late at night

Well, since these cats think they can be measured using the original as the ruler, let’s play their game… I’m gonna start by saying that I love Cooke’s work and this is the book I was most interested in reading. The art is cute, but it doesn’t match the level of composition found in Gibbons’ original work. Just the same old Timm-inspired style. The story takes some weird liberties with the characters that don’t really seem to fit into the Watchmen universe, specially with the Comedian, who seems to have more from the Joker than from the original Eddie Blake. The plot is not bad, but it’s nothing spectacular either. Even though there is a marked improvement in Darwyn’s dialogue technique, it is not even close to Snyder’s Batman, let alone Watchmen. This fits the universe, at best, as one of those vague tie-ins like Weird Western Tales in the Blackest Night crossover. As I stated in my essay, it’s impossible to fit these books into the Watchmen scheme as a prequel, being realistic, we can expect fillers and tie-ins that won’t really expand the Watchmen arc. As for the back-up story, I think it is pointless. In the original story, it was used as a narrative device, just like Proust’s Un Amour De Swann; it is a metaphor that reflects the main narrative and enhances the themes and symbolism. Crimson Corsair does none of that, at least when it comes to the Minutemen issue. I don’t know if this can happen in the long run, but I don’t think Len Wein has the chops. Let’s remember, he was the one who originally brought in Alan Moore to save his Swamp Thing book.