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Before Watchmen
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair
Discover what happened before WATCHMEN. The team of legendary writer Len Wein and acclaimed artist Jae Lee—in his first DC Comics' work in nearly a decade—delve into the mind of the smartest man in the world: Ozymandias. How does one go from the son of immigrant parents to becoming the world's smartest man? Adrian Veidt begins his journey, both spiritual and physical, that will one day make him one of the most pivotal players in the world-changing events of WATCHMEN.
Collects: BEFORE WATCHMEN: OZYMANDIAS #1-6, BEFORE WATCHMEN: DOLLAR BILL #1 and the CRIMSON CORSAIR backup stories.
Collects: BEFORE WATCHMEN: OZYMANDIAS #1-6, BEFORE WATCHMEN: DOLLAR BILL #1 and the CRIMSON CORSAIR backup stories.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published June 26, 2013
65 people are currently reading
1573 people want to read
About the author
Len Wein
1,587 books154 followersLen Wein was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men (including the co-creation of Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus). Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen.
Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.
Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 314 reviews
August 19, 2021
Ozymandias ★★★★★ - Story by Len Wein. Art by Jae Lee
Man, the art in this is superb. Jae Lee gives the book an alien look that worked very well with the origin story of the emotionless smartest man in the world. I really like how as the story progresses it dovetails into what happens in Watchmen. It's almost a "behind the scenes" story for Watchmen.
The Curse of the Crimson Corsair ★★★ - Story by Len Wein. Art by John Higgins
This ran as the back 2 pages of each comic book. It's really difficult to put together a good story like that but Wein does it. Higgins's art is great. Gives the story a timeless horror comic quality.
Dollar Bill ★★ - Story by Len Wein. Art by Steve Rude
Dollar Bill's story was covered in Minutemen. This was completely unnecessary. It didn't add much besides how he got hired and a bunch of Jewish stereotypes. Even Steve Rude's art wasn't as good as I've seen in the past. It's cluttered and a bit sketchy.
Man, the art in this is superb. Jae Lee gives the book an alien look that worked very well with the origin story of the emotionless smartest man in the world. I really like how as the story progresses it dovetails into what happens in Watchmen. It's almost a "behind the scenes" story for Watchmen.
The Curse of the Crimson Corsair ★★★ - Story by Len Wein. Art by John Higgins
This ran as the back 2 pages of each comic book. It's really difficult to put together a good story like that but Wein does it. Higgins's art is great. Gives the story a timeless horror comic quality.
Dollar Bill ★★ - Story by Len Wein. Art by Steve Rude
Dollar Bill's story was covered in Minutemen. This was completely unnecessary. It didn't add much besides how he got hired and a bunch of Jewish stereotypes. Even Steve Rude's art wasn't as good as I've seen in the past. It's cluttered and a bit sketchy.
December 13, 2013
Well, that was boring.
The first half, Ozymandias, was dull but okay. Basically the entire thing is Ozymandias giving a monologue about his success. Fairly nice art, especially the portrayal of motion. 3 stars.
I don't even remember who Crimson Corsair was later, and his backstory gave me no impetus to find out. Which was the Pirates of the Caribbean movie where they kind of gave up on having the plot make some kind of sense? Anyway, if you liked that film but thought it needed fewer hot people and more torture, maybe this is for you. 2 stars
Then there were some short bits crammed in the end (seriously, graphic novelists, why you do this so often? Haven't you heard about ending strong?) that I skimmed and immediately forgot. Something about Dollar Bill.
Recommended for Watchmen completists only.
The first half, Ozymandias, was dull but okay. Basically the entire thing is Ozymandias giving a monologue about his success. Fairly nice art, especially the portrayal of motion. 3 stars.
I don't even remember who Crimson Corsair was later, and his backstory gave me no impetus to find out. Which was the Pirates of the Caribbean movie where they kind of gave up on having the plot make some kind of sense? Anyway, if you liked that film but thought it needed fewer hot people and more torture, maybe this is for you. 2 stars
Then there were some short bits crammed in the end (seriously, graphic novelists, why you do this so often? Haven't you heard about ending strong?) that I skimmed and immediately forgot. Something about Dollar Bill.
Recommended for Watchmen completists only.
August 7, 2013
Before Watchmen is a series of prequels to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s much-lauded book, Watchmen, with each character from the book given their own mini-series. This volume collects the Ozymandias and Crimson Corsair mini-series and the Dollar Bill one-shot.
Having a strong background in comics as the creator of Wolverine and Swamp Thing, as well as editing the original Watchmen comics, writer Len Wein is a good fit for this series. For those who’ve read the original Watchmen (and why would you be reading these books if you haven’t?) Ozymandias, aka Adrian Veidt, seemed like a pretty bland character. Labelled the World’s Smartest Man and wearing a campy outfit, he never came across as a particularly interesting man. With this mini-series Wein has at least made him appear to be a richer character even if he doesn’t present much to surprise the reader.
Narrating his story in the first person into a recording device for posterity (appropriate given his massive ego), Veidt details his biography and how he came to call himself Ozymandias and decide that it was up to him to save the world. This latter point is perhaps the aspect to Veidt’s personality that Wein really nails. We see Veidt go from misunderstood bullied genius to a lethal fighting machine whose extraordinary intellect and ego pushes him further away from his humanity, symbolised in his isolated Antarctic retreat Karnak where he hatches his mad plan. Through his narration, his actions almost become understandable while he even seems sympathetic at times, which is really scary as he’s the villain of the story.
Wein highlights Alexander the Great as an inspiration to Veidt whose ambition and purpose convince him to attempt to unify the world, as well as lead him to incorporate Alexander memorabilia into his costume (the headband, gauntlets). But when it comes to the costume itself, Wein loses his inspiration as he has Veidt pick it out purely because it was in his wardrobe, an old Halloween costume. Oh. That’s… dull. Even the creation of his pet lynx, Bubastis, when revealed is unremarkable. The reaction isn’t “wow, so THAT’S how it happened”, it’s more, “Oh. Ok. Moving on”.
And while I thought Veidt’s background was entertaining enough, I wondered why it had to be told. His youthful travels learning martial arts, other cultures, and history, his domination of the business world thanks to his formidable intellect, reading every sci-fi novel ever written to concoct his insane plan – these are all blanks that didn’t need to be explicitly filled in by the writer; the reader does this when reading Watchmen. I enjoyed the story but at six issues, it’s really stretched thin – really, it could’ve worked equally, if not better, as an extra-long one-shot.
The highlight of the Ozymandias mini-series is Jae Lee’s amazing art. It’s almost cliché to praise Lee’s artwork when discussing a book he’s worked on but it really is stunning and his work here is first class. Eye-catching, bold, haunting and gothic, Lee elevates Wein’s script into something more exciting and memorable. Like other artists whose style is painted and realistic (think Alex Ross), his figures can seem a bit static and posed, but the otherworldly, dream-like appearance of Lee’s work negates such impressions.
We now come to the worst part of the book by far: Crimson Corsair. Set in the 18th century, an English sailor called Gordon McLachlan drowns after the Spanish sink his ship. He’s saved by the Crimson Corsair, captain of the ghost ship The Flying Dutchman, who steals his soul. To get it back he must retrieve a series of odd objects.
I think the only reason why this series was done at all is because the original Watchmen had a pirate story in it so DC decided that, while they were spinning off as much as they could from Watchmen, they may as well have a pirate story of their own. Except the original Tales of the Black Freighter was conceived as a meta story that reflected the events in Watchmen, which is why it worked. Crimson Corsair doesn’t do anything – it’s just an immensely tedious supernatural pirate story that has no place anywhere.
To be honest, I wasn’t a fan of the Black Freighter parts of Watchmen - besides the prose chapters, it was the worst part of the book. Written in this hideous purple prose of 19th century adventure novels, Black Freighter was near-unreadable, which is at least one quality it shares with Crimson Corsair which mimics this writing style. But while Black Freighter had amazing EC Comics-like art going for it, Crimson Corsair doesn’t. It’s art isn’t terrible but it’s very bland and indistinctive.
What makes it even worse is that the story is divided up into 2-page “chapters” so that the writers are constantly having to reiterate at the start what happened 2 pages ago. It might’ve been more bearable reading it in the monthlies where these appeared as backups across numerous titles but collected in one continuous story? It reads like the awful, headache-inducing rot that it is.
Dollar Bill, a one-shot about Bill Brady, a good looking but out of work actor who becomes a bank’s superhero mascot, isn’t bad but I don’t know why there needed to be a Dollar Bill comic. He barely featured in the original Watchmen - he was a punch line, a costume who got killed when his cape was caught in a bank’s revolving door allowing the robbers to shoot him. But it’s not a bad note to end on even if Dollar Bill steadfastly remains an uninteresting character and it’s definitely a palate-cleanser after the Crimson Corsair rubbish. Steve Rude’s artwork is really good, drawn in a Golden Age style that captures the tone of the story.
Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair is worth a read if only for the Ozymandias part - I’d skip Crimson Corsair entirely – but don’t expect much more insight into Ozymandias’s character than what we got in the original Watchmen.
Having a strong background in comics as the creator of Wolverine and Swamp Thing, as well as editing the original Watchmen comics, writer Len Wein is a good fit for this series. For those who’ve read the original Watchmen (and why would you be reading these books if you haven’t?) Ozymandias, aka Adrian Veidt, seemed like a pretty bland character. Labelled the World’s Smartest Man and wearing a campy outfit, he never came across as a particularly interesting man. With this mini-series Wein has at least made him appear to be a richer character even if he doesn’t present much to surprise the reader.
Narrating his story in the first person into a recording device for posterity (appropriate given his massive ego), Veidt details his biography and how he came to call himself Ozymandias and decide that it was up to him to save the world. This latter point is perhaps the aspect to Veidt’s personality that Wein really nails. We see Veidt go from misunderstood bullied genius to a lethal fighting machine whose extraordinary intellect and ego pushes him further away from his humanity, symbolised in his isolated Antarctic retreat Karnak where he hatches his mad plan. Through his narration, his actions almost become understandable while he even seems sympathetic at times, which is really scary as he’s the villain of the story.
Wein highlights Alexander the Great as an inspiration to Veidt whose ambition and purpose convince him to attempt to unify the world, as well as lead him to incorporate Alexander memorabilia into his costume (the headband, gauntlets). But when it comes to the costume itself, Wein loses his inspiration as he has Veidt pick it out purely because it was in his wardrobe, an old Halloween costume. Oh. That’s… dull. Even the creation of his pet lynx, Bubastis, when revealed is unremarkable. The reaction isn’t “wow, so THAT’S how it happened”, it’s more, “Oh. Ok. Moving on”.
And while I thought Veidt’s background was entertaining enough, I wondered why it had to be told. His youthful travels learning martial arts, other cultures, and history, his domination of the business world thanks to his formidable intellect, reading every sci-fi novel ever written to concoct his insane plan – these are all blanks that didn’t need to be explicitly filled in by the writer; the reader does this when reading Watchmen. I enjoyed the story but at six issues, it’s really stretched thin – really, it could’ve worked equally, if not better, as an extra-long one-shot.
The highlight of the Ozymandias mini-series is Jae Lee’s amazing art. It’s almost cliché to praise Lee’s artwork when discussing a book he’s worked on but it really is stunning and his work here is first class. Eye-catching, bold, haunting and gothic, Lee elevates Wein’s script into something more exciting and memorable. Like other artists whose style is painted and realistic (think Alex Ross), his figures can seem a bit static and posed, but the otherworldly, dream-like appearance of Lee’s work negates such impressions.
We now come to the worst part of the book by far: Crimson Corsair. Set in the 18th century, an English sailor called Gordon McLachlan drowns after the Spanish sink his ship. He’s saved by the Crimson Corsair, captain of the ghost ship The Flying Dutchman, who steals his soul. To get it back he must retrieve a series of odd objects.
I think the only reason why this series was done at all is because the original Watchmen had a pirate story in it so DC decided that, while they were spinning off as much as they could from Watchmen, they may as well have a pirate story of their own. Except the original Tales of the Black Freighter was conceived as a meta story that reflected the events in Watchmen, which is why it worked. Crimson Corsair doesn’t do anything – it’s just an immensely tedious supernatural pirate story that has no place anywhere.
To be honest, I wasn’t a fan of the Black Freighter parts of Watchmen - besides the prose chapters, it was the worst part of the book. Written in this hideous purple prose of 19th century adventure novels, Black Freighter was near-unreadable, which is at least one quality it shares with Crimson Corsair which mimics this writing style. But while Black Freighter had amazing EC Comics-like art going for it, Crimson Corsair doesn’t. It’s art isn’t terrible but it’s very bland and indistinctive.
What makes it even worse is that the story is divided up into 2-page “chapters” so that the writers are constantly having to reiterate at the start what happened 2 pages ago. It might’ve been more bearable reading it in the monthlies where these appeared as backups across numerous titles but collected in one continuous story? It reads like the awful, headache-inducing rot that it is.
Dollar Bill, a one-shot about Bill Brady, a good looking but out of work actor who becomes a bank’s superhero mascot, isn’t bad but I don’t know why there needed to be a Dollar Bill comic. He barely featured in the original Watchmen - he was a punch line, a costume who got killed when his cape was caught in a bank’s revolving door allowing the robbers to shoot him. But it’s not a bad note to end on even if Dollar Bill steadfastly remains an uninteresting character and it’s definitely a palate-cleanser after the Crimson Corsair rubbish. Steve Rude’s artwork is really good, drawn in a Golden Age style that captures the tone of the story.
Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair is worth a read if only for the Ozymandias part - I’d skip Crimson Corsair entirely – but don’t expect much more insight into Ozymandias’s character than what we got in the original Watchmen.
January 23, 2018
Percy Shelley's "Ozymandias"
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
February 27, 2023
Adrian Veidt is insufferable. Crimson Corsair was boring.
March 31, 2021
Len Wein's "Ozymandias" was awesome. Of all the "Before Watchmen" stories, IMHO, this one is by far the most "important" to the lore of the entire series.
Ozymandias' tale, while covering the entirety of his life, truly shines when it fills in the "holes" from the original Alan Moore work. The fascinating Comedian-Moloch-Ozymandias link is explained and you see the entire plot develop. Superbly done! Also kudos for getting Jae Lee to do the art-it's gorgeous. This story made the entire volume and is easily one of the best "Before Watchmen" stories.
This volume also has the entire "Curse of the Crimson Corsair" story. The final story, a stand alone really, is of "Dollar Bill" a crime-fighter from the Minutemen days. This story was simply ok.
But this is a volume that is defined by the quality of the first story.
Ozymandias' tale, while covering the entirety of his life, truly shines when it fills in the "holes" from the original Alan Moore work. The fascinating Comedian-Moloch-Ozymandias link is explained and you see the entire plot develop. Superbly done! Also kudos for getting Jae Lee to do the art-it's gorgeous. This story made the entire volume and is easily one of the best "Before Watchmen" stories.
This volume also has the entire "Curse of the Crimson Corsair" story. The final story, a stand alone really, is of "Dollar Bill" a crime-fighter from the Minutemen days. This story was simply ok.
But this is a volume that is defined by the quality of the first story.
January 26, 2020
"Watchmen"lere doyamıyorum. Bu sefer sırasıyla "Ozymandis", "Kızıl Korsan" ve özellikle* "Dolar Bill"'in maceralarına, bir anlamda her birinin "Başlangıç Hikayelerine" şahitlik ediyoruz. Çeviri, baskı kalitesi yine üst seviyede, İthaki Yayınları'nın emektarlarına teşekkür etmekten dilimde tüy bitti. Hak ediyorlar. "Watchman" seviyorsanız edinmelisiniz. Özellikle yıldız koyduğum "Dolar Bill" beni benden aldı. Evrenin kenarda köşede kalmış bir karakteri sereserpe önümüze seriliyor. O bölüm ayrıca hoşuma gitti :)
March 28, 2019
I have always been a fan of Watchmen ever since it was introduced to me while I was at uni. Therefore to see that there was to be commissioned a series of prequels focusing on the various members of the Minutemen I was utterly intrigued and keen to see what tales were to be told.
Of course there was the comments by the original creator of Watchmen denouncing the whole project and in the process separating themselves from it all. Now I will admit the who concept of Watchman is a tangle of politics and a darker view of the masked vigilante genre. After all the film took years to be made - often being cited as the film that could/should never be made only for the finished article to lose the impact of the original comics. In short what I am saying is that there is a huge potential both to fail and to make something truly memorable.
So what of the prequels - well in this Trade Paperback format there are 4 in total each carrying the stories of a number of the original cast in the original Watchman (both implied and actual).
Now in this book you have Ozymandias and the Crimson Corsair (as well as the one off Dollar Bill). Each telling their stories before the pages of Watchmen. In the case of Ozymandias it literally goes up to the moments before Watchmen start, in the case of the Crimson Corsair and Dollar Bill (for different reasons) they are a more general story and as such I did not feel they fitted as well in to the whole storyline. Now I may be overly critical but they were good stories just I didnt see the point of them being there as much as Ozymandias.
So did I enjoy them - I certainly did as I like the story and the artwork that was put in to them. Did the add to the Watchmen universe not so much. Will I read the other 3 volumes - most certainly.
Of course there was the comments by the original creator of Watchmen denouncing the whole project and in the process separating themselves from it all. Now I will admit the who concept of Watchman is a tangle of politics and a darker view of the masked vigilante genre. After all the film took years to be made - often being cited as the film that could/should never be made only for the finished article to lose the impact of the original comics. In short what I am saying is that there is a huge potential both to fail and to make something truly memorable.
So what of the prequels - well in this Trade Paperback format there are 4 in total each carrying the stories of a number of the original cast in the original Watchman (both implied and actual).
Now in this book you have Ozymandias and the Crimson Corsair (as well as the one off Dollar Bill). Each telling their stories before the pages of Watchmen. In the case of Ozymandias it literally goes up to the moments before Watchmen start, in the case of the Crimson Corsair and Dollar Bill (for different reasons) they are a more general story and as such I did not feel they fitted as well in to the whole storyline. Now I may be overly critical but they were good stories just I didnt see the point of them being there as much as Ozymandias.
So did I enjoy them - I certainly did as I like the story and the artwork that was put in to them. Did the add to the Watchmen universe not so much. Will I read the other 3 volumes - most certainly.
February 6, 2021
İyi bir çizgi romandı. Ozymandiasın hikayesini okumak keyifliydi. Kızıl korsanın bazı çizimlerinin beni rahatsız ettiğini söylemeden geçemem özellikle işkence odası kısmı çok fenaydı. Dolar bill de kısa olsa da iyi bir bölümdü
July 25, 2013
Pretty good. I liked the Ozymandias storyline. Crimson Corsair, not so much. In general, these Before Watchmen titles aren't as good as the original, and will probably be remembered, at best, as a footnote to it. While the stories are enjoyable, the fact that DC is publishing these makes it even less likely that Moore and Gibbons will ever regain their copyright on the original Watchmen graphic novel.
March 11, 2019
Very nice back story tales before the main series. Good art and plotting. recommended
June 3, 2013
Had a hard time with this. The Ozymandias story really benefits from the beautiful artwork by Jae Lee, but besides that, there's nothing going on in the story that we didn't already know. What's the point? I had that thought about most of these "Before Watchmen" collections, and this one was one of the most pointless, it seemed to me. Other than some truly remarkable artwork by the aforementioned Mr. Lee (although even that gets to be a bit ridiculous sometimes--does everyone have to have a cowlick on the order of TinTin?), there's absolutely nothing here that wasn't already on display in the original Watchmen. The Crimson Corsair backup is very similar. In an attempt to ape the original Tales of the Black Freighter, this comic was available in bits and pieces throughout the original run of the Before Watchmen titles. Black Freighter at least worked as a meta-commentary on the original stories, but Crimson Corsair doesn't even come close to that. Weirdly enough, only the very brief story about Dollar Bill even comes close to being an original story that contributes to the whole Watchmen mythos. Really, the only story out of this whole debacle that's even worth your while at all is Darwyn Cooke's Minutemen series. The whole thing really seems to amount to little more than a sad attempt by DC comics to cash in on Alan Moore's original masterpiece. **ARC provided by NetGalley
August 13, 2015
Ozymandias: ★★★★★, Crimson Corsair: ★★★★☆
March 25, 2018
One thing I cannot deny from this book is when I wasn't reading it,
I wanted to. A wholly enjoyable story about the most mysterious of the
Watchmen. This story travels through all of Adrian Viedt’s life before
the events of Watchmen. My thoughts on this book are mostly split.
Besides Rorschach this is the most imperfect Before Watchmen story
that was actually entertaining. The art by Jae Lee is impressive, but did
not fit the Watchmen universe in my opinion, being the strangest of the
series. I can still say you can read this story and like it, because you do
end up caring about some characters. For example: Marla, Adrain Viedt’s
assistant. That being said this was a very indecisive and disappointing
comic at times. To start I will say, the character of Adrain Viedt has changed
in my eyes. In the original Watchmen the character is stern, determined while
also being warm and fatherly. Throughout this book Adrian doesn't seem to
have many believable emotions. He talks very Methodically and kind of like
Spawk, which doesn't give off a very relatable vibe. Honestly J. Micheal
Straczynski got the character more right in the Dr. Manhattan in a few pages
visually and through dialogue making him more likeable and faithful to the
source material. The reason he becomes Ozymandias is nothing like I thought would be and does not fit the character. The motivations of Adrain Viedt are also
very unclear and can go many different ways. One: He wanted to become as great as Alexander the Great(even though it should have been Ozymandias because there is no mention of Ozymadias and so the name is rather random) and conquer the world
essentially. Two: His whole entire motivation apparently is of course, the
death of someone he cared about. Three: Saving the economy. Or four:
becoming some great american icon with more wealth than he could
possibly know what to do with. All of these motivations for being a hero
are told in that order and then forgotten about. Seriously. The scenes
where he is initiating hero work is okay at best and so is his meet up with
Eddie Blake, the Comedian. Although as time goes on in the book the Hero
aspect of the book is kind of left on the back burner. The amount of times
that Adrain Viedt is called the smartest man in the world is overdone and
never really shows how crazily intelligent he actually was. Show him solving
a insane equation or formula that was maybe thought to be impossible. I
don't know. The flashback sequences are done well and one of the only
good original ideas in this story. I did like the way the Comedian was also
one of the Presidents wing men to deal with the war and military. It made it kind
of a competition between the two characters. Len Wein decided that it would be
a good idea to make Jae Lee re an ENTIRE scene from the original Watchmen.
The first meeting of the crime busters. Redrawing the whole fucking scene was so
unnecessary considering all of the Before Watchmen books have also featured this scene except for Darwyn Cook’s Minutemen. Ultimately my biggest negative is that
this book explains a story that I didn't really want the back ground to. The whole
subplot about the creation of the fake alien and duplicating Dr. Manhattan’s
quantum powers was best left a mystery. I hated how his scientists were the real
brains behind the scientific process. In the end this wasn't a great comic. It was
very flawed and disappointing in some aspects. But ultimately I did have a good
time reading most of the story and read it with out stopping for large portions of
time. It’s kind of like Scott Snyder’s Batman Endgame. I liked it, but also really
disliked it. I can’t say you shouldn't read it under any circumstances. Letter Grade: (C+)
Man and I thought Comedian was bad. An utterly irrelevant comic just
wanting to match the cleverness of the Tales of the Black Freighter comic
from Watchmen Len Wein writes a painful to read, repetitive pirate story
that is so fucking boring and difficult to get through, I sighed with dread
every time I turned the page. This story centres around an unlucky
english man that commits a crime and gets lost from his crew and ship
after it is blown to smithereens. He goes from place to place getting
knocked out and mutilated only to escape and do the same act 55 more
times! I tried to enjoy this thing but I’m sorry I was so disconnected I
cannot recall the main plot points even shortly after reading it. The
poetically written thoughts of the main character are written well, but it’s
all about quantity over quality with this boring slogfest. There was so much
dialogue on each page that I could barely get through one with out
zoning out completely. The art is good. It’s artfully crafted and really
solid. Thats it. I didn’t give a shit about anything that happened in this
lazy-ass story and I praised the lord when it was over. Letter Grade: (F)
Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill:
A rather simple and short tale of the most heavily publicized Minutemen I didn’t mind reading story. Not one bit. It was nice to be reminded of one of my favourite stories I’ve ever read. The origin is fine and the character of dollar bill is likeable and relatable. It doesn’t capture the gritty and realistic feel that Minutemen and Watchmen has even though it was the whole point. To make a superhero story with Hyper realistic characters. This story wasn’t anything special but just a fun read, especially after reading Curse of the Crimson Corsair Bullshit. Letter Grade: (C)
Before Watchmen: Moloch:
I was always dying to know what happened between The Watchmen, Minutemen and the Great Evil Moloch the Mystic. Apparently not much. This may be the most average of the Before Watchmen series. I didn’t hate it. I will say that. Edgar Jacobi’s life growing up was the most entertaining part of the book. Although it skips past how he learned magic and where he learned how to be the leader of a big crime group. Sadly the rest of this comic is giving us more detail to the story that we already know. AGAIN. This book sky rockets past the days of the Great Crime boss and I didn’t much care for it. The art by Eduardo Risso is okay, bland and has a lack of detail sometimes. He drew Moloch oddly really trying to hit the point home that he looked abnormal but totally over doing it. Nothing in this book really showed the gritty battles of Moloch and the Watchmen/Minutemen. Why the Comedian came to Moloch’s home to spill his guts and cry is explained horribly and still doesn’t show why the Comedian called Moloch one of his arch enemies. In the end, this was a comic I was excited to read. But it told the wrong story. (C-)
Overall Letter Grade: (C)
I wanted to. A wholly enjoyable story about the most mysterious of the
Watchmen. This story travels through all of Adrian Viedt’s life before
the events of Watchmen. My thoughts on this book are mostly split.
Besides Rorschach this is the most imperfect Before Watchmen story
that was actually entertaining. The art by Jae Lee is impressive, but did
not fit the Watchmen universe in my opinion, being the strangest of the
series. I can still say you can read this story and like it, because you do
end up caring about some characters. For example: Marla, Adrain Viedt’s
assistant. That being said this was a very indecisive and disappointing
comic at times. To start I will say, the character of Adrain Viedt has changed
in my eyes. In the original Watchmen the character is stern, determined while
also being warm and fatherly. Throughout this book Adrian doesn't seem to
have many believable emotions. He talks very Methodically and kind of like
Spawk, which doesn't give off a very relatable vibe. Honestly J. Micheal
Straczynski got the character more right in the Dr. Manhattan in a few pages
visually and through dialogue making him more likeable and faithful to the
source material. The reason he becomes Ozymandias is nothing like I thought would be and does not fit the character. The motivations of Adrain Viedt are also
very unclear and can go many different ways. One: He wanted to become as great as Alexander the Great(even though it should have been Ozymandias because there is no mention of Ozymadias and so the name is rather random) and conquer the world
essentially. Two: His whole entire motivation apparently is of course, the
death of someone he cared about. Three: Saving the economy. Or four:
becoming some great american icon with more wealth than he could
possibly know what to do with. All of these motivations for being a hero
are told in that order and then forgotten about. Seriously. The scenes
where he is initiating hero work is okay at best and so is his meet up with
Eddie Blake, the Comedian. Although as time goes on in the book the Hero
aspect of the book is kind of left on the back burner. The amount of times
that Adrain Viedt is called the smartest man in the world is overdone and
never really shows how crazily intelligent he actually was. Show him solving
a insane equation or formula that was maybe thought to be impossible. I
don't know. The flashback sequences are done well and one of the only
good original ideas in this story. I did like the way the Comedian was also
one of the Presidents wing men to deal with the war and military. It made it kind
of a competition between the two characters. Len Wein decided that it would be
a good idea to make Jae Lee re an ENTIRE scene from the original Watchmen.
The first meeting of the crime busters. Redrawing the whole fucking scene was so
unnecessary considering all of the Before Watchmen books have also featured this scene except for Darwyn Cook’s Minutemen. Ultimately my biggest negative is that
this book explains a story that I didn't really want the back ground to. The whole
subplot about the creation of the fake alien and duplicating Dr. Manhattan’s
quantum powers was best left a mystery. I hated how his scientists were the real
brains behind the scientific process. In the end this wasn't a great comic. It was
very flawed and disappointing in some aspects. But ultimately I did have a good
time reading most of the story and read it with out stopping for large portions of
time. It’s kind of like Scott Snyder’s Batman Endgame. I liked it, but also really
disliked it. I can’t say you shouldn't read it under any circumstances. Letter Grade: (C+)
Man and I thought Comedian was bad. An utterly irrelevant comic just
wanting to match the cleverness of the Tales of the Black Freighter comic
from Watchmen Len Wein writes a painful to read, repetitive pirate story
that is so fucking boring and difficult to get through, I sighed with dread
every time I turned the page. This story centres around an unlucky
english man that commits a crime and gets lost from his crew and ship
after it is blown to smithereens. He goes from place to place getting
knocked out and mutilated only to escape and do the same act 55 more
times! I tried to enjoy this thing but I’m sorry I was so disconnected I
cannot recall the main plot points even shortly after reading it. The
poetically written thoughts of the main character are written well, but it’s
all about quantity over quality with this boring slogfest. There was so much
dialogue on each page that I could barely get through one with out
zoning out completely. The art is good. It’s artfully crafted and really
solid. Thats it. I didn’t give a shit about anything that happened in this
lazy-ass story and I praised the lord when it was over. Letter Grade: (F)
Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill:
A rather simple and short tale of the most heavily publicized Minutemen I didn’t mind reading story. Not one bit. It was nice to be reminded of one of my favourite stories I’ve ever read. The origin is fine and the character of dollar bill is likeable and relatable. It doesn’t capture the gritty and realistic feel that Minutemen and Watchmen has even though it was the whole point. To make a superhero story with Hyper realistic characters. This story wasn’t anything special but just a fun read, especially after reading Curse of the Crimson Corsair Bullshit. Letter Grade: (C)
Before Watchmen: Moloch:
I was always dying to know what happened between The Watchmen, Minutemen and the Great Evil Moloch the Mystic. Apparently not much. This may be the most average of the Before Watchmen series. I didn’t hate it. I will say that. Edgar Jacobi’s life growing up was the most entertaining part of the book. Although it skips past how he learned magic and where he learned how to be the leader of a big crime group. Sadly the rest of this comic is giving us more detail to the story that we already know. AGAIN. This book sky rockets past the days of the Great Crime boss and I didn’t much care for it. The art by Eduardo Risso is okay, bland and has a lack of detail sometimes. He drew Moloch oddly really trying to hit the point home that he looked abnormal but totally over doing it. Nothing in this book really showed the gritty battles of Moloch and the Watchmen/Minutemen. Why the Comedian came to Moloch’s home to spill his guts and cry is explained horribly and still doesn’t show why the Comedian called Moloch one of his arch enemies. In the end, this was a comic I was excited to read. But it told the wrong story. (C-)
Overall Letter Grade: (C)
July 6, 2017
Worthy of the source material. Blending seamlessly into the time before Watchmen, it tells the tale of Ozymandias, explaining everything from his background, his motives, to the pronunciation of his name.
Though nothing beats the original of course, I have to give the nod here in regards to clarity. Alan Moore throws us in to his world and has us figure it out ourselves. Author Len Wein tells us exactly what is going on, and solves the mystery of how the alternate universe came to be.
Also note that it also contains one of the most epic tales I've ever read - Crimson Corsair. The tale takes us to Hell and back, multiple times over. It's exhausting almost. Rounding it out with one more great tale at the end, this book is worth your time!
Though nothing beats the original of course, I have to give the nod here in regards to clarity. Alan Moore throws us in to his world and has us figure it out ourselves. Author Len Wein tells us exactly what is going on, and solves the mystery of how the alternate universe came to be.
Also note that it also contains one of the most epic tales I've ever read - Crimson Corsair. The tale takes us to Hell and back, multiple times over. It's exhausting almost. Rounding it out with one more great tale at the end, this book is worth your time!
April 12, 2021
I kept this collection for last (out of the 4 Before Watchmen books) because I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as the other three. This prediction ended up being correct for 40% of the book.
While the Dollar Bill one-off is pure filler (2 stars), and though I liked the Crimson Corsair story despite its being pointless and, yes, also filler (3 stars), the overall rating of this book is 4 stars (like the other three Before Watchmen books), thanks to the 6-part Ozymandias (5 stars) by Len Wein, a story that is not only well-written (the reader gets a real insight into the character's motivations in Watchmen), but also one that looks absolutely fantastic, courtesy of the amazing artist Jae Lee's pencils and page layouts, and colorist June Chung, whose work here is simply magnificent. If this seems like too much praise, you just have to get a glimpse at this book and will see the accolades are justified. I hadn't read any of Jae Lee's stuff in a long time and it made me realise how much I'd missed his incredible art. Well done.
While the Dollar Bill one-off is pure filler (2 stars), and though I liked the Crimson Corsair story despite its being pointless and, yes, also filler (3 stars), the overall rating of this book is 4 stars (like the other three Before Watchmen books), thanks to the 6-part Ozymandias (5 stars) by Len Wein, a story that is not only well-written (the reader gets a real insight into the character's motivations in Watchmen), but also one that looks absolutely fantastic, courtesy of the amazing artist Jae Lee's pencils and page layouts, and colorist June Chung, whose work here is simply magnificent. If this seems like too much praise, you just have to get a glimpse at this book and will see the accolades are justified. I hadn't read any of Jae Lee's stuff in a long time and it made me realise how much I'd missed his incredible art. Well done.
August 15, 2014
This was a strange collection of stories. Ozymandias is a very interesting character to me. On one level I understand what he is trying to achieve, and on the other hand I think he is psycho. I liked learning about his past and how bullies made him want to fight back, but went a bit further and became what he was. I think this is a case of being too smart and going over the top, which is not surprising as Alexander the Great is his inspiration.
Dollar Bill was a fun read! I love how he got the job cause he is handsome and then had to play a real “superhero”. This was a great one hit story and I’m very happy it was included!
Crimson Corsair was just not something I liked and I hardly finished the story. The art was overbearing to me – too much lines and detail that just overshadowed everything to me. I’m not a big pirate fan to start with.
Illustrations: 4 stars
Story: 3 stars
Overall: 3 stars
Dollar Bill was a fun read! I love how he got the job cause he is handsome and then had to play a real “superhero”. This was a great one hit story and I’m very happy it was included!
Crimson Corsair was just not something I liked and I hardly finished the story. The art was overbearing to me – too much lines and detail that just overshadowed everything to me. I’m not a big pirate fan to start with.
Illustrations: 4 stars
Story: 3 stars
Overall: 3 stars
November 3, 2019
Ozymandias’ın hikayesi daha doğrusu başlangıç hikayesi güzeldi. Tabi başlarında yaptığı İstanbul seyahatinde yapılan gereksiz göndermeler dışında :) Kızıl Korsan ise ne alaka şimdi burada dedirtti. En sonda yer alan Dolar Bill ise enteresan olmuş. Kaptan america göndermesi ve pelerinin yol açtığı trajedi güzel olmuş.
İthaki yayınlarına teşekkür ederiz bize bu çizgi romanları kazandırdığı için fakat! Şu yazım hataları ve çevirilere biraz dikkat etseler keşke. Bir diğer sorun ise, önce karton kapak yapıp, satışa göre sonradan ciltli yapmaları. Her iki versiyonda çıkarmak bu kadar zor mu? Zaten satışı kesin gibi bir şey popüler çizgi romanlar sonuçta neden ciltliler çok sonra geliyor?
500-600 sayfalık kitapları bile karton kapakla basıp, okurken dağılmasına göz yummak nasıl bir yayıncılıktır anlayamıyorum...
İthaki yayınlarına teşekkür ederiz bize bu çizgi romanları kazandırdığı için fakat! Şu yazım hataları ve çevirilere biraz dikkat etseler keşke. Bir diğer sorun ise, önce karton kapak yapıp, satışa göre sonradan ciltli yapmaları. Her iki versiyonda çıkarmak bu kadar zor mu? Zaten satışı kesin gibi bir şey popüler çizgi romanlar sonuçta neden ciltliler çok sonra geliyor?
500-600 sayfalık kitapları bile karton kapakla basıp, okurken dağılmasına göz yummak nasıl bir yayıncılıktır anlayamıyorum...
Want to read
April 1, 2015I started, and within a few pages, it was just way too much verbosity. Ozymados or whatever, super smart kid, parents die, yadda yadda yadda, nuclear war launch to make everything well.
I realized based on not liking the last collection of before Watchmen, I was leaving this unread for the whole 3 weeks I had it...maybe I'm burnt out or maybe I've just had a stack of shitty comics to read lately...?
I realized based on not liking the last collection of before Watchmen, I was leaving this unread for the whole 3 weeks I had it...maybe I'm burnt out or maybe I've just had a stack of shitty comics to read lately...?
January 23, 2021
Kitap Yorumu | Watchmen: Başlangıç Ozymandias & Kızıl Korsan
🐅 Öncelikle belirtmek isterim ki adı ‘başlangıç’ olsa da bu ciltleri Watchmen’den sonra okumanız gerekiyor. Bu ciltlerde Watchmen’de hikaye boyunca gördüğümüz karakterlerin ana hikayede olan olaylardan önceki hayatını okuyoruz. Her ne kadar önceki hayatları olsa da bazı noktalarda Watchmen’den spoilerlar içeriyor. Ama merak etmeyin yorumumda spoiler olmayacak.
🐅 Bu ciltte bulunan Ozymandias ana hikayemizde önemli bir rol üstleniyor ve zaten ana karakterlerimizden de biri. Başlangıç cildinde de onu tam anlamıyla doğumundan son gördüğümüz noktaya kadar neler yaşadığını genel bir şekilde okuyoruz. Karakteri anlamak için güzel bir hikaye olduğunu düşünüyorum. Kişilik özelliklerini ve geçmişini daha ayrıntılı öğrenmek için birebir gerçekten.
🛶 İkinci kısım olan Kızıl Korsan’da da ana hikayede karakterlerden birinin okuduğu çizgi roman olan ‘Kızıl Korsan’ın Laneti’ni daha geniş ve ayrıntılı bir şekilde okuyoruz. Bu kısım biraz iç gıcıklayıcı olsa da bu hikayeyi daha ayrıntılı okuyabilmek mutlu etti beni.
💰 Ek olarak Dakikadamlar’dan Dolar Bill’e ait kısa bir başlangıç hikayesi de barındırıyor bu cilt. Ana hikayede çok bahsedilemeyen bu karakteri daha iyi tanımak da beni mutlu etti.
🐅 Genel olarak bu cildin beklentimi karşıladığını söyleyebilirim ama beklentimi baya düşük tutmuştum onu söyleyeyim. Kesinlikle ana hikayenin verdiği tadı vermiyor bence zaten yazarlar da farklı. Başlangıç hikayesi başlığı altında başarılı olduklarını söyleyebilirim. Watchmen karakterleri dc evreninde başka hikayelerde pek gözükmüyorlar diye biliyorum ama eğer dc evrenine buradan bir giriş yapmak istiyorsanız bu cildi de okumanızı tavsiye ederim, onun dışında çok da gerekli değil gibi geliyor.
Hepinize keyifli okumalar dilerim🧚🏼♀️
🐅 Öncelikle belirtmek isterim ki adı ‘başlangıç’ olsa da bu ciltleri Watchmen’den sonra okumanız gerekiyor. Bu ciltlerde Watchmen’de hikaye boyunca gördüğümüz karakterlerin ana hikayede olan olaylardan önceki hayatını okuyoruz. Her ne kadar önceki hayatları olsa da bazı noktalarda Watchmen’den spoilerlar içeriyor. Ama merak etmeyin yorumumda spoiler olmayacak.
🐅 Bu ciltte bulunan Ozymandias ana hikayemizde önemli bir rol üstleniyor ve zaten ana karakterlerimizden de biri. Başlangıç cildinde de onu tam anlamıyla doğumundan son gördüğümüz noktaya kadar neler yaşadığını genel bir şekilde okuyoruz. Karakteri anlamak için güzel bir hikaye olduğunu düşünüyorum. Kişilik özelliklerini ve geçmişini daha ayrıntılı öğrenmek için birebir gerçekten.
🛶 İkinci kısım olan Kızıl Korsan’da da ana hikayede karakterlerden birinin okuduğu çizgi roman olan ‘Kızıl Korsan’ın Laneti’ni daha geniş ve ayrıntılı bir şekilde okuyoruz. Bu kısım biraz iç gıcıklayıcı olsa da bu hikayeyi daha ayrıntılı okuyabilmek mutlu etti beni.
💰 Ek olarak Dakikadamlar’dan Dolar Bill’e ait kısa bir başlangıç hikayesi de barındırıyor bu cilt. Ana hikayede çok bahsedilemeyen bu karakteri daha iyi tanımak da beni mutlu etti.
🐅 Genel olarak bu cildin beklentimi karşıladığını söyleyebilirim ama beklentimi baya düşük tutmuştum onu söyleyeyim. Kesinlikle ana hikayenin verdiği tadı vermiyor bence zaten yazarlar da farklı. Başlangıç hikayesi başlığı altında başarılı olduklarını söyleyebilirim. Watchmen karakterleri dc evreninde başka hikayelerde pek gözükmüyorlar diye biliyorum ama eğer dc evrenine buradan bir giriş yapmak istiyorsanız bu cildi de okumanızı tavsiye ederim, onun dışında çok da gerekli değil gibi geliyor.
Hepinize keyifli okumalar dilerim🧚🏼♀️
September 30, 2023
Just like the previous three volumes of the "Before Watchmen" series, this final volume was forgettable.
"Ozymandias" tells the story of Adrian Veidt, the world's smartest man. It covers the events of his early years, education, death of his parents, accumulation of his vast wealth and decision to become a masked vigilante by night and billionaire playboy by day. Eventually he realizes that only he can stop the world from ending in a nuclear holocaust. This is the best part of the story as Ozymandias puts together his master plan that will play out in "Watchmen." This is easily the best of the three stories in this volume.
"Crimson Corsair," doesn't even warrant any comment, it's easily the worst story in the entire "Before Watchmen" series. I'm not even sure why the decision was made to do this story in the first place. Anyone who's read "Watchmen" knows that "Tales of the Black Freighter" is a comic within the story and does not actually impact the plot of "Watchmen" in any way. So what was the point of this?
Finally, we get a short story on Dollar Bill. Who? Yeah, the character from the Minutemen that no one cared about. Again, completely unnecessary.
I'm being generous with a 3-star rating here. If I wasn't a completionist, I would have given up on this series 2 volumes ago.
"Ozymandias" tells the story of Adrian Veidt, the world's smartest man. It covers the events of his early years, education, death of his parents, accumulation of his vast wealth and decision to become a masked vigilante by night and billionaire playboy by day. Eventually he realizes that only he can stop the world from ending in a nuclear holocaust. This is the best part of the story as Ozymandias puts together his master plan that will play out in "Watchmen." This is easily the best of the three stories in this volume.
"Crimson Corsair," doesn't even warrant any comment, it's easily the worst story in the entire "Before Watchmen" series. I'm not even sure why the decision was made to do this story in the first place. Anyone who's read "Watchmen" knows that "Tales of the Black Freighter" is a comic within the story and does not actually impact the plot of "Watchmen" in any way. So what was the point of this?
Finally, we get a short story on Dollar Bill. Who? Yeah, the character from the Minutemen that no one cared about. Again, completely unnecessary.
I'm being generous with a 3-star rating here. If I wasn't a completionist, I would have given up on this series 2 volumes ago.
November 7, 2018
This was difficult because the Ozymandias section was arguably some of the beautifully constructed comics I have ever seen. Len Wein demonstrates, as always, a concern for playing with the form so that even when two pages share the same structure, there is enough artistry to keep the reader from falling into complacency. And as for the writing, Wein manages to capture the arrogance and sublime intellectual majesty of Ozymandias showing a real growth of the character as he muses about his own grandiose feeling destiny.
The problem was the book wasn't just Ozymandias and so the remainder of this book was rather paltry as the Crimson Corsair became a kind of morbid xenophobic, and arguably racist exercise, and the Dollar Bill chapter was forgettable and not worth the reader's time.
This edition of the Before Watchmen universe is a fantastic demonstration of the weakness of the graphic novel format in terms of super hero comics, for while there are parts of the books that are truly incredible, the need to package the book and fill it with extra take away from what is in fact an amazing read and a beautiful testament to the Watchmen aesthetic.
Ozy: 5 stars
Crimson Corsair: 3 stars
Dollar Bill: 1 star
The problem was the book wasn't just Ozymandias and so the remainder of this book was rather paltry as the Crimson Corsair became a kind of morbid xenophobic, and arguably racist exercise, and the Dollar Bill chapter was forgettable and not worth the reader's time.
This edition of the Before Watchmen universe is a fantastic demonstration of the weakness of the graphic novel format in terms of super hero comics, for while there are parts of the books that are truly incredible, the need to package the book and fill it with extra take away from what is in fact an amazing read and a beautiful testament to the Watchmen aesthetic.
Ozy: 5 stars
Crimson Corsair: 3 stars
Dollar Bill: 1 star
January 12, 2020
I was not the biggest fan of this. Dollar Bill at the end was probably the only piece that I really liked.
Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias' story was more of a "During Watchmen" rather than a "Before Watchmen". His years growing up and becoming Ozymandias was very short. Most of the attention was given to his lone crime-fighting ventures (that served minimal purpose) and his cognizance towards the rest of the Watchmen. I enjoyed the foreshadowing in the artwork and that Veidt was chosen as the narrator. Finally, the panel style drove me crazy.
I did not really care much for the Tales of the Black Freighter in Watchmen, and I did not care much for the Crimson Corsair. Personal preference as pirates and at-sea tales don't interest me. The Crimson Corsair is very Poe-esque which I do like, however.
Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias' story was more of a "During Watchmen" rather than a "Before Watchmen". His years growing up and becoming Ozymandias was very short. Most of the attention was given to his lone crime-fighting ventures (that served minimal purpose) and his cognizance towards the rest of the Watchmen. I enjoyed the foreshadowing in the artwork and that Veidt was chosen as the narrator. Finally, the panel style drove me crazy.
I did not really care much for the Tales of the Black Freighter in Watchmen, and I did not care much for the Crimson Corsair. Personal preference as pirates and at-sea tales don't interest me. The Crimson Corsair is very Poe-esque which I do like, however.
May 29, 2019
Le origini di Ozymandias che rivive l’infanzia e il periodo tormentato dell’adolescenza, fino a diventare il giustiziere conosciuto in Watchmen: storia sempre piuttosto distaccata che fatica a raggiungere particolari livelli di liricità... Ha però il merito di fornire ulteriori elementi che arricchiscono l’universo narrativo creato da Alan Moore.
Nota di merito per i disegni, cupi e ombrosi, sempre di grande impatto visivo, e per le impaginazioni delle tavole che impreziosiscono non poco la storia.
In appendice una nuova puntata del serial di pirati imperniato sul Corsaro Cremisi, tanto caro ai fan di Watchmen.
Nota di merito per i disegni, cupi e ombrosi, sempre di grande impatto visivo, e per le impaginazioni delle tavole che impreziosiscono non poco la storia.
In appendice una nuova puntata del serial di pirati imperniato sul Corsaro Cremisi, tanto caro ai fan di Watchmen.
July 16, 2014
One of the persistent failings of the Before Watchmen series is the lack of unity among them, in the sense of no apparent guiding principle or conceit (other than the contemporary conceit of DC to grab quick bucks at the expense of integrity and one of their most valuable "possessions" that shouldn't be their property anyway). I am referring to the absence of a guiding principle along the lines of purpose or identity, as in "the purpose of the Before Watchmen series is ..." is what? to fill in the blanks of what is alluded to in the original series that might be interesting to see fleshed out, such as the Watchmen version of the Giant Rat of Sumatra? or simply the freedom of currenty writers to fabricate little short stories and vignettes in the mist-enshrouded earlier lives of these characters, such as Brian Daley's Han Solo trilogy? No apparent guiding principles exists in the 6 stories I've read so far: Minutemen, Silk Spectre, Comedian, Rorschach, Ozymandias, and Dollar Bill.
As I've noted elsewhere, the Silk Spectre and Rorschach stories tell us nothing new: we already knew these things about these characters, having actually PAID ATTENTION to what Moore and Gibbons already presented to us. Similarly, Dollar Bill's story gives us nothing we haven't already deduced. While there was some nice overlap with the Minutemen audition scene, the strained humor (Howe Dewey Cheatem? By coming up with cheap money-makers like Before Watchmen and delivering sub-par products, that's how) and bizarre ethereal postmortem narration by Bill himself leaves us with another "so what?" response. The Comedian and Minutemen stories at least try to go somewhere and tell us things, but they are waylaid by unnecessary language and contradictions (despite what some money-makers tell you, prequels should not contradict the stories that came first).
Now Ozymandias. Len Wein, at least, is a fairly trustworthy guy to go to for this project, if this projected even needed to occur. With Ozymandias, he does the best (of what I've read so far of the stories) at filling in gaps, making connections to the original story without the obnoxious "knowing winks" everyone else is doing, and giving us new insights into the character that don't contradict (at least not as overtly) the original material. Unlike most of the other stories, the narrator is Veidt himself, which works well considering the character (it really doesn't work for Dollar Bill, for obvious reasons). The problem is Adrian Veidt is such an uninteresting character: he shouldn't be, given his talents and brains and money, but, as with Superman, writing about someone who is always in control (just about) and can't lose (basically) is challenging and uninteresting. It's not that the potential to lose always makes a story (or game or whatever) worthwhile, but the whole conceit of Veidt's character is he is the man in control, despite Dr. Manhattan's superiority. As the man to save the world, in a supervillainy way, Veidt should be more interesting, since he's the villain-who-thinks-he's-the-hero, but, well, he's not. He should be: he patterns himself after Alexander and actually succeeds at uniting the world under his banner (in possibly the worst way imaginable - so bad it destroys the Comedian, after all he's seen, said, and done), but he's just too successful and callous to be thoroughly interesting. Wein does a fine job trying to make Veidt's backstory interesting, and it certainly was the best of the lot (so far), since it actually tries to do something meaningful and purposed (telling us who Veidt is, adding to what we don't already know - certainly the highlight is the origin of "Nostalgia"), but many readers will probably be disappointed because there isn't much swearing or nudity.
One niggle: Why does he do away with Marla? She had been with him so long and not divulged any of his secrets - there is no need for her to die. She could have been his Roxane, especially with his supposed "heartbreak" over Miranda and the origin of Nostalgia. I was also a bit irritated by all the "this moment changed my life forever" scenes, which occurred too often.
Still. Kudos Mr. Wein. Had the others been more like this, the Before Watchmen series would have been a much better success (or at least more worthwhile).
Dollar Bill: as I said, meh. We knew this already, essentially. And the cheesy happy ending feels wholly out of place in the Watchmen universe, even with the optimistic conclusion of the original series.
Crimson Corsair: why does this even exist? The Tales of the Black Freighter works so well in Watchmen because it actually relates to the story and other characters. This is just pandering to sub-visceral baseness in humanity and the diabolical, and it doesn't do anyone any good. McClachlan doesn't even deserve that fate: he didn't do anything wrong on his pseduo-quest. He tries to save N'Tunga, he tries to save the baby (and NOT just for the ring), he doesn't commit murder or steal anything - it's not his fault they used the water on him. He doesn't do anything wrong and yet he is punished like he's the stealer of souls or whatever. Tish and pish.
As I've noted elsewhere, the Silk Spectre and Rorschach stories tell us nothing new: we already knew these things about these characters, having actually PAID ATTENTION to what Moore and Gibbons already presented to us. Similarly, Dollar Bill's story gives us nothing we haven't already deduced. While there was some nice overlap with the Minutemen audition scene, the strained humor (Howe Dewey Cheatem? By coming up with cheap money-makers like Before Watchmen and delivering sub-par products, that's how) and bizarre ethereal postmortem narration by Bill himself leaves us with another "so what?" response. The Comedian and Minutemen stories at least try to go somewhere and tell us things, but they are waylaid by unnecessary language and contradictions (despite what some money-makers tell you, prequels should not contradict the stories that came first).
Now Ozymandias. Len Wein, at least, is a fairly trustworthy guy to go to for this project, if this projected even needed to occur. With Ozymandias, he does the best (of what I've read so far of the stories) at filling in gaps, making connections to the original story without the obnoxious "knowing winks" everyone else is doing, and giving us new insights into the character that don't contradict (at least not as overtly) the original material. Unlike most of the other stories, the narrator is Veidt himself, which works well considering the character (it really doesn't work for Dollar Bill, for obvious reasons). The problem is Adrian Veidt is such an uninteresting character: he shouldn't be, given his talents and brains and money, but, as with Superman, writing about someone who is always in control (just about) and can't lose (basically) is challenging and uninteresting. It's not that the potential to lose always makes a story (or game or whatever) worthwhile, but the whole conceit of Veidt's character is he is the man in control, despite Dr. Manhattan's superiority. As the man to save the world, in a supervillainy way, Veidt should be more interesting, since he's the villain-who-thinks-he's-the-hero, but, well, he's not. He should be: he patterns himself after Alexander and actually succeeds at uniting the world under his banner (in possibly the worst way imaginable - so bad it destroys the Comedian, after all he's seen, said, and done), but he's just too successful and callous to be thoroughly interesting. Wein does a fine job trying to make Veidt's backstory interesting, and it certainly was the best of the lot (so far), since it actually tries to do something meaningful and purposed (telling us who Veidt is, adding to what we don't already know - certainly the highlight is the origin of "Nostalgia"), but many readers will probably be disappointed because there isn't much swearing or nudity.
One niggle: Why does he do away with Marla? She had been with him so long and not divulged any of his secrets - there is no need for her to die. She could have been his Roxane, especially with his supposed "heartbreak" over Miranda and the origin of Nostalgia. I was also a bit irritated by all the "this moment changed my life forever" scenes, which occurred too often.
Still. Kudos Mr. Wein. Had the others been more like this, the Before Watchmen series would have been a much better success (or at least more worthwhile).
Dollar Bill: as I said, meh. We knew this already, essentially. And the cheesy happy ending feels wholly out of place in the Watchmen universe, even with the optimistic conclusion of the original series.
Crimson Corsair: why does this even exist? The Tales of the Black Freighter works so well in Watchmen because it actually relates to the story and other characters. This is just pandering to sub-visceral baseness in humanity and the diabolical, and it doesn't do anyone any good. McClachlan doesn't even deserve that fate: he didn't do anything wrong on his pseduo-quest. He tries to save N'Tunga, he tries to save the baby (and NOT just for the ring), he doesn't commit murder or steal anything - it's not his fault they used the water on him. He doesn't do anything wrong and yet he is punished like he's the stealer of souls or whatever. Tish and pish.
July 24, 2020
Ozymandias hikâyesi güzeldi de gerisi ortalamayı aşamamış. Ama tüm kitabın çizimleri çok iyi. Goodreads derecelendirme sistemi için 5 yıldız çok sığ kalıyor, imdb gibi 10 puan üzerinden derecelendirmek daha adil olacak bu tarz arada kalmış kitaplar için.
August 3, 2013
This Review is Part of a Comics Roundup: http://thefoundingfields.com/2013/08/....
Story: Lein Win, John Higgins | Art: Jae Lee, John Higgins, Steve Rude | Cover: Jae Lee, John Higgins | Collects: Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #1-6, Curse of the Crimson Corsair backup issues, Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill #1
Writer Len Wein and artist Jae Lee delve into the mind of the smartest man in the world: Ozymandias. How does one grow up to become the world’s smartest man? Adrian Veidt begins his journey, both spiritual and physical, that will one day make him one of the most pivotal players in the world changing events of WATCHMEN.
Before Watchmen Ozymandias Crimson CorsairIt seems that Before Watchmen is a tale of two halves, really. For every Nite Owl/Dr. Manhattan you get a Comedian/Rorschach, and for every Minutemen/Silk Spectre, you get an Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair. What I’m trying to say is that if there’s one thing that Before Watchmen needed to be, it was consistent – and that’s sadly not the case with this Deluxe Edition Graphic Novel, and the final one that I’m reviewing.
I myself here really didn’t find this collection that appealing. Whilst I’ve seen some rave reviews for Jae Lee’s art, I really don’t get why people think he’s that good – it doesn’t really engage me and hold my interest that much. If it weren’t for Lee, put it this way – I would have picked up Greg Pak’s Batman/Superman #1 for certain – especially as the two superheroes are among my favourite DC characters. However, I’m just glad that he’s not joining Pak with Action Comics #25 – because that would be a downer for someone like myself. This of course, harmed my overall enjoyment of Wein’s Ozymandias graphic novel, which didn’t really feel as epic as it should have been, and the Curse of the Crimson Corsair mini-series never really added any understanding to the Watchmen universe either.
The most frustrating thing is that Wein’s Ozymandias has moments when it really feels like it should be a title that’s going somewhere – even if it might just be because these threads are carried over from other books, most notably the disappointing Comedian mini-series. The book itself, for instance – explores the deaths of Marilyn Monroe and JFK, however – like when Veidt investigates the death of the Hooded Justice before being stopped by Comedian – doesn’t really delve into these problems as well as it perhaps should have done, with nothing really added to what we already know about Ozymandias himself.
However, despite what I’ve mentioned, Ozymandias does have some merits – as the writer certainly does understand the character’s place in the overall scheme of Watchmen, as a master manipulator – the man who was tugging all the strings in the main graphic novel. It also deals with the events that lead to the Comedian’s death at the beginning of Watchmen – fleshing out how the character stumbled across Ozymandias’ conspiracy in an interesting way that means that whilst this book was largely a letdown, it still did have some strong moments.
However, the same cannot be said for The Curse of the Crimson Corsair. I never really enjoyed this part of the series – and wasn’t really sure what its connection was to the overall Watchmen. It’s like the writers needed something to add as backups, and thought it would be best to introduce a new character altogether, which really didn’t work in my point of view.
Unlike some other issues in Before Watchmen event, The Curse of the Crimson Corsair doesn’t spend all its time moving forward. Two issues of the series are spent without advancing the plot at all, and at times it almost comes close to a third. The book itself also suffers from several confusing elements – the storyline is quite hard to follow (especially if you’ve read it as it was originally published), and overall, this mini-series is another disappointment from my point of view, and wasn’t really needed.
On the other hand, whilst I enjoyed Dollar Bill slightly more than The Curse of the Crimson Corsair, it wasn’t by much – and this felt like another waste of time that added far too little to the Watchmen Universe in this one shot – despite Steve Rude’s injection of some of the more bizarre elements of Golden-Age comics. This issue however, was nonetheless fairly solid – and arguably the best thing to come out of this collection, which was a shame, as a graphic novel set around one of the most important characters in the Watchmen Universe had the potential to be a whole lot more powerful and exciting.
VERDICT: 2.5/5
Story: Lein Win, John Higgins | Art: Jae Lee, John Higgins, Steve Rude | Cover: Jae Lee, John Higgins | Collects: Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #1-6, Curse of the Crimson Corsair backup issues, Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill #1
Writer Len Wein and artist Jae Lee delve into the mind of the smartest man in the world: Ozymandias. How does one grow up to become the world’s smartest man? Adrian Veidt begins his journey, both spiritual and physical, that will one day make him one of the most pivotal players in the world changing events of WATCHMEN.
Before Watchmen Ozymandias Crimson CorsairIt seems that Before Watchmen is a tale of two halves, really. For every Nite Owl/Dr. Manhattan you get a Comedian/Rorschach, and for every Minutemen/Silk Spectre, you get an Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair. What I’m trying to say is that if there’s one thing that Before Watchmen needed to be, it was consistent – and that’s sadly not the case with this Deluxe Edition Graphic Novel, and the final one that I’m reviewing.
I myself here really didn’t find this collection that appealing. Whilst I’ve seen some rave reviews for Jae Lee’s art, I really don’t get why people think he’s that good – it doesn’t really engage me and hold my interest that much. If it weren’t for Lee, put it this way – I would have picked up Greg Pak’s Batman/Superman #1 for certain – especially as the two superheroes are among my favourite DC characters. However, I’m just glad that he’s not joining Pak with Action Comics #25 – because that would be a downer for someone like myself. This of course, harmed my overall enjoyment of Wein’s Ozymandias graphic novel, which didn’t really feel as epic as it should have been, and the Curse of the Crimson Corsair mini-series never really added any understanding to the Watchmen universe either.
The most frustrating thing is that Wein’s Ozymandias has moments when it really feels like it should be a title that’s going somewhere – even if it might just be because these threads are carried over from other books, most notably the disappointing Comedian mini-series. The book itself, for instance – explores the deaths of Marilyn Monroe and JFK, however – like when Veidt investigates the death of the Hooded Justice before being stopped by Comedian – doesn’t really delve into these problems as well as it perhaps should have done, with nothing really added to what we already know about Ozymandias himself.
However, despite what I’ve mentioned, Ozymandias does have some merits – as the writer certainly does understand the character’s place in the overall scheme of Watchmen, as a master manipulator – the man who was tugging all the strings in the main graphic novel. It also deals with the events that lead to the Comedian’s death at the beginning of Watchmen – fleshing out how the character stumbled across Ozymandias’ conspiracy in an interesting way that means that whilst this book was largely a letdown, it still did have some strong moments.
However, the same cannot be said for The Curse of the Crimson Corsair. I never really enjoyed this part of the series – and wasn’t really sure what its connection was to the overall Watchmen. It’s like the writers needed something to add as backups, and thought it would be best to introduce a new character altogether, which really didn’t work in my point of view.
Unlike some other issues in Before Watchmen event, The Curse of the Crimson Corsair doesn’t spend all its time moving forward. Two issues of the series are spent without advancing the plot at all, and at times it almost comes close to a third. The book itself also suffers from several confusing elements – the storyline is quite hard to follow (especially if you’ve read it as it was originally published), and overall, this mini-series is another disappointment from my point of view, and wasn’t really needed.
On the other hand, whilst I enjoyed Dollar Bill slightly more than The Curse of the Crimson Corsair, it wasn’t by much – and this felt like another waste of time that added far too little to the Watchmen Universe in this one shot – despite Steve Rude’s injection of some of the more bizarre elements of Golden-Age comics. This issue however, was nonetheless fairly solid – and arguably the best thing to come out of this collection, which was a shame, as a graphic novel set around one of the most important characters in the Watchmen Universe had the potential to be a whole lot more powerful and exciting.
VERDICT: 2.5/5
August 4, 2015
So I finished the four-volume set of Before Watchmen in four days and yay for me, but I remain underwhelmed and I understand why Alan Moore doesn't have anything good to say about the revamp/prequel to his brilliantly cynical post-modern revamp of the superhero comic. Watchmen itself is five stars and pure gold. Moore and Gibbons' graphic novel made the world rethink how we view superheroes and read comic books. This reboot nearly 30 years after the original is mostly meh with a whole lotta knob polishing of Moore's original material. Most of the Before Watchmen material really only rates two-stars, but DC has managed to package the various volumes with a combination of stronger and weaker material.
Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair, for example, pairs beautiful art by Jae Lee with a rather pedestrian story by Len Wein, of all people (christ, how old is that guy?), that really doesn't hold up but ends with a great image of Adrian Veidt kicking in the Comedian's door followed by a final full-page panel of the crumbling statue of Rameses the Great described in Percy Shelley's poem "Ozymandias." Then there's more evil pirates, more great artwork accompanying weak writing, and the volume concludes with a one-off for sorry old Dollar Bill, in some ways the most pathetic of all the figures in the Minutemen/Crimebusters pantheon.
Poor Dollar Bill...he had a costume; he had corporate backing...all he needed was a theme song. How about George Clinton/Funkadelic's "Funky Dollar Bill"? That song's lyrics speak to the character of Dollar Bill and his doomed quest for fame and fortune that ends with him dead in a revolving door at his bank:
In the name of wealth
It'll buy you life
But not true life
The kind of life
Where the soul is lost
My name is dollar bill
And those lyrics also speak volumes about the soulless Before Watchmen venture. It all has a sort of life, derived from its original source material, and much of it is beautifully illustrated taking s full advantage of the advances in comic art over the last three decades, but with the exception of the Minutemen story which does the best job of trying to walk on its own two feet, Before Watchmen lacks the soul of Moore's original.
Just in case you're curious, here are the links to the other three volumes of Before Watchmen in the order I read them:
Nite Owl/Dr. Manhattan
The Comedian/Rorschach
The Mintuemen/Silk Spectre
Read the first one, maybe. The other two aren't that great, so don't get your hopes up...
Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair, for example, pairs beautiful art by Jae Lee with a rather pedestrian story by Len Wein, of all people (christ, how old is that guy?), that really doesn't hold up but ends with a great image of Adrian Veidt kicking in the Comedian's door followed by a final full-page panel of the crumbling statue of Rameses the Great described in Percy Shelley's poem "Ozymandias." Then there's more evil pirates, more great artwork accompanying weak writing, and the volume concludes with a one-off for sorry old Dollar Bill, in some ways the most pathetic of all the figures in the Minutemen/Crimebusters pantheon.
Poor Dollar Bill...he had a costume; he had corporate backing...all he needed was a theme song. How about George Clinton/Funkadelic's "Funky Dollar Bill"? That song's lyrics speak to the character of Dollar Bill and his doomed quest for fame and fortune that ends with him dead in a revolving door at his bank:
In the name of wealth
It'll buy you life
But not true life
The kind of life
Where the soul is lost
My name is dollar bill
And those lyrics also speak volumes about the soulless Before Watchmen venture. It all has a sort of life, derived from its original source material, and much of it is beautifully illustrated taking s full advantage of the advances in comic art over the last three decades, but with the exception of the Minutemen story which does the best job of trying to walk on its own two feet, Before Watchmen lacks the soul of Moore's original.
Just in case you're curious, here are the links to the other three volumes of Before Watchmen in the order I read them:
Nite Owl/Dr. Manhattan
The Comedian/Rorschach
The Mintuemen/Silk Spectre
Read the first one, maybe. The other two aren't that great, so don't get your hopes up...
July 27, 2013
I wasn't sure what to rate this. I enjoyed it much more than the Comedian/Rorschach volume I read, but it still wasn't quite as good as the original Watchmen.
Ozymandias is my favorite Watchmen character. (Strange, since I hate Comedian and Rorshach... Maybe because they're too brutal?) In some ways, this comic was a great look into his mindset, but it gets quite wearying to be in the head of an emotionless "better than the thou" sociopath for this long a period. Not to mention, I did NOT like the "reason" he became a superhero. I think what the character says himself later--that because he was so brilliant and skilled, it was a matter of him having the talents to be a superhero and it would be a waste for him not to be, not that he actually loved doing it, would have been a better reason for him to start.
The pirate comic was... interesting. It started off really intriguing and then just got so mystical and confusing, I don't think I totally understand the twists or anything by the end.
I actually totally liked Dollar Bill, especially the old-fashioned art style.
Ozymandias is my favorite Watchmen character. (Strange, since I hate Comedian and Rorshach... Maybe because they're too brutal?) In some ways, this comic was a great look into his mindset, but it gets quite wearying to be in the head of an emotionless "better than the thou" sociopath for this long a period. Not to mention, I did NOT like the "reason" he became a superhero. I think what the character says himself later--that because he was so brilliant and skilled, it was a matter of him having the talents to be a superhero and it would be a waste for him not to be, not that he actually loved doing it, would have been a better reason for him to start.
The pirate comic was... interesting. It started off really intriguing and then just got so mystical and confusing, I don't think I totally understand the twists or anything by the end.
I actually totally liked Dollar Bill, especially the old-fashioned art style.
August 11, 2013
For fans of "Watchmen," this and the other four volumes that collect a run of comic mini-series are a must. This volume includes both tales of the Crimson Corsair and Ozymandias as well as a short piece for Dollar Bill. As a result, readers get a good look at what made the various characters in the original work who they are.
I must admit that I haven't really liked Ozymandias at all. It was nice getting to see where he came from and why he is so cold and distant. In some ways, he comes across as a bit of a Vulcan, and I got a really good sense as to why he made the decisions he made as he did the things in the original work. The story was also pretty well told.
The Crimson Corsair tale was a bit predictable, but it, too, added a lot to the story that ran in the background of the original work. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Dollar Bill's tale was fun and tragic, though probably the closest to any regular superhero tale I am used to. I actually wish we had gotten to see him as an active character in the original because I liked him. With that said, he would have really been out of place in a world full of so much darkness and violence.
Like the original, the writers and illustrators don't hold back as they tell the story. Sex and violence are quite present, though not out of place for the story. I really enjoyed this a lot and am looking forward to reading the other 4 volumes.
I must admit that I haven't really liked Ozymandias at all. It was nice getting to see where he came from and why he is so cold and distant. In some ways, he comes across as a bit of a Vulcan, and I got a really good sense as to why he made the decisions he made as he did the things in the original work. The story was also pretty well told.
The Crimson Corsair tale was a bit predictable, but it, too, added a lot to the story that ran in the background of the original work. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Dollar Bill's tale was fun and tragic, though probably the closest to any regular superhero tale I am used to. I actually wish we had gotten to see him as an active character in the original because I liked him. With that said, he would have really been out of place in a world full of so much darkness and violence.
Like the original, the writers and illustrators don't hold back as they tell the story. Sex and violence are quite present, though not out of place for the story. I really enjoyed this a lot and am looking forward to reading the other 4 volumes.
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