Before Watchmen Hardcovers Review: Part 2

DC's controversial prequel, Before Watchmen, was originally met with skepticism because its source material is the best selling graphic novel of all time, Watchmen. Despite the initial outrage, Before Watchmen was pretty great and really paid homage to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' epic tale.

DC is releasing four hardcovers consolidating the titles. The first two, Before Watchmen: Minutemen and Silk Spectre  and  Before Watchmen: Ozymandias and Crimson Corsair were released on June 26th. (Check out my review of them here.)

The last two hardcovers, Before Watchmen: Comedian and Rorschach and Before Watchmen: Nite Owl and Dr. Manhattan are being released on July 10th.

When Before Watchmen: Comedian was first announced, I thought 6 issues was too many to focus on the infamous icon. In some ways it's too many, but in some ways it's not enough to tell the complicated tale of the Comedian. Brian Azzarello (Joker, 100 Bullets) does a good job putting the reader into Eddie Blake's shoes and really makes us feel for this ruthless character. 

However, I do think the Comedian story is weak compared to the other Before Watchmen titles. The Comedian is such a rich character in the Watchmen universe that I expected more out of his story. Also, the artwork by J.G. Jones (Final Crisis) doesn't really capture the Comedian's grittiness. For me, the artwork is too simple for the title's story.

Before Watchmen: Rorschach is also by Azzarello. This title is extremely dark. It perfectly captures Rorschach and the circles he runs around in. The city's gritty underbelly is perfectly captured in Lee Bermejo's (Joker) artwork. Also, one of the four issues has one of the best cover's I've ever seen!

Like the other Deluxe Edition hardcovers, this includes the alternate covers and sketches at the end.

Before Watchmen: Nite Owl is written by J. Michael Straczynski (Superman: Earth One) focuses on Nite Owl II and his partnership with Rorschach as they track down a deadly killer. Andy Kubert's (Flashpoint) artwork is a little bit on the generic side, but his cityscapes and action scenes really shine. 

I really like the story because it is dark, but it has that buddy cop dynamic between Nite Owl II and Rorschach. It's the perfect tone of dark and funny that makes for an entertaining and great story!

Of all the Before Watchmen titles, Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan is the one that most captures the themes of the character from the original. Straczynski's writing incorporates mixed timelines, scientific facts, and even quotes like the original Watchmen. It's unbelievable how similar it is.

In addition to the writing, artist Adam Hughes (Justice League of America) shines a unique, yet familiar (blue) light onto the eerie god-like character. Using reoccurring themes such as watches, symmetry, and circles, Hughes does an outstanding job recreating Dr. Manhattan. Also, the last few pages are actually drawn upside down to create an awesome effect that really works with the story.

Lastly, this Deluxe Edition hardcover also includes Moloch. This two issue mini written by Straczynski and illustrated by Eduardo Risso (100 Bullets) delves into the sad origin of the Minutemen's foe Moloch the Mystic.

It's a shame that DC cancelled the Before Watchmen: Epilogue story because I would have liked to have seen that one shot. I had kind of hoped they would include it in one of these collections, but they did not. Perhaps will see it when DC makes a Before Watchmen Absolute Edition.

These titles are great expansions of the already rich universe that Alan Moore created. I'm very pleased at how they all turned out. The writers and artists did a phenomenal job at capturing the tone and look of each character in the Watchmen universe. These Deluxe Edition Hardcovers look great together next Watchmen on my shelf.

Before Watchmen: Comedian and Rorschach & Before Watchmen: Nite Owl and Dr. Manhattan are both a 10 out of 10 Doomsday Clocks!

Be sure to pick up Before Watchmen: Comedian and Rorschach & Before Watchmen: Nite Owl and Dr. Manhattan on July 10th.

Also, look for Before Watchmen: Minutemen and Silk Spectre & Before Watchmen: Ozymandias and Crimson Corsair available now!

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Before Watchmen Hardcovers Review: Part 1

Before Watchmen was DC's prequel to the best-selling graphic novel of all time, Watchmen. The fans (myself included) were very skeptical about the title. However, most of the comics were pretty great and really stuck to the source material.

DC is releasing four hardcovers consolidating the titles. The first two, Before Watchmen: Minutemen and Silk Spectre  and  Before Watchmen: Ozymandias and Crimson Corsair are being released on June 26th.

Before Watchmen: Minutemen was the title I was looking forward to the most in the Before Watchmen Series. The six issues are written and illustrated by Darwyn Cooke (DC: The New Frontier), Minutemen perfectly captures the mood and time period during the formation of the original team. Also, he's managed to use several familiar motifs Dave Gibbons used (such as clocks) to visually tie into the Watchmen story.

It follows Hollis Mason, the first Nite Owl, as he is writing his tell-all Under the Hood. It tells his origin and chronicles his alliance and troubles with the Minutemen. Cooke has created a brilliantly dark and entertaining story line exposing the corruption within the Minutemen through the eyes of a hero cop turned hero.

Also written by Darwyn Cooke, is the four issue Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre. The artwork by Amanda Conner (Powergirl) has that Archie Comics / Mary Jane Watson feel to it. Silk Spectre focuses on the early years of Silk Spectre II, Laurie. It delves into the strained relationship between her and her mother, Sally. She runs away from home, but doesn't shirk her superhero duties because she kicks ass all the way.

This hardcover has a really great artwork section featuring Darwyn Cooke's drawings of each Minutemen member, as well as every cover for both titles.

Before Watchmen: Ozymandias is written by Len Wein (Swamp Thing), who was the editor for the original Watchmen story. Wein's writing is great, but it is truly brought alive by Jae Lee's (The Dark Tower) stunning visuals. Featuring the World's Smartest Man, this six issue arc tells of the character's upbringing and unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

Similar to how Minutemen's artwork pays homage to Gibbons' originals, Jae Lee uses a lot of circular and symmetrical panel layout in Ozymandias. DC seemed to do a great job of picking writer/artist teams that could really capture and do justice to such an iconic title.

Before Watchman: The Crimson Corsair was featured as the back-up chapters for most of the Before Watchmen titles. Based upon The Black Freighter story in Watchmen, this Len Wein and John Higgins (the colorist for Watchmen) joint effort is like a dark Pirates of the Caribbean / The Walking Dead.

Additionally, this hardcover also features the one-shot, Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill written by Len Wein and drawn by Steve Rude (Nexus). This tells the story of Dollar  Bill, originally hired as a bank mascot he gets more than he bargained for after stopping some thieves.

All of these titles really expand the Watchmen Universe without ruining the original. The Deluxe Edition Hardcovers are very nice and look great on the shelf! Tonally, they are both darker than your average superhero comic, which speaks volumes about the world Alan Moore created.

Before Watchmen: Minutemen and Silk Spectre & Before Watchmen: Ozymandias and Crimson Corsair are both a 10 out of 10 Smiley Faces!

Be sure to pick up Before Watchmen: Minutemen and Silk Spectre & Before Watchmen: Ozymandias and Crimson Corsair  on June 26th.

Also, look for Before Watchmen: Comedian and Rorschach & Before Watchmen: Nite Owl and Dr. Manhattan on July 10th.

RAWR(for more)

Movie Review: Watchmen

Watchmen
Written by: David Hayter and Alex Tse
Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Gibbons
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino, and Matt Frewer

It is probably the most anticipated movie of the year and one of the most anticipated comic book adaptations in history. You've no doubt seen the trailers, the posters, and the tv spots so I think it's safe to say I don't really need to go to far into plot details. There will be a hundred reviews out there where people dissect this movie and write dissertations about it as if it's the dawning of a new era in film.

I'm not going to do that. I don't have that much loyalty to the source material and to be honest it's just not good enough for that kind of work.

I will start by saying that I don't see what the fuss is about. People talk about Watchmen with such reverence and devotion and I don't understand it. I've read it twice and feel no such dedication. In fact, I was rather underwhelmed. It must be generational. It came out when I was a kid so I was too young to even know it existed, let alone read it. I was 27 when I did finally read it and I had to force myself to finish it. It was a bore to me. I read it again recently and did enjoy it better, but I still failed to see the genius or jump from my chair to proclaim it a masterpiece.


So to be honest, I wasn't that excited about the film and the firs trailer did nothing to change that. The second trailer was a little better and did peak my interest enough to actually see it. I didn't go into the movie as an overexcited fan boy or someone being dragged to see something they didn't want to see.

My point here is that I went into this movie as the average film goer might. Mild interest, no expectations either way, and no real connection to the source material.

I don't think I can get any more objective than that.

That said, Watchmen is a snooze fest.

Let me talk a moment about what works. First and foremost it's Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach. He brings this character to life in away I didn't think was possible. I hate to say Jackie Earle Haney IS Rorschach (that seems a little cliche nowadays) but it's pretty close to being true. The majority of the cast is good but its Haley that owns this movie. No other performance stands out, with the exception of Malin Akerman as Laurie Jupiter, except for a different reason that I'll touch on in a moment. Dr. Manhattan is also well done. Crudup portrays his detachment with a rather subtle intensity that works really well.

Another positive is the look of the film. It really is gorgeous to look at. Visually striking, and extremely true to the atmosphere of the comic.

The last positive is this, Snyder took extreme care to remain true to the the comic. Scenes and dialogue are taken directly from the page and put on screen with exacting precision.

This is also a bad thing. Watchmen is not a comic for mainstream audiences and Snyder sticking so close to the source material gives us a movie that will not sit well with mainstream viewers. It's just too dense. Snyder's direction, while at times gives us some stunning visuals, also betrays the comic somewhat.

I'm referring to the slow motion shots. Now, they aren't numerous but when they're used they sort of give the illusion that these crime fighters are super powered. In the comic, these are real people who put on costumes and fight crime. They are not super heroes. They do not have super strength or x ray vision. They are regular people. This is one reason why Dr. Manhattan is such an important part of the story. He is the first true SUPER hero. I don't know if it was a creative decision to sort of make it seem like all the characters have immense strength or if it just looks like it but either way, it sort of takes away from the characters.

I was also slightly underwhelmed by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. He wasn't bad by any means. He looks the part and plays the part of The Comedian well, it's just that he seems to lack a certain sort of madness that The Comedian has in the comic. You look at Morgan and see a sort of every man nice guy instead of the sociopath The Comedian is supposed to be.

I mentioned Malin Akerman before. I can honestly say that her performance will be ranked among the worst of the year. It was brutal. It was as if she didn't bother to learn her lines and simply settled for having someone yell them out to her before each take. She has zero passion, zero emotion, and has the same lights out expression on her face for the entire movie.

Another negative? The Music. Wildly out of place and jarring. I think every song is from the 70s (except 99 luft balloons) which is odd since the movie takes place in the 80's. Beyond that, none of them really fit. They all feel shoehorned in and as soon as they start you're yanked out of the movie. There is hardly any orchestration at all and even what little there may have been, I couldn't tell you when or where it occurred.

There is a sex scene that is better suited for a late night Cinemax movie, some of the dialogue is atrocious, its about 45 minutes too long (which means that the 3 hours plus directors cut will probably be unbearable). I found myself getting frustrated and antsy before the last act began. It's that boring. There are a few rather indulgent camera shots as well. We see reference to 300 a couple of times at least and do we really need to see grave stones for 45 seconds and then pull back through a sign that says cemetary? Isn't our location obvious by the hundreds of gravestones we're seeing? This is also the point where another jarring song appears. This sets up another long music videoish montage, of which I believe there are three.

Despite all that, it's not a terrible movie. It has enough good moments to warrant at least one watch. I don't think Warner Bros. has the next Dark Knight here by any means. I'd guess it has one huge weekend and then plummets because this movie's success is all going to be on the shoulders of comic fans. This is not a movie for the mainstream movie going public and in the end I don't see this as ending up particularly successful.

Oh and yes, there is full frontal nudity here. There's a blue penis. Get over it.

Watchmen is in theaters now.

RAWR(for more)

Watchmen gets directors cut!

Before this movie is even released, director Zack Snyder has commented to MTV on the upcoming director's cut DVD release:

"The director's cut is three hours and 10 minutes and comes out in July," Snyder revealed, calling his original edit "considerably more violent than this ... and sexier" and explaining that if the movie does well, the director's cut will get a theatrical release in Los Angeles and New York.

Following that, of course, will be the "Watchmen" DVD in the fall — which will include what he dubbed a "Crazy Ultimate Freaky Edition" boasting such time-omitted extras as "Tales of the Black Freighter," Hollis Mason's death, more Manhattan moments on Mars and dialogue-heavy scenes with the newsstand-bonding Bernies.

More here.

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Movie Trailer Roundup!

Here are a bunch of trailers for movies opening this year. Some look great. Some look good. One looks terrible. You decide which is which.

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Brand New Watchmen Trailer

That should tickle the fancies of Watchmen fans out there. I'm still dubious that this is going to be any good. We'll see in a few months.

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New Watchmen Poster!

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New Watchmen Poster

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New Watchmen Posters

I'll let them speak for themselves.







Source for High Quality Versions.

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Watchmen Teaser!!

Watch this while you can, I'm sure it will get yanked at any second.

Otherwise, you can see it when it premieres with The Dark Knight tomorrow. In 9 hours.

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New Watchmen Pic!!

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Are you ready for Watchmen?

Those of you worried about the upcoming Watchmen movie can relax a smidge now as it seems they got the costumes and character design down pretty well.

Below are the first official shots of the characters. Check them out. Fell free to click the pics and pick up the Watchmen graphic novel if you haven't read it. You'll want to be prepared for the film when it is released on March 6, 2009.

Silk Spectre ( Malin Akerman)

Ozymandias (Matthew Goode)

The Comedian ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan)

Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson)

Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley)

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