Minutemen:
This is the first of the Before Watchmen volumes I’m reading because it’s the one I most anticipated. As much as I love Watchmen and the characters it focuses on, I’ve always wanted to know more about the Minutemen, as their stories were only hinted at in the original graphic novel. The framing device is Hollis Mason trying to put the finishing touches to his book, Under the Hood, and this was a touch I immediately liked because I loved the excerpts in Watchmen and I would have loved for there to have been an actual book published.
The story shifts between the past and the present day (of the book) as Hollis relives times gone b and talks about his old crimefighting colleagues. We learn a lot about all them, Silhouette is given the most attention but there’s a lot for the others as well and gives a little more context to the things that went on in the original graphic novel. Being a prequel we obviously know how the Minutemen turned out, but this volume manages to pull off a few surprising twists and it feels like it could be a story in its own right, not just as an addendum to Watchmen.
It certainly plays with the grim moral compass on which Watchmen revolved, and the heroes depicted here all have their flaws and some of them are truly disturbed. It certainly makes you think about the nature of the hero and they did feel genuine, like it wasn’t simply a commentary on the characters that appeared in comics but an attempt to show what would most likely happen if these people appeared in real life. Although the foundation of the story is the original Nite Owl meandering down memory lane there is a strong plot that steadily builds and provides a strong climax, well, I guess it could be called a double-climax.
I was a little afraid that these stories would be nothing more than nods and winks, and would only be trading on the glory of Watchmen but Before Watchmen: Minutemen is a worthy companion and there are some nice contrasts between this and the original volume. For example, just compare Mason’s views of truth with those of Rorschach’s, or Ozymandias’. There are a few cute nods as well but nothing that takes away from the substance of the Minutemen.
The artwork was great too, the parts set in the Golden Age of the Minutemen are retro while the rest has a more present day feel. There’s some stylish work done with the panels that harkens to some of the clever ways that Moore and Gibbons laid out their comics.
I’m hoping that it’s not all downhill from here because I really enjoyed Before Watchmen: Minutemen. The one complaint that comes to mind immediately is that I would have liked more appearances on the villains they fought. Lip service is paid to some but while the heroes are defined well the villains they fight are not, and I think that’s a subject that is ripe for exploring in the Watchmen world. After all, when you see the type of people that become heroes, what type does it take to become a villain?
Overall I thought this was excellent. I liked the parallels within the story and how it relates to Watchmen itself. The narrative was strong and the artwork was excellent. At the start of my review I mentioned that this was the one I was looking forward to most and it didn’t disappoint at all. I think when I do a re-read of Watchmen I may even try to re-read this along with it. It fills in a gap in the history of Watchmen and it’s definitely worth seeking out.
Silk Spectre:
Now onto the second part of this volume, Silk Spectre, and sadly it was quite a come down from Minutemen, although I think that’s just because Minutemen had more scope and more of an epic feel. Silk Spectre to me was always one of the least interesting characters from Watchmen and this story doesn’t reveal anything new and doesn’t put anything into a new context. It’s a very straightforward story because I think it could have been something more. It actually starts off with an interesting angle, as it focuses on Laurie trying to fit in at school but under the constant demands of her mother, so she’s unable to form any real friendships. But soon enough she’s off on a weird trip and a bizarre plot is forced in to give the superhero a crime to fight.
It’s a shame because Laurie is a teenage girl, and I think the challenge to her would have been to overcome the bullying she suffers and the overbearing nature of her mother, and the story starts off that way and I liked it but then it becomes formulaic and generic. Where Minutemen filled in some of Watchmen’s history and put a new spin on things, Silk Spectre merely presents an episode of Laurie’s life that doesn’t really add anything new that’s only lifted by the appearance of a certain couple of characters.
Having said that, I was impressed by the artwork. At certain points a panel was devoted to Laurie’s fantasies, and I liked how these were juxtaposed with the regular art to show how her fantasies were at war with the realities that her mother continually drummed into her. There was also one great panel that eschewed the typical format and depicted a spiral, so instead of reading from left to right you read around and that was quite inventive.
Like Minutemen, Silk Spectre has a bunch of nods and references to Watchmen. However, not all of them were as subtle as the ones in Minutemen. I did like the dialog that referenced Laurie’s future, and there’s a nice part that links in with the iconic imagery of Watchmen, but unlike Minutemen I don’t think this can stand on its own as a story. It doesn’t offer anything new thematically and it doesn’t shed new light on the character or show anything in a new context. It’s a decent read but I feel like maybe it suffers from following on from Minutemen.
So is it worth buying the volume that has both? Well, honestly Minutemen is so good that yes it is. I’m going to view this as a Minutemen story with a bonus comic featuring Silk Spectre, and even though the latter story isn’t as good as I was hoping it still features some cool nods for Watchmen fans. The Minutemen story makes this volume a must-buy, but maybe try reading Silk Spectre first.