A review by suburban_ennui
Before Watchmen: Minutemen #5 by John Higgins, Darwyn Cooke
4.0
I'd been holding off reading any of the Before Watchmen comics until the series was near done - I really don't have the patience for stories being eked out on a monthly basis, and wanted to attempt to read these stories in one hit.
A lot of what you find in Minutemen you'll already know, via some of the passages from Under the Hood in the original Watchmen book, or via some of the flashbacks. Hollis Mason is certainly the most likeable character in the Watchmen universe, and it's his narrative that we follow. The "new" bits of story are (mostly) pretty good - great to see more of Silhouette, who is only tangental to the backstory of Watchmen, and to flesh out a bit more of Hollis' relationship with Mothman. Not too sure about the "surprise twist" at the end though.
Overall, I enjoyed this series. I know Alan Moore has (once again) bitched and moaned about the ethics of its very existence, but there's a rich history of other people working with existing fictional characters (and ... ummm ... hello, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?) and I feel that this series has been faithful to fans of the original Watchmen series.
A lot of what you find in Minutemen you'll already know, via some of the passages from Under the Hood in the original Watchmen book, or via some of the flashbacks. Hollis Mason is certainly the most likeable character in the Watchmen universe, and it's his narrative that we follow. The "new" bits of story are (mostly) pretty good - great to see more of Silhouette, who is only tangental to the backstory of Watchmen, and to flesh out a bit more of Hollis' relationship with Mothman. Not too sure about the "surprise twist" at the end though.
Overall, I enjoyed this series. I know Alan Moore has (once again) bitched and moaned about the ethics of its very existence, but there's a rich history of other people working with existing fictional characters (and ... ummm ... hello, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?) and I feel that this series has been faithful to fans of the original Watchmen series.