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‘Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #3’ Review

BW SS 3The comic book event of the summer is nigh!  Before Watchmen, the much-anticipated prequel series to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen, will consist of seven limited series and an epilogue one-shot.  Stay tuned, as the Fanboy Comics crew will be reviewing each title as it is released. Hurm. 

 

This penultimate issue of the Silk Spectre mini-series should be building up to the storyline’s climax, but instead comes across a bit aimless.

I’ve been a fan of the Silk Spectre series so far: the characters have been compelling, the storyline (while far from epic) has been intriguing, and the art has been consistently fantastic. Amanda Conner continues to deliver great images in this book, demonstrating her range by switching effortlessly between the clean and clear lines of reality to the more impressionistic panels of Laurie’s imagination. The imagination panels have continued to evolve with Laurie, this time taking the form of famous works of art that encapsulate what she is currently thinking or feeling. Conner has even more room to play artistically in an extended acid trip sequence that is suitably out there, as it walks the good trip/bad trip line.

However, that same acid trip sequence is also part of why I had problems with this issue. It constitutes a good chunk of the issue, and while it is definitely strange, it doesn’t do a whole lot to advance the story. Instead, it feels like an interlude with no clear purpose, which is made worse by the fact that this sequence opens the issue. After that, the story picks back up, but it doesn’t seem to know exactly where it’s going. There are some cool moments, including a significant appearance from another Watchmen character, and this issue does a lot to strip Laurie’s life in San Francisco of its rose-colored hue, but by the book’s end, I wasn’t left with a compelling reason to come back. It ends with no clear indication of where the story will be heading, which seems strange for the second-to-last installment of a series. While it is far from bad, this issue feels a bit adrift, and stands out as a weaker installment in what has otherwise been a strong series.

JORDAN ATTEMPTS TO FIGURE OUT THE CRIMSON CORSAIR BACK-UP STORY USING ONLY THE BITS IN SILK SPECTRE

Whoo, boy. Ok. So, our protagonist is now on an entirely different ship, despite the fact that the Flying Dutchman is supposed to be inescapable, right? This new ship is some sort of Spanish slave ship, and he’s had a fever, which is apparently only curable by having a voodoo woman cut at your face with a bone knife.

Let’s all take a moment to be thankful for modern medicine.

Then, some Spanish sailor wants to have his way with the protagonist’s lady friend, but our hero has an ace up his sleeve . . . the revelation that there is a plague on the ship! So, take that, villainous Spaniards!

. . . and also, everyone else onboard. Huh. This guy . . . this is not the smartest guy.

 

 

Jordan Callarman, Fanbase Press Contributor

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