Before Watchmen: Collected Editions

Before Watchmen was a controversial event when it was first published, and naturally opinions of each title and creative team were widely printed/posted/etc when the comics were printed. So rather than give you my opinion of the separate Before Watchmen titles, here’s a quick review of the trade collected editions that are due out July 2nd and the 16th.

DC has paired each title in order to collect them into hardcovers. Unfortunately this means you may get stuck with a title you didn’t enjoy or care about(*cough* Nite Owl *cough*) in order to get the one that you are interested in. As published they will appear as:

Minutemen/Silk Spectre

Comedian/Rorschach 

Nite Owl/ Dr. Manhattan

Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair

The hardcovers are designed by the truly legendary graphic designer Chip Kidd of Batman Death by Design fame. Those covers are amazing as can be expected from Kidd, and I’m glad they decided to let him assemble the art in a way that keeps the characters separate yet matching and equally featured on the covers. They certainly are gorgeously put together though the pairing thing is a little weird considering how different the creative teams ar. However with only three volumes, I suppose you’ll get more bang for your buck and don’t have to store 6 books. Also, the one and two shots Dollar Bill and Moloch are  collected into the Ozymandias and Nite Owl hardcovers respectively, so no worries about having the complete set in these volumes.

Overall, if you enjoyed the singles as they came out and want to pick up the trades, these are certainly put together with care. Also, if you’re new to the event and want to catch up, these will certainly get the job done, especially with each volume selling for $21 on amazon.