Before Watchmen: Minutemen #4 Review

Comic: Minutemen #4

Written By: Darwyn Cooke

Pencils By: Darwyn Cooke

Publisher: DC Comics

Release Date: OUT NOW IN STORES & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD (VIA COMIXOLOGY)

rating: 4.5

Things continue to get darker in the world of the Minutemen. Hollis recounts his book 'Under the Hood', trying to overcome the dark reveals he's placed within it and now, four issues on Minutemen in, we're really beginning to hit the secrets hidden behind the public image of crime fighting heroes.

This issue begins by explaining how people have the ability to deal with the world they live in. How denial enables us to overcome the atrocities around us and how even in the worst of moments we manage to carry on. The Second World War is over and the world is forever changed. To make matters worse for the Minutemen, Ursula and her female partner have been killed due to the public reveal of their taboo relationship and Hollis is trying to overcome his grief.

For the fourth instalment of Minutemen, the focus is not as tight on the individual story of Hollis Mason as we've seen in the previous three issues. This is actually a selection of short interconnecting stories from a few other Minutemen and how they are different in their post war lives. The brutal murder of Ursula has divided the Minutemen in unexpected ways. Of course Hollis is devastated but the mini story for Sally Jupiter here really give the largely Minutemen poster girl status of her character so far a whole new angle. Sally Jupiter is actually pretty damn hardcore in this issue and there's an impression she'll be forever changed by it. becauseof Ursula's death.

This also weaves beautifully into here first reunion with Eddie Blake since the attempted rape and of course gives the first spark of where their relationship might be headed as the pair have a little Laurie together sometime in the near future. The Comedian's war story is actually quite heartbreaking and for once I really feel we've seen what formed Eddie Blake into what we know him better for. A cold, see the world like it is man who understands how little life has to offer. Given what he went through in this issue, it's of no surprise he is like he is because his war story is legitimately disturbing.

There's a final story, giving a background into Ursula's backstory and getting to this point, you'll realise just how densly plotted Cooke's writing is. Everything here is tying into the opening page's dialogue. Life is hard. Denial gets us through the worst of it and the golden age of the Minutemen sudden feels like a brief glint of lightness in an other wise dark history of mankind. This was by far the best issue of the Minutemen so far for me and even though it's a little more disjointed than we're used to, it really worked to see how are character's are changing and just how dark Darwyn Cooke is willing to go to show this golden age to be not as rosy as we might believe.

Before Watchmen: Week 19 Overview:

" It's been a solid few weeks for the Before Watchmen series and now we're at about the half way point the strength in these stories are really beginning to shine through. Every single one of these issues are providing wonderfully plotted, beautiful to look at love letters to the world of Watchmen and it's hard to imagine that anything is going to change between now and the final issue released. This week really solidified my love for this brave project and I'm intrigued to see if the other mini series up their games further on this next wave of issues".