with them in it. It doesn't really give you anything extra that you absolutely needed in the first place, but does just enough to entertain you to keep reading it. Rorschach's half of the volume was a little more entertaining but comes to no clear end and pits him against a strangely faced enemy. I agree with some other readers that Rorschach is guilty of some lines in this volume that just don't fit his character, but other than that his is pretty entertaining. The art in this book is phenomenal, much like the other volumes in the series and that's probably all that really kept these comics going as shortly as they did. They're beautiful to look at, and it's a trade off in terms of the pretty lackluster and unnecessary stories that the art is told with.

Originally posted at sixthreezy at the movies & more!