Before Watchmen: Minutemen/Silk Spectre

Comic Info

Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #1

Reprints Before Watchmen:  Minutemen #1-6 and Before Watchmen:  Silk Spectre #1-4 (August 2012-March 2013).  Hollis Mason begins to write his tell-all biography Under the Hood and finds himself reflecting on the time of Minutemen…and their downfall.  Hollis’ remembrance of the past leads to a discovery that the past might not be as clear as he thought.  Laurie Juspeczyk finds herself thrust into the role of Silk Spectre by her mother and runs off to San Francisco to find herself…which leads to battle with ruthless profiteer trying to force capitalism on the Free Love crowd.

Written and illustrated by Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner, Before Watchmen:  Minutemen/Silk Spectre collected the prequel series to Alan Moore’s classic Watchmen. Before Watchmen:  Minutemen was considered one of the high points of the Before Watchmen series, but Before Watchmen:  Silk Spectre was considered one of the worst.

Before Watchmen:  Minutemen embodies what the whole Before Watchmen series should have been.  Not only do the events of the comic book tie into key events of the original Watchmen series, but also develops into something of its own.  The story has a bit of a Watchmen feel with the twist ending and does a nice job exploring some underexplored Minutemen characters like Mothman.

Before Watchmen: Minutemen #5

I also love Darwyn Cooke’s art.  It has such a nice throwback to original art and that is why he works so well here (for a great example see his DC:  The New Frontier).  The throwback art does a great job tying into the story and I wish that the rest of the series had been like this one.

With a great first part, Before Watchmen:  Silk Spectre is such a letdown.  Not only do we lose the great Darwyn Cooke art, but we get a really, really weak story.  The great part of Watchmen is that it is dark and smart.  Before Watchmen:  Silk Spectre has little redeeming qualities.  It might not be the worst of the Before Watchmen series, but it feels like it in comparison to the other half of this collection.

Before Watchmen:  Minutemen/Silk Spectre is a great example of why Before Watchmen wasn’t a great idea.  Though it was highly developed, the series should have been better planned and plotted.  Before Watchmen:  Minutemen might have added to the Watchmen universe, but Before Watchmen:  Silk Spectre hurt the original product.

Related Links:

Watchmen

Watchmen (2009)

Watchmen:  The End Is Nigh

Before Watchmen:  Comedian/Rorschach

Before Watchmen:  Nite Owl/Dr. Manhattan

Before Watchmen:  Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair