Before Watchmen Omnibus Hardcover – Illustrated, 24 Dec. 2018

This is, by a long, long way, the most money I've ever spent on a graphic novel (even if this is really an omnibus collection of graphic novels), and as I placed the purchase I was already thinking, 'Am I crazy?'But it was more than worth every penny. It's a huge book (think hard-backed Bible or encyclopedia), and the quality of the paper is wonderful. I purchased it for the stories, and was prepared to be slightly (or greatly) let down by the artwork (I often am, with graphic novels), but this contains some of the best artwork I've seen.I won't go into the full 'list of contents', as the review by 'Mr Mice Guy' does that superbly well. I just wanted to post this for anyone who is dithering, wondering whether to buy this or not. Just do it. You won't regret it.And this has inspired me to 'retire' my old paperback Watchmen, and spend another small fortune on the Absolute edition...

Pretty much what you expect from a Before Watchmen Omnibus.The book is set in the correct reading order, so the issues are mixed up, but its the correct way to read it

A huge great book! Bought for my partner as a gift, and I think he'll be very happy. A good collectors piece, and will look good on the coffee table.

This immense volume - over 1000 pages in length - looks most impressive! It's hardback, and presents the complete collection of "Before Watchmen" comics. It's slightly over-sized (so the pages are a little bigger than those of the original comic books) and this does allow the reader to better appreciate the artwork. However, the pages are not as large as those featured in the 'Absolute Watchmen' volume, which is as shame (as consistency would be nice).This omnibus brings together all 37 issues of the storyline that were published by DC Comics in 2012. It consists of 8 mini-series and a one-shot title. This is what's included:Before Watchmen: Minutemen (six issues)Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre (four issues)Before Watchmen: Comedian (six issues)Before Watchmen: Nite Owl (four issues)Before Watchmen: Ozymandias (six issues)Before Watchmen: Rorschach (four issues)Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan (four issues)Before Watchmen: Moloch (two issues)Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill (one-shot)The series acts as a prequel to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' "Watchmen" (although some elements of the story do occur after the events of the original graphic novel). A team of writers and artists were involved - and, as a result, there is varying quality to the work. On the whole, the standard to good - and, occasionally, excellent. But there are a few moments when things fall below par. For me, the best aspects of this prequel involve the Dr. Manhattan story - in which he does some amazing things … from (spoiler!) time traveling to creating life. Most crucially, he realises his powers are functionally limitless, and he becomes a creator of new realities. Unfortunately for him, if he uses these abilities then he's effectively denying freedom of choice to humans.I really do like this series. And this omnibus is good. It does include all the alternative cover art. However, there's noting new here - nothing at all. We get no introductory material, nothing explaining the writers motivations, and no draft artwork. Had there been, say, another 20 to 30 pages - presenting fresh material (perhaps commenting on how this prequel 'advanced' the Watchmen story-arc, influencing the "Rebirth" and "Doomsday Clock" series) - that would have been great.Given the price - approx. £65 - this volume is for fans. Yet, if you're already a fan then you might well own the comic books. And, if that's the case, the lack of new material might put you off buying this item.

Great book, superb edition, creating a pre-watchmen story

One of the things that makes the original Watchmen so great is that it leaves very few questions to be answered. Sure, you can imagine the earlier careers of the characters, but you don't need (and may not want) a whole lot of fill-in. So for Before Watchmen to work it needed the writers to invent great story arcs.I mention the writers rather than the artists because while this huge book is ultimately let down by its stories, it does have some exceptionally fine artwork. The Ozymandias storyline is lovingly illustrated with Jae Lee's painterly illustrations for example; yet this has the worst story of all, since it is basically a protracted retread of Ozymandias’s already long monologue from the original serial. Six issues of this certainly tries the patience. John Higgins (colourist on the original Watchmen) provides striking art for The Curse of the Crimson Corsair but - unlike the Black Freighter episodes from the original - this story just meanders on without purpose or shape. It's sad to report that both these sections were written by the late great Len Wein, who seems to have thought that the task was to recapitulate Alan Moore's narrative rather than build upon it.The Comedian and Rorschach storylines give us more Comedian & Rorschach. That might seem like a good thing but Moore gave us just enough of Comedian: here he becomes boring, especially with the addition of a backstory featuring Robert & Jack Kennedy. Rorschach's tale is more interesting (inventing two new major antagonists for him) but it adds nothing to the character except a sentimental element that feels out of place.Michael J. Straczynski tries to do something interesting with Dr. Manhattan by giving us a Science Fiction storyline. Again, he sticks too close to the original but the tale is worth reading and throws up a few visual tricks that engage the reader.That just leaves what for me were the two most successful storylines. The Minutemen storyline is very much in the spirit of the original graphic novel and works well, although I personally felt that Darwyn Cooke the writer was not so well served by Darwyn Cooke the artist. Cooke also worked on my favourite storyline here: Amanda Conner co-wrote the Silk Spectre storyline and provided a very fitting visual style as we follow Laurie's coming of age and first adventures in hippy-era San Francisco.There are side-stories here (two issues for Moloch, one for Dollar Bill), copious bonus art and the book is well bound in addition to being, of course, enormous. I found it at times tiresome to read but when you consider the high standard of art, full colour printing throughout and the fact that it is, ultimately, “more Watchmen” it's not difficult to make a case for buying this if you're building a graphic novel collection. Just don't expect any of the epic brilliance of Alan Moore's masterpiece.