Before Watchmen - Comedian #1 Review

Edward Blake sparked off the events in the original Watchmen and on a lesser extent he's doing it again with Before Watchmen.

By Marcus Doidge / June 21, 2012

Comic: Comedian #1Written By: Brian AzzarelloPencils By: J G .JonesPublisher: DC ComicsRelease Date: OUT NOW IN STORES & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD (VIA COMIXOLOGY)

rating: 4

This week, the Comedian gets his own solo series within the Before Watchmen event and despite there being a whole lot of the same issues that prevented Minutemen and Silk Spectre from feeling all that fresh, the Comedian's first is a whole lot stronger and makes it the best of three Before Watchmen issues released so far. Placed snuggly within American history, we find out Edward Blake's connection with the Kennedys, beginning with a much lighter Blake than we're used to. Continuing onwards Marilyn Monroe is entered into the story and Blake's connection to the well known era in history becomes very interesting. Edward Blake, as we know isn't a very nice guy but the pre-scar Blake we see here isn't quite all the way bad yet. Sure he has some dodgy dealings but his friendship with the Kennedy's almost makes him feel like that guy who would be fun to hang out with in a bar (rather than one who would end up shooting a pregnant woman). I really liked how the Marilyn stuff was handled. Between Azzarello and Jones they captured something that always made Blake such a good character. There's almost a romanticism to Blake's dark deeds here and this really felt like a celebration of the character as opposed to a expansion of facts we already knew about. The FBI enter into Blake's life towards the end of this issue and he is assigned to take down Moloch the Mystik. We're shown the Comedian in his full brash glory and it provides a nice balance to the story. This leads up to a twist revolving around where Edward Blake was when JFK was shot and this deepens the much loved Watchmen character in a way that this Before Watchmen event has promised. It seems like we're actually seeing a turning point in Edward Blake's life, something that could have changed him forever and for the first time in three issues of Before Watchmen, DC Comics have delivered something that feels like it could mean something to the world of Watchmen. As for the two page 'The Curse of Crimson Corsair', something seems it's about to happen. Hopefully next week we'll find out what that is. Before Watchmen: Week 3 Overview:

The twist in Comedian's tale provides the first real sense of legitimate expansion in the Before Watchmen event and has glimmers of hitting the similar dramatic twists many of the original Watchmen flashbacks provided. More of this sort of stuff please DC

The twist in Comedian's tale provides the first real sense of legitimate expansion in the Before Watchmen event and has glimmers of hitting the similar dramatic twists many of the original Watchmen flashbacks provided. More of this sort of stuff please DC 

The twist in Comedian's tale provides the first real sense of legitimate expansion in the Before Watchmen event and has glimmers of hitting the similar dramatic twists many of the original Watchmen flashbacks provided. More of this sort of stuff please DC