The first issue of Silk Spectre, unlike Minutemen, received pretty moderate approval from most internet reviewers. Most praising Conner's artwork, but feeling that the story fell a little short of expectation and read a bit like a Betty & Veronica feature. I definitely have less to say about it than I did Minutemen #1, though I feel the same way about both books: Cooke treads lightly on the character's back-story in the first issue making it is relatively inoffensive to Watchmen fans while leaving a gut feeling that in the upcoming issues he's going to blow it.
Art
I thought Amanda Conner's art is very detailed, and
I enjoyed most of what she did with the panels. One thing that I found a bit
annoying was breakaway panels she created in anime style in order to depict
Laurie's perspective on the situations she is in. For those of you who haven't
read the issue, these sequences feature characters with over exaggerated
features (such as sally Jupiter with devil horns and fangs driving a fire car)
used to reflect how Laurie is feeling about something that’s happening in the
story. These panels are a bit too cartoonish for me and seem too childish for
the Watchmen universe. That being said, I did appreciate Conner’s ability to
relay true emotion in every face she drew; no dead faces in this issue, and
that’s a good thing.
Story
It's not horrible, but it left me with the feeling that Cooke is taking this
character on a pointless tangent that I won't care about. Before I get into
why, I want to talk about what I liked in the story. Like in Minutemen #1, I
really enjoyed seeing the anecdotes mentioned in Watchmen brought into a full
comic panel form. I thought starting the issue with the scene from Watchmen,
after the fight between Sally and Larry was really smart and built a good
foundation for the relationship between Laurie and her mother. I also enjoyed
the way Sally forces her daughter to train against her in an absurd fashion.
The struggles that Laurie faces living up to her mother’s high standards, while
also dealing with ‘high school drama’ over her mother’s image as a celebrity
seemed believable the in the context of Moore’s original Watchmen. These
sequences keep true to the original text, which is probably why I like them so
much. I didn’t really have an issue with the story being too ‘Betty &
Veronica’, and on the contrary, felt that this type of narrative actually works
well for this character.
Now for what I didn’t like about the story: I get
the sense that Cooke is trying really hard to create a reason as to why Laurie
gets into ‘masked adventuring’, when there really is no need. In particular I
am talking about her boyfriend, Greg. He’s not a bad character (in fact he is
actually pretty likeable), but I felt, from the get-go, that this creation of
Cooke has only one of sole purposes: die, or betray Laurie by the end of the
series. This is just speculation, but I feel the evidence is hard to ignore. In
the beginning sequence Sally foreshadows something bad happening at some point in
the series when she tells Laurie that she is “too young to hate. Wait until
you’re older and the world gives you a good reason. Trust me, it won’t let you
down”. My guess is that this has to do with Greg, and I’m a little nervous as
to how it will turn out. At the end of the book, Laurie and Greg run away (or
drive away) in a VW hippie van headed for San Francisco setting the following 3
issues up with a premise that gives Cooke something interesting to write about.
Laurie will eventually need a reason to return, as we all know she does in
order to take part in the events of Watchmen, and my guess is that something
happens with Greg forcing her to “hate” the world and ultimately drives her
back into the costume of a masked adventurer seeking revenge; again
speculation, but this is what I think. Typically, I wouldn’t have an issue with
this type of story arc but in this case, it’s just not necessary. In Watchmen,
we learn that Laurie was forced into being a super-hero by her mother. That notion
sets up a great character study and a coming of age story which could convey
pressures everyone feels from their parents or peers about what to do with one’s
life. Why not use this as the sole premise for a series rather than running off
to San Francisco with hippies? Cooke began to build on their relationship in
the beginning, and it was pretty successful, but the van to San Francisco seems
like a pointless curveball to me. I guess it could work, if they continue to
develop the Sally-Laurie relationship but I can’t help but feel concerned.
Final Thoughts
It starts out pretty decent but gets a little off
track by the end. The main thing that really bothered me about this issue was
that fact that Cooke is setting the series up for a story I will not like. For
a first issue, it definitely didn’t leave me wanting more (rather, it left me
wanting Moore teehee). I realize this is subjective and I openly encourage any
alternative perspectives as I am by no means an expert, but this is a blog
about what I think and that’s what I think.
I realize that for the second time I am stating how
keeping true to Moore’s original story is crucial in the success of Before
Watchman, but nothing could be truer. I suspect that Cooke is facing the same
issue Snyder faced when trying to make the Watchmen movie which is that Moore’s
characters are very deep and loved for their complexity. They are not easy to
portray, though very easy to misunderstand. It’s not that I don’t want new
stories for these characters, but I really do feel that books like Moore’s
Watchmen, and Gaiman’s Sandman are unique because of their completion. If DC
wants to reopen these characters’ stories do it right or don’t do it at all.
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