1752 ( )

I liked this book a lot better then the previous one I read ( Before Watchmen: Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair). The art was more colorful and I didn't find myself forcing my way threw to get it over with.

The first part with Nite Owl was a little better then I thought. I didn't care much for the art, but the story made up for that. Defiantly not the strongest story in Before Watchmen, but it's worth checking out. It features the Twilight Lady who is only briefly referenced in the original Watchmen comics. It was interesting to see her have an actual role.

Dr. Manhattan's section was the one you should check out. It see Adam Hughes do more then just covers is always a treat for me. Just love his work. This story was probably a little more confusing then the other Before Watchmen, but it makes sense for the character. It's the most metaphysical of the batch. With turning the book all over, reading pages you say "Didn't I already read this?", Seeing different outcomes for different situations, and some foreshadowing too. Be prepared for a head spin!

The last part with Moloch was so-so. I didn't care for the art work at all in that segment, but the story was good. Not as good as the rest for this volume, but good for the character. I'm glad it was short too. Could have been one issue though.

This one I would check out, but look threw it first before you actually buy t. And as I'm going to say with every Before Watchmen. I'm reading them all to get the full experience. ( )

The Dr. Manhattan story-line did some experimentation with formatting and layout, and while I always like to see authors/artists do new weird shit and push boundaries, it didn't push it enough.

Nite Owl's story was pretty stereotypical and rote, complete with being rewarded with the "hooker with the heart of gold" trope. Had some odd scenes with Rorschach that I am not sure entirely fit his characterization in Watchmen.

The Moloch 2-parter was easily the strongest of the 3, and why this gets 2 stars rather than 1. There's a continued theme of the best parts of Before Watchmen being characters with little to no time in the original series. ( )

Actually, I gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars, but y'all know GoodReads by now.

You can read my full review of this over at my blog The Itinerant Librarian. A small excerpt from my review:

"I was interested in this volume in part because J. Michael Straczynski was involved; I happen to like his work from Babylon 5, and I have read some of his other work in comics. So, with that said, let's see how this volume fares."


Click the link to read the full review:
http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2013/08/booknote-before-watchmen-nite-owl... ( )

No matter how good the Watchmen prequels were, an unavoidable side effect if you paid attention to them at all was that they'd drag Watchmen back towards being an ordinary superhero comic. Whether or not you believe the original series is a masterpiece, it was singular and self-contained.

And these stories? These are far from good. ( )