Before Watchmen - Minutemen #2 Comic Review

Comic: Minutemen #3Written By: Darwyn CookePencils By: Darwyn CookePublisher: DC ComicsRelease Date: OUT NOW IN STORES & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD (VIA COMIXOLOGY)

rating: 3.5

Minutemen continues at its leisurely pace crossing between the sixties, where Hollis Mason is having issues publishing his tell all book and the forties where the team of crime fighters are beginning to realise that their masked crusades aren't the feel good jaunts they started out as. This issue actually holds a couple of really good progressions. The first is the fall out of the Comedian's attempted rape of Silk Spectre. The Minutemen have to decide how to deal with this awful situation and a decision is made about Edward Blake's part in the Minutemen after what he did. This scene is played well, thanks largely to Blake's response to the decision. highlighting the team's wider failings and the cracks in the clean image. There's also a brief scene later on showing Blake in his darker Comedian phase and an offer that leads Blake somewhere new. The next strong progression is via Silhouette, a character who is really beginning to shine in this miniseries. Uncovering a very dark underground organisation, Silhouette's connection to the original Nite-Owl begins to grow when she asks him for help. We find out more about how Hollis feels about her and the scenes are really quite touching as they unravel. I've always liked the bonds formed between Watchmen characters and this is another strong one (with a rather bleak future ahead). This was probably my favourite Minutemen issue to date. It feels a lot more comfortable now, more lived in and I'm really enjoying the expansion of the characters Cooke has chosen to focus on. Hollis Mason was always a favourite from the original Watchmen and watching his path towards giving up the mask is slowly building to something as his world gets darker and his loyalties begin to change. Before Watchmen: Week 13 Overview: "The first of the #3's doesn't bring much in the way of events but it's a solid, well plotted issue with a well played darkness. Hollis Mason is a Watchmen favourite and his character is really being utilised well here. There's a slight sense that Minutemen is beginning to go somewhere else, but it's small moves with Darwyn Cooke's story rather than big ones."