Reviews

Before Watchmen: Comedian/Rorschach by Brian Azzarello

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I get the impression that no one writing these Watchmen prequels can entirely decide who Eddie Blake is — cynical but wise truth-teller to power, or bratty fuck-up channeled into a useful weapon by much smarter people? Patriot or psychopath? In it for the kicks or for the results? I know, porque no los dos and all, but it still feels like of all the characters who pop up multiple times in these prequels, he's the one written most inconsistently, and in ways that are hard to reconcile. Brian Azzarello writes him as bits and pieces of all of these things, in a narrative that never really held together for me, or tried to get go deeper than the Forrest Gump conceit that someone this useful to powerful people would be front and center during a lot of important historical events. The Rorschach story, on the other hand, just feels grossly exploitative, with a lot of glistening naked female bodies turning up with words carved in them, and Rorschach getting himself beaten to a pulp over and over trying to do something about it.

chaoticbeing's review

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Comedian: 3 stars. They implied he was in love with JFK in the first couple of pages. Fascinated with this implication. Good art, probably one of the characters that would need more backstory considering the plot of Watchmen plays it so vague.

Rorschach: 0 stars. 👎👎👎 The story is trash, it’s more like the author only liked the bad-ass parts of Rorschach and nothing else. The art looks AI generated.

Content Warnings

sammireynis's review

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4.0

Didn't expect very much of it, but turned out to be a fairly good read. But at some points i had a feeling that it was trying to be like the movie a little bit, but it might just be me. Speaking of which, i liked the fact that, like the movie, it had great songs. Of course it can't include songs to hear, but they used lyrics from songs that were very appropriate to what was happening, making it a bit more dramatic.

scottpm's review

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4.0

Best of the bunch in this series but still missing a little heart.

sfletcher26's review

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4.0

Another of the Before Watchmen project Graphic Novels. Again a little inconsistent. The Comedian story is clever but a little again adds little new to the character. The Rorschach story though is top notch; dark and brutal.

kandicez's review

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5.0

Let me start by saying there is no reason these stories need to be written. I knew all I really needed to know about the masks from Moore and Gibbons work. That doesn't mean I don't WANT more. I will always, always want more Watchmen!

Having gotten that out of the way, these were just more about the guys I love, love to hate, hate to love, you know the feeling, right?

Comedian is what he is and knowing more about his background doesn't make him any more sympathetic. He's kind of an ass, and he is definitely arrogant, but I can't help liking his all American GI Joe "I'm always right!" attitude.

Rorschach is different. I love him. I feel sorry for him. I believe he genuinely wants to better the world and knows no matter how much he does it will never actually be any better. The same people will always be here.

He is so simple and black and white which is the genius of his disguise. There are no greys with him and the black and white may shift in different circumstances they will never, ever blend.

My absolute favorite part of this were the alternative covers in the back. The Rorschach cover drawn by Jim Lee may be my all time favorite cover he ever drew and I am a huge fan of his, so that's saying an awful lot. I sneak-read this in Barnes and Noble, but if I do buy it, that Lee cover alone will make it worth the $29.99 price tag. :)