Before Watchmen: Minutemen #6

Out of all the Before Watchmen series, Minutemen seems to be the strongest, and most favoured, and it’s easy to see why. As a concluding issue, to this mini series, it still remains simple and wraps up on a perhaps bittersweet note.

Writer: Darwyn Cooke | Artist: Darwyn Cooke

Cover: Darwyn Cooke | Publisher: DC

For all the confusion and moral ambiguity that Watchmen brings, it’s kind of a nice throwback to read Before Watchmen: Minutemen.  And honestly I can’t put it any better than Dave Gibbons who said it “[pays] homage to the simplicity and unsophisticated nature of Golden Age comic books—with the added dramatic interest that it would be a story whose conclusion is already known. It would be, perhaps, interesting to see how we got to the conclusion.” That’s it. That’s Minutemen summed up in one sentence, and I’m mostly here to acknowledge and affirm that, that is exactly what has been done.

We already know the ending, that is if you’ve read Watchmen, or maybe watched the movie (maybe), so it’s not the ending that we’re reading this for, but it’s the storytelling. A glimpse of who these characters were before Watchmen, all through a terrifically written narrative. Super props to Cooke who clearly knows what he was doing with this series.

A lot of inner workings are revealed, and as the series goes, there’s always some sort of big reveal that just makes it one notch, and this issue doesn’t break pattern. As simple as the art makes it to look if one were to just flip through that pages, there’s so much more hidden behind it all. The art in it’s simplicity lets you focus on the tale being spun, while still being visually pleasing.

Nelson tells us his story of Hooded Justice, and while there’s a reveal as to who this character may be, there’s nothing to say it’s all just speculation and nothing really is definite. But that’s how it is with Watchmen, constant ambiguity, a questioning of character and moral and philosophy, so while we think we know who these characters are, there’s nothing saying that anything is concrete, although certain relationships and dynamics are hard to dispute, but as far as identities and histories, who’s to say what’s truth and what isn’t. (Watchmen for me is just really complex, okay). It’s just added another layer onto some of the Watchmen, and it’s nice to have all this additional information in your backpocket.