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Before Watchmen: German Editions
Before Watchmen, Bd. 6: Silk Spectre
Superstar Darwyn Cooke (BEFORE MINUTEMEN, Parker) und Fan-Liebling Amanda Conner (VAMPIRELLA, THE PRO) erzählen die Geschichte von Laurie Juspeczyk alias Silk Spectre. Welche Hindernisse und Tragödien musste die wichtigste weibliche Figur aus "WATCHMEN" überwinden, um im Schatten ihrer Superheldenmutter ihre Bestimmung als Heroine zu finden? Prequel zum Comic-Klassiker "WATCHMEN"! Wie Laurie zu Silk Spectre II wurde!
112 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2013
About the author
Darwyn Cooke
271 books374 followersDarwyn Cooke was an Eisner Award winning comic book writer, artist, cartoonist and animator, best known for his work on the comic books Catwoman, DC: The New Frontier and Will Eisner's The Spirit.
In 1985, Cooke published his first comic book work as a professional artist in a short story in New Talent Showcase #19, but economic pressure made him leave the career and he worked in Canada as a magazine art director, graphic and product designer for the next 15 years.
In the early 1990s Cooke decided to return to comics, but found little interest for his work at the major publishers. Eventually he was hired by Warner Bros. Animation after replying to an ad placed by animator Bruce Timm.
He went on to work as a storyboard artist for Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, and in 1999 he animated the main title design for Batman Beyond. He then worked as a director for Sony Animation's Men in Black: The Series for a year.
DC Comics then approached Cooke about a project which he had submitted to the publisher years earlier which eventually became Batman: Ego, a graphic novel published in 2000.
The critical success of that project led to Cooke taking on more freelance work, such as X-Force, Wolverine/Doop and Spider-Man's Tangled Web for Marvel Comics and Just Imagine... Stan Lee for DC.
In 2001, Cooke and writer Ed Brubaker teamed up to revamp the Catwoman character. They started with a 4 issue serial "Trail of the Catwoman" in Detective Comics #759-762 in which private detective Slam Bradley attempts to investigate the death of Selina Kyle (AKA Catwoman).
The story led into a new Catwoman title in late 2001 by Brubaker and Cooke, in which the character's costume, supporting cast and modus operandi were all redesigned and redeveloped. Cooke would stay on the series, which was met with critical and fan acclaim, up until issue #4. In 2002 he would write and draw a prequel, the Selina's Big Score graphic novel which detailed what had happened to the character directly before her new series.
Cover to DC: The New Frontier #6.
Cover to DC: The New Frontier #6.
Cooke's next project was the ambitious DC: The New Frontier (2004), a six issue miniseries which sought to tell an epic storyline bridging the gap between the end of the golden and the start of the silver age of comic books in the DC Universe. The story, which was set in the 1950s, featured dozens of super-hero characters and drew inspiration from the comic books and movies of the period as well as from Tom Wolfe's non-fiction account of the start of the US Space Program The Right Stuff. The major DC characters are introduced in "The New Frontier" in the same order that DC originally published them, even down to the correct month and year in the story's timeline. In 2005, Cooke won an Eisner Award for "Best Limited Series", and a Joe Shuster Award for "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist" for his work on the series.
Most recently, Cooke contributed to DC's artist-centric anthology project Solo. His issue (#5, June, 2005) featured several different stories in different styles with a framing sequence featuring the Slam Bradley character. In 2006, Solo #5 won an Eisner Award for "Best Single Issue."
In July 2005, it was announced that in 2006 Cooke and writer Jeph Loeb would produce a Batman/Spirit crossover, to be followed shortly afterwards by an ongoing Spirit series written and drawn by Cooke. Batman/The Spirit was ultimately published in November 2006, followed in December by the first issue of Cooke's The Spirit. In June 2007, Cooke and J. Bone won a Joe Shuster Award for "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artists" for their work on "Batman/The Spirit", and Cooke won "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist" for his work on "The Spirit".
In July 2006, it was announced that Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics would release a series of direct-to-DVD animated movies based on important DC com
In 1985, Cooke published his first comic book work as a professional artist in a short story in New Talent Showcase #19, but economic pressure made him leave the career and he worked in Canada as a magazine art director, graphic and product designer for the next 15 years.
In the early 1990s Cooke decided to return to comics, but found little interest for his work at the major publishers. Eventually he was hired by Warner Bros. Animation after replying to an ad placed by animator Bruce Timm.
He went on to work as a storyboard artist for Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, and in 1999 he animated the main title design for Batman Beyond. He then worked as a director for Sony Animation's Men in Black: The Series for a year.
DC Comics then approached Cooke about a project which he had submitted to the publisher years earlier which eventually became Batman: Ego, a graphic novel published in 2000.
The critical success of that project led to Cooke taking on more freelance work, such as X-Force, Wolverine/Doop and Spider-Man's Tangled Web for Marvel Comics and Just Imagine... Stan Lee for DC.
In 2001, Cooke and writer Ed Brubaker teamed up to revamp the Catwoman character. They started with a 4 issue serial "Trail of the Catwoman" in Detective Comics #759-762 in which private detective Slam Bradley attempts to investigate the death of Selina Kyle (AKA Catwoman).
The story led into a new Catwoman title in late 2001 by Brubaker and Cooke, in which the character's costume, supporting cast and modus operandi were all redesigned and redeveloped. Cooke would stay on the series, which was met with critical and fan acclaim, up until issue #4. In 2002 he would write and draw a prequel, the Selina's Big Score graphic novel which detailed what had happened to the character directly before her new series.
Cover to DC: The New Frontier #6.
Cover to DC: The New Frontier #6.
Cooke's next project was the ambitious DC: The New Frontier (2004), a six issue miniseries which sought to tell an epic storyline bridging the gap between the end of the golden and the start of the silver age of comic books in the DC Universe. The story, which was set in the 1950s, featured dozens of super-hero characters and drew inspiration from the comic books and movies of the period as well as from Tom Wolfe's non-fiction account of the start of the US Space Program The Right Stuff. The major DC characters are introduced in "The New Frontier" in the same order that DC originally published them, even down to the correct month and year in the story's timeline. In 2005, Cooke won an Eisner Award for "Best Limited Series", and a Joe Shuster Award for "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist" for his work on the series.
Most recently, Cooke contributed to DC's artist-centric anthology project Solo. His issue (#5, June, 2005) featured several different stories in different styles with a framing sequence featuring the Slam Bradley character. In 2006, Solo #5 won an Eisner Award for "Best Single Issue."
In July 2005, it was announced that in 2006 Cooke and writer Jeph Loeb would produce a Batman/Spirit crossover, to be followed shortly afterwards by an ongoing Spirit series written and drawn by Cooke. Batman/The Spirit was ultimately published in November 2006, followed in December by the first issue of Cooke's The Spirit. In June 2007, Cooke and J. Bone won a Joe Shuster Award for "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artists" for their work on "Batman/The Spirit", and Cooke won "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist" for his work on "The Spirit".
In July 2006, it was announced that Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics would release a series of direct-to-DVD animated movies based on important DC com
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 15, 2022
Don't read this book. It doesn't fit in with the Watchmen story, except for the first issue--if you really really want to find out about Silk Spectre (Laurie, not Sally)'s backstory, read the first issue/chapter, skip the rest, and instead imagine for yourself a story about a young girl coming into her own and discovering what being a hero really means. Because that's the first issue leads you to think the story's headed, but the rest of the book is actually about .
The first issue seemed promising: a story of Laurie, daughter of Sally Jupiter, aka Silk Spectre and one of the founders of the Minutemen, America's first superhero organization. It's the story of a single girl abandoned by her father, who loves her mother but who feels constrained by the demanding training and unrelenting schedule her mother imposes on her, trying to make her into the hero her mother wishes she'd been, a "new breed of superheroes," "young and brilliant and more effective than we'd ever been." She wants to hang out afterschool with the other kids, she wants to date a boy, she wants, despite being aware of and in love with her awesome heritage, to be a normal girl. She wants to figure out who she is before she has to take on the mantle of Silk Spectre--and date a boy, obviously.
Then we get to issues two, three, and four, which deals with the lamest evil conspiracy I've ever read in a comic book: these damn hippies aren't consuming! Therefore, a corporate tool (literally named "The Chairman") is suborning a popular band (who are obviously drawn to look like the Beatles) to include mind-control messaging in their songs to get people to consume more products. There's also a side character who's spreading drugs to put hippies into a mental state more susceptible to that pro-consumption messaging (a really racist caricature of a black man luring young innocent young white girls with drugs). It really doesn't gel with what I think of when I think "Watchmen" and even if it was ironic and meant in jest, it's still a horribly pathetic storyline that stretches 3 issues (the rest of the book).
The first issue seemed promising: a story of Laurie, daughter of Sally Jupiter, aka Silk Spectre and one of the founders of the Minutemen, America's first superhero organization. It's the story of a single girl abandoned by her father, who loves her mother but who feels constrained by the demanding training and unrelenting schedule her mother imposes on her, trying to make her into the hero her mother wishes she'd been, a "new breed of superheroes," "young and brilliant and more effective than we'd ever been." She wants to hang out afterschool with the other kids, she wants to date a boy, she wants, despite being aware of and in love with her awesome heritage, to be a normal girl. She wants to figure out who she is before she has to take on the mantle of Silk Spectre--and date a boy, obviously.
Then we get to issues two, three, and four, which deals with the lamest evil conspiracy I've ever read in a comic book: these damn hippies aren't consuming! Therefore, a corporate tool (literally named "The Chairman") is suborning a popular band (who are obviously drawn to look like the Beatles) to include mind-control messaging in their songs to get people to consume more products. There's also a side character who's spreading drugs to put hippies into a mental state more susceptible to that pro-consumption messaging (a really racist caricature of a black man luring young innocent young white girls with drugs). It really doesn't gel with what I think of when I think "Watchmen" and even if it was ironic and meant in jest, it's still a horribly pathetic storyline that stretches 3 issues (the rest of the book).
December 8, 2020
2.5 estrellas.
Qué manía tienen los ilustradores de cómics en tratar los personajes femeninos como pedazos de carne con sus faldas cortas y su busto prominente. Sé que hay peores que Silk Spectre, y va más allá de la comodidad de la ropa ajustada para luchar contra el crimen, es toda una ideología fundante que impide el acceso a la mitad de la población mundial.
Si a las mujeres nos trataran menos como objeto de deseo y más como superheroínas (como muchas lo son), serían más variados los consumidores, miles de chicas dejarían de catalogar estos géneros como predominantemente masculinos y se arriesgarían a leerlos.
Más allá de la sexualización de una menor, y mis observaciones/quejas/sugerencias de arriba, la historia está bien, sobre una joven entrenada desde pequeña por su madre para seguir su carrera como superheroína.
Siento que no es muy realista que en base a su contextura, aún con los años de práctica, sea tan invencible, la debo haber visto sangrar como mucho dos veces y todas las peleas las ganó.
Qué manía tienen los ilustradores de cómics en tratar los personajes femeninos como pedazos de carne con sus faldas cortas y su busto prominente. Sé que hay peores que Silk Spectre, y va más allá de la comodidad de la ropa ajustada para luchar contra el crimen, es toda una ideología fundante que impide el acceso a la mitad de la población mundial.
Si a las mujeres nos trataran menos como objeto de deseo y más como superheroínas (como muchas lo son), serían más variados los consumidores, miles de chicas dejarían de catalogar estos géneros como predominantemente masculinos y se arriesgarían a leerlos.
Más allá de la sexualización de una menor, y mis observaciones/quejas/sugerencias de arriba, la historia está bien, sobre una joven entrenada desde pequeña por su madre para seguir su carrera como superheroína.
Siento que no es muy realista que en base a su contextura, aún con los años de práctica, sea tan invencible, la debo haber visto sangrar como mucho dos veces y todas las peleas las ganó.
January 15, 2014
Review with spoiler:
A big disappointment.
This is a contender to win the worst "Before Watchmen" comic book.
Let us admit it: Silk Spectre was the weakest character in Moore's Watchmen. She didn't have anger issues like The Comedian, she was not a society outcast like Rorscharch, she was not a bit intelligent compared to Ozymandias, and her skin was not blue. Even Nite Owl who had the ugliest outfit and a boring life had showed more character than her. She was nothing like her mom. But she had an important role to play in Watchmen. She looks good in a team but it is hard for me to imagine her as a stand alone hero.
This book should have built the character of Silk Spectre. It should have proven that she can stand alone as a hero. Unfortunately it did not. It only portrayed a stereotype teenager with a stereotype story. Mom wanted her to be a hero, she got tired of her mom, she fell in love with a man, ran away, almost destroyed her life, tried to save the world, etc. The story was so predictable, nothing new.
Darwyn slapped Moore with his story of Silk Spectre. There was no depth in the story. It's pure laziness.
Amanda Conner's illustration was good but not great. At least her work was not lazy, it showed that she put a lot of effort in this work. I just didn't like the way she inserted some cartoonish drawings when Silk Spectre gets mad. I find it juvenile.
Summary: Very poor plot. Good illustration.
A big disappointment.
This is a contender to win the worst "Before Watchmen" comic book.
Let us admit it: Silk Spectre was the weakest character in Moore's Watchmen. She didn't have anger issues like The Comedian, she was not a society outcast like Rorscharch, she was not a bit intelligent compared to Ozymandias, and her skin was not blue. Even Nite Owl who had the ugliest outfit and a boring life had showed more character than her. She was nothing like her mom. But she had an important role to play in Watchmen. She looks good in a team but it is hard for me to imagine her as a stand alone hero.
This book should have built the character of Silk Spectre. It should have proven that she can stand alone as a hero. Unfortunately it did not. It only portrayed a stereotype teenager with a stereotype story. Mom wanted her to be a hero, she got tired of her mom, she fell in love with a man, ran away, almost destroyed her life, tried to save the world, etc. The story was so predictable, nothing new.
Darwyn slapped Moore with his story of Silk Spectre. There was no depth in the story. It's pure laziness.
Amanda Conner's illustration was good but not great. At least her work was not lazy, it showed that she put a lot of effort in this work. I just didn't like the way she inserted some cartoonish drawings when Silk Spectre gets mad. I find it juvenile.
Summary: Very poor plot. Good illustration.
May 16, 2015
The story of how the second Silk Spectre came into being, while it was adequate was nothing outstanding. One nice touch was using a different style of artwork, more simple and cartoony to reflect Laurie's dreams and fantasies.
It was only to be expected that we would see some of the original minute men, like Silk Spectre, original Nite Owl and of course the Comedian
It was only to be expected that we would see some of the original minute men, like Silk Spectre, original Nite Owl and of course the Comedian
September 5, 2018
Sommige boeken blijven eindeloos op de plank liggen, half uitgelezen, totdat je ze eindelijk nog eens oppikt en ze beter lijken mee te vallen dan de eerste keer. Dit is zo eentje. Bij een tweede kans ging ik er vlotter door dan de eerste keer en viel me op dat het verhaal en de tekenstijl meer om het lijf had dan ik de eerste keer vermoedde. De toch wel scherp getekende relatie tussen moeder en dochter komt knap uit de verf. Ook hoe haar vader tussen beiden komt is leuk gedaan (en ik blijf bewust spoilervrij al zou wie Watchmen niet heeft gelezen zich diep moeten schamen). Alles verbleekt uiteraard bij het origineel, maar dat neemt niet weg dat dit aangenaam leesvoer is.
December 13, 2019
One of the best "Before Watchmen" titles, "Silk Spectre" is a heartfelt, sexy, tongue-in-cheek look at the life of a young heroine forever in the shadow of her domineering mother. Yearning to be a romantic figure instead of a fighter, Laurie's journey for independence leads her into the California hippie scene, where the secret mastermind between the commercial rise of rock music is revealed in one of the Watchmen series' most outright comedic bits of alternate history. The final issue drops most of the comedy and becomes a much more serious character study, but this one is a wild ride throughout. Pick up this and "Minutemen," and you're about set.
November 4, 2026
Oef, een paar uitschuivers hier. Tweemaal verandert de tekenstijl in een anime achtige pastiche, wat een grote stijlbreuk is en in mijn ogen niet past bij iets met zoveel gravitas als Watchmen. Deel 1 gaat om met de relatie tussen moeder en dochter Silk Spectre en de verplichte overdracht van wacht. Dit stuk heeft nog zijn perks. De drie delen erna zijn hit and miss. De emotionele momenten mochten er zijn maar anders was dit een behoorlijk slappe hap.
December 27, 2018
Darwyn Cooke:
Read whatever he does with blind confidence!
Read whatever he does with blind confidence!
June 6, 2020
Solide 3,5 Sterne! Nichts Geniales, aber ein zusätzlich gutes Kapitel zur WM-Geschichte. Eine ästhetisch schöne Umsetzung!
November 8, 2022
Darwyn Cooke fez um trabalho digno da obra original, respeitando o legado de Moore.
August 9, 2021
E na sequência das prequels temos a história de formação da Espectral, ao contrário do volume anterior aqui temos uma história bastante linear, basicamente um desenvolvimento do que foi apresentado em Watchmen, mas com mais detalhes. Temos algumas derivações no mínimo curiosas, mas que condizem com o que foi apresentado dos personagens. É provável que a HQ incomode um pouco, é preciso considerar aqui uma questão de anacronismo histórico, ler a HQ com os olhos que temos hoje (ou julgamos ter) vai gerar uma certa repulsa da forma como a protagonista e mesmo outras figuras femininas são retratadas. É preciso ter em mente que a história se passa no final dos anos 60 com a mentalidade da época. Resta ainda lembrar que Watchmen parodia as histórias de super heróis e suas prequels forçosamente seguirão o mesmo tom.
June 21, 2015
It was okay. Better than The Minutemen.
AND NOW IM DONE WITH MY READING CHALLENGE. IM FREE. HAHahahaHAHAhahHahA
AND NOW IM DONE WITH MY READING CHALLENGE. IM FREE. HAHahahaHAHAhahHahA
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews