I don't have the energy to do a full on review, but I gotta note that this may be one of the worst comic books I've ever read. And that's saying a lot because it came out the same week as DEJAH THORIS AND THE WHITE APES OF MARS #4, a series which has been practically incomprehensible at times. I mean, COMEDIAN #2 isn't just bad compared to the original work. Somebody who'd never read WATCHMEN would still think it stinks.

Mike

What?!? Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's a bad comic!

Scott
@barbariancomic

In this case, yes it does. It is absolutely painful to see what Azzarello is trying to do and how badly he sucks at it.

Mike

WHY DOES THIS STUPID SCORPION KEEP STINGING ME.

I am seriously close to considering not picking it up and putting it in my mouth anymore.

Writes the man posting the same thing on the same subject on a comic book message board. Self-awareness not your thing?

Mike

Why would I stop posting? I'm enjoying myself.

You, on the other hand, are apparently enduring absolute pain when an issue of Before Watchmen turns out to be (SPOILER ALERT!) not worth reading.

How many stings do you need before you realize "Oh, right! It's a scorpion! They sting people, don't they?"

Let's assume that some of these Watchmen prequels will be awful, some okay, and some goodish, but none being anything like as enjoyable as the original. That seems a fair bet to me as to how things will pan out.

Going on from that.... I wonder if it will convert any readers from following characters to instead following writers, artists, and basic story premise??

I'd love to think a few fans would be "converted", it would be one positive out-turn of this whole shebang.

That's the part I can't get past. What do any of these people think they're adding? It's possible they're that deluded enough to think they could possibly contribute anything of value, I suppose, but for most (if not all) of them it has to be just the money. Although Len Wein may have also a personal axe to grind with Moore (professional jealousy, more than likely); and JMS has always been a Moore-wannabe, so his involvement came as no surprise.

Got Minutemen #2 and SS #2 in my downloads for last week and this week, respectively. The former is more expansionary junk, the latter more Hidden Years-esque meandering with lifted material. The word "skank" was not in use in the 1960's, by the way.

Alt covers by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Josh Middleton. JLGL pre-dates Moore by a few years and probably doesn't give a rat's ass about the significance of Watchmen. I always liked his work, slick if a bit bland. Like a mutual cousin of Nick Cardy and the Buscema brothers.

I appreciated Middleton's sort of standing up to Mark Alessi in the Crossgen ant farm experiment. I liked the smooth quality of his lines and the naturalistic, yet not overly photo-traced looking poses. He's obviously into "young girl" material, and I would not be at all surprised if a story ever arose that he was another Justiniano.

It's also odd that associate editor (coffee boy) Mark Doyle takes another opportunity to point out how much hard work this endeavor is. I never knew rapists had such a strong work ethic.

Two common mistakes I notice by lazy comic book writers:

1. Using slang or idiomatic expressions in early time periods before they had been introduced into common usage.

2. With British/Scottish/Irish writers, putting their own slang into the mouths of American characters who ordinarily would not go on about mates, tossers, arses, cheers, daft, naff, snogging, sod all, ta, taking the piss and so on.

Garth Ennis is among the many offenders of No. 2 who perhaps could be forgiven for assuming we all spoke like him when he was young and hadn't set foot on an airplane. I've no idea what the excuse is once you're past the age of 25.