Anyone read it yet? The art and coloring is exceptional and it seems like Darwyn Cooke makes use of every page so you feel like you get your money's worth.

Some logos done with computer fonts, some hand lettered. Both looked sloppy.

Gay references to Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice were way overcooked.

A plot device running an old Minutemen comic parallel with the current story. Could have been a reasonable idea, but Cooke can only keep it up for four pages. The cover of which is a reference to the first appearance of the JSA, but the lettering font they chose for it is more similar to typefaces used by EC on non-superhero comics.

A reference to Captain Kangaroo... in 1940. Use of the phrase "sick fuck" as a adjective-noun, the word "fag" and the phrase "go fuck yourself" may be anachronistic, as well.

No idea what the BDSM fantasy panels were supposed to be. Likewise no idea why the aftermath of Silhouette being shot was cut up and interspersed into the preceding section of the narrative. Seems like Cooke did that just to do it, as it added nothing but confusion. Starting off that sequence as a seemingly sexual scene was a very odd choice.

The art sucked, as usual. A lot of Kirby hands this time out. The alt cover is Cliff Chiang, whoever the fuck that is.

I'm not a huge fan of computer lettering. The only time I've seen it done successfully was when Comicraft was doing it, with Alan Moore's Glory #0 in particular. I would check Minutemen #3 but I didn't buy it, only flipped through it.

I'm surprised at the choice of curse words. I hate when writers use more modern phrases in retro stories.

I think that they should have just done Minutemen by Darwyn Cooke though. I'm actually intrigued about Silhouette's story and always thought that these were the only set of characters, and only era worth further exploring. But having The Minutemen be just a piece equal in focus to the average work of Nite Owl and The Comedian, it makes Cooke's title seem less important.

It's leaps and bounds better than disasters like NITE OWL or COMEDIAN and is a touch above RORSCHACH and OZYMANDIAS. It's a bit disappointing that Cooke isn't trying to do something other than riff on the original work, which is what Cook and Amanda Connor are doing in SILK SPECTRE and what JMS appears to be attempting in DOCTOR MANHATTAN.

Mike

That's Cooke's whole fucking career.

Is Azzarello doing something different with Rorshach and Comedian that Cooke isn't?

RORSCHACH looks like it's nothing more than a "Rorschach beats up some bad guys" story. If there had been RORSCHACH comics in the 70s and 80s, this would be the sort of thing where people complain about how they take what used to fill up one or two issues and stretch it to 4 or 6.

COMEDIAN looks like each issue is just going to spotlight the character in a different moment out of 1960s and 70s history. 1st issue was the JFK era and the 2nd was the beginning of Vietnam. Putting aside that fact that the first issue makes it seem as if neither Azzarello nor anyone else at DC ever read WATCHMEN, it comes off like teeny, tiny history lessons from a comic book writer who once saw a TV show about the time in question.

Mike

Apparently BW skipped a week last Wednesday. Is there trouble in paradise?