Of all the possible reactions I might have had to this book, I never expected to come away thinking, “What if Before Watchmen actually makes Watchmen better?”
Reading SS #1 I found myself thinking that while the original Watchmen counts on the reader projecting their pre-existing love of comic book heroes onto its flawed protagonists, it never really asks us to like them specifically.
This issue is all about getting us to care about its characters – to actually like them, and it works beautifully. The adolescent dialogue, the cartoon flourishes, everything here is spot on in creating a sympathetic teenager whose future isn’t diminished by this story, but made more tragic.
I hope the next three issues are even half this good.