Before Watchmen: Minute Men #1 - A Brief Review

BEFORE WATCHMEN: MINUTEMEN #1

A Brief Review

Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1 hits the stands today, and I have to say that I have rarely been both excited and apprehensive about a book before.

Minutemen kicks off the first mini-series of Watchmen prequel books spanning seven titles, with each title focusing on a different character from the Watchmen mythos. For those who are not familiar with the Watchmen I highly recommend picking up a copy of the original graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons – you will not be disappointed. For those of you who are already familiar with that awesome book, this first offering, written and illustrated by Darwyn Cooke (DC: The New Frontier, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter), promises great things to come.

This first book introduces the key players from the “original” team of masked adventurers known as the Minutemen. Cooke revisits the earliest appearances of each member of the team (Hooded Justice, Silk Spectre, Silhouette, etc.) as told by Hollis Mason, a.k.a. the original Nite Owl. He really does a commendable job of getting new readers up to speed on what they need to know while also fleshing out a little of each character’s back story for established readers. Further, and most importantly, Minutemen #1 ends with a great hook for the next issue.

I don’t want to give anything away because I’m certain there are already plenty of sites out there rife with spoilers and criticism. I will say this, though – I liked it. I’m looking forward to seeing if the Silhouette’s adventures and – SPOILERS, SPOILERS - tragic ending (sorry, I had to get one in there) are explored in greater detail in upcoming issues. Likewise, I really liked the backup feature, “Curse of the Crimson Corsair” which harkens back to the “Black Freighter” through-line from the original book.

All together, Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1 is a solid offering and I look forward to the rest of the titles in this series. Be sure to stop by the shop this week and pick up a copy!