BEFORE WATCHMEN, month #2

So here we are in the hot summer time and we’re also in the middle of the second month of BEFORE WATCHMEN. As part of that are parts 6-10 of THE CURSE OF THE CRIMSON CORSAIR.

MINUTEMEN #2:  We begin in 1962 as Hollis Mason talks with longtime confident Larry  regarding his UNDER THE HOOD manuscript which will pretty much completely trash the good image of The Minutemen. From there, it’s back to 1939 where the team is recruiting people. And some of the potential recruits are both laughable and scary at the same time. Finally the team is assembled and they go into action against a gang of saboteurs. With precision they break up the gang… of Chinese fireworks smugglers. But Captain Metropolis finds a way to spin it and they come out heroes. Soon, it’s 1940 and the team moves into proper headquarters. There is some dissension in the ranks about who is the important villain they need to seek out. Larry meets with Hooded Justice, Sally separately, and tries to convince them they need to appear to be together. It seems people of the 1940’s would not understand a homosexual relationship between Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice, which we get to see in more detail than I needed to know. Meanwhile, Mothman, The Silhouette and Nite Owl investigate a group of child pornographers with bad results.

Again, Darwyn Cooke shows total respect for the characters and the story without destroying the legend. And just how much of a totally useless slut is Sally Jupiter. With no powers, she is there because she looks good in the suit. And, even if you feel that Cooke is trampling on sacred grounds, read this issue just for the auditions.

SILK SPECTRE #2: Set in the Sixties, Laurie Juspeczyk, daughter of the original Silk Spectre and her boyfriend Greg are on a road trip to San Francisco where they smoke dope and eat a lot. They room with Chappy and Gigi, sharing expenses and having sex. After all, it is San Francisco in the Sixties. She gets the idea to be a super hero, like her mom and gets Gigi to make her a costume. Then she ends up looking for some “cat” named Gurustein who is the bad, drug-dealing pimp of the area. What eventually happens is that Laurie gets trapped on an involuntary acid trip. Ah yeah…and the Beatles put in a cameo!

Again, Darwyn Cooke guy turns in a far out tale of the hip Sixties. But it’s really Amanda Conner’s art that pushes this book way over the top. I cannot wait to see what the acid trip looks like and the results of it are.

COMEDIAN #1: It’s February 25, 1964 and Eddie Blake and Bobby Kennedy are ringside to watch Cassius Clay shock the boxing world by defeating Champion Sonny Lipton. Eddie declares that he is being sent to Vietnam to be an adviser. What he quickly discovers is that the GIs hate being here but Eddie…well, Eddie likes it…a lot! What he also finds is a drug-dealing gangster named Sal who The Comedian had deported some years back. And guess what: he’s done picked up where he left off: dealing drugs in Vietnam. The solution? Using the drug dealer to fund the non-war. The good guy is now using illegal tactics to get results.
You know: I am a HUGE fan of Brian Azzarello but this issue just does not work. Well, it works if you never heard of Vietnam, never knew the circumstances surrounding our involvement and never realized that a lot of bad went down there. Hello! Watch APOCALYPSE NOW or FULL METAL JACKET and get a feel. That having been said, J.G. Jones artwork kicks much ass!

NITE OWL #2: Nite Owl and Rorschach get help taking down a gang from a particularly kinky madame known as the Twilight Lady. The pair of heroes get into a tussle involving the woman’s work and it seems like there is a rift. Rorschach solves this by going to church and bveing redeemed. Nite Owl, and eventually his partner, investigate the death of a hooker who was beaten to death. Even the police don’t care. Dan flashes back to his youth and the constant beatings he took at the hands of his peers. It also means a return visit to The Twilight Lady.

Love him or hate him, J. Michael Straczynski is a great writer. That having been said, the book IS called NITE OWL, not  THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF NITE OWL AND HETEROSEXUAL LIFE-MATE RORSCHACH. And I know how important the relationship between these two heroes is, but the crazy masked guy is getting his own mini-series so let’s concentrated on Nite Owl. And any reader of the original WATCHMEN book knows how important Twilight Lady was to him. Hopefully, in the course of the next two issues, we’ll find out why. And The Kuberts' art? ‘Nuff said!

OZYMANDIAS #2: It’s 1985 and Adrian Veidt continues to tell his origin story. After losing Miranda to a drug overdose, he puts on an old Halloween costume to combat the persons responsible. He eventually finds the operation and shuts it down.  As he begins to collect clipping of his exploits, he wonders what ever happened to The Minutemen and, specifically, whatever happened to Hooded Justice. But before he can dig too deep, he runs into the Comedian.

Another moving issue from comics legend Len Wein and Jae Lee.  The book looks great and Wein’s characterization of Adrian actually makes him out to NOT be the big bad villain we have grown to hate.

And, as a bonus, each issue of these mini series has two pages from Len Wein and John Higgin’s pirate drama THE CURSE OF THE CRIMSON CORSAIR. Our hero ends up as part of the crew of the Flying Dutchman and has his soul taken from him, He learns that he can only get it back if he obtains the golden earring of an unborn child, the tattoo from a dead man’s chest  and a third when he gets the first two.

The first ten issues are in the books, so to speak, with another 25 more to go. Yeah…that will take another 6 months. Enjoy the ride even if Alan Moore hates you for it!