Before Watchmen: Comedian/Rorschach

Very good story, not enough Rorschach

I liked it, but I didn't love it. It didn't come close to the original Watchmen, but hey, nothing does. It was cool getting to follow Rorschach around again, even though he definitely felt like a different character than from the original.

I will be truthful not only do I stillConsider Watchmen one of theGreatest story ever but I consider the prequels great ..Why ? Because I rank stories on how they make me feel...It has been awhile that I haven't been moved to hate and disgust as when I read the comedian..I.felt pity for Rosarch...Ozymandias was brilliant.....Nite Owl fascinating to see he is a positive product of domestic violence...Against all odds he didn't become rosarch because he had a positiveFigure in his mind...Len wein was great....he should.still be writing.

The story with the comedians kind of weird but The Rorschach story was pretty good

I purchased all Before Watchmen series and Comedian / Rosharch stories are easily the best of them. Comedian is a real Character and Rosharch is true to his Watchmen origins. The stories are well written and art is well done. Highly enjoyable experience.

The art in these stories are the real standouts. I cannot praise them more highly. The actual plots is a little lackluster. Both really just sort of reinforce what has already been established about the characters. The Comedian becomes involved in the violence of high level politics. Taking part in various Kennedy assassinations, the Watts riots, Vietnam, and so on. These sort of meander and are almost pointless, especially the Watts riots, where The Comedian's presence seems to actually go against what he seems to believe in. He is an adrenaline junkie who loves action and violence. he doesn't actually believe he can make any meaningful difference in the world and the idea that a superhero can is a joke to him. Another minor peeve about the Comedian story is that everyone seems to know his actual name and it clearly is a secret in the original book. All in all, the plot felt rushed.The Rorschach story stays true to the character. A street level vigilante, he beats up pimps and pushers in New York. It reinforces the character's flaws and motivations from the original book, but does not add much to them. The best part is when Rorschach runs across his spiritual counterpart, Travis Bickle, driving a taxi.

If you love The Watchmen then you’ll love this compilation of the Rorschach and Comedian Before the Watchmen comics. There both interesting and fun to read. Well worth checking out! Can’t wait for the HBO series about The Watchmen!!

Oh my, this book is cray cray, matches in perfectly with the WATCHMEN graphic novel. and all the before watchmen books kind of link into each in certain spots so thats cool too. essential reading for Watchmen fans

I suppose it makes some sense to pair Brian Azzarello with Watchmen characters, since his gritty, grounded style arguably fits better with the Watchmen universe than the colourful, heroic world of the DC Universe proper, but I just find the machismo in his writing consistently offputting. Coupled with the Comedian's personality, you could at least consider it thematic, if not particularly enjoyable to read. That said, there's not a lot particularly wrong with anything here and any dislike I had of the writing was largely down to personal preference. Lee Bermejo's art in the Rorschach story was a treat though, as always.

Ugh - anything that anynone seems to try and do with the Watchmen is bad. Apart from the Zack Snyder film. These pre-stories are just boring - they don't have the dynamic and it's a waste of time and money. We all await the day when Alan Moore writes the Minutemen - the prquel that he has mentioned.

Not a bad read but no where near the magic of Alan Moore's original watchmen, but to be fair , could it ever have been? .My personal favourite out of all the before watchmen stories was the doctor Manhattan story which is not included in this collection. Rorschach is one of my favourite (anti)heroes of all time ( along with batman and V ) . The Rorschach story just seems to lack the theatrical sweep that the original had.Still worth reading if you were a fan of watchmen.

Since Batman Damned I have been trying to get all of Lee Bermejo previous work. Before Watchman does not disapoint. Rorschach features some of Bermejo best art to date. The Art portrays a sleazy grimey American city at the mercy of a Serial Killer. Apart from Batman Damned this has got to be Bermejos best art. The covers for Rorschach are also excellent. Well worth the Price.

It was always going to be ambitious trying to flesh out the characters so familiar and, possibly, even a little iconic, but for me, sadly, this failed on both counts. Neither story really added anything to my impressions / thoughts about the characters, nor were they particularly interesting stories in their own right. Disappointing.I highly recommend 'Watchmen' itself though; that's cracking. :)