Before Watchmen: Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair Paperback – July 1, 2014

This was amazing I thought all the way through. Yes the crimson corsair is a little slow at parts in ways but the finish with Dollar Bill was AWESOME from top to bottom. And Ozymandias was jus phenomenal. In the tone, the art, the story. Everything was told so perfectly that it all came together and even read like it had that tone you know he's speaking in, that yes he's right in doing what he's going to do but is it really? Some would argue he's in the wrong because of the people that did die but the end goal was the thing. Just so complex and really WHY you have to just give so much props to the ORIGINAL WATCHMEN, still relevant and now seeing the other sides of the stories, I thought this would be one of the hardest to tell and also to capture in picture as well as tone and dialog, the way he stands, is drawn everything was done so perfect and was how he definitely saw all of it in his mind and just a superb job done by Len Wein, Jae Lee and John Higgins and all the others that were involved in this. Thank you because at times I lost faith with a few of these. I mean they were all good but some fell short of their potential while others over achieved like with the silk spectre, that story was paired with the right co-story. Anyway this is top notch.

Ozy story is by far the best of all the prequels. The original graphic novel dove into the character to an okay extent, although considering his importance to the story, I wished it has gone deeper. And here it goes just as deep as anyone had ever wanted it. We finally get a more complete idea of Veidt and how he turned into the villian, as well as how he justifies killing so many in the name of peace. Stellar writing. Interesting layout. Great artwork.The crimson corsair was good as well, but I felt the beginning moved a little slow for my taste but everything wrapped up perfectly in the end.Dollar bill one shot was a fun read. He was the only character that didn't get developed in Minutemen or the original and It was interesting and darkly funny to see his back story.

This is the hardcover collected version of the DC comic book series Before Watchmen:Ozymandias and Crimson Corsair. For those unfamiliar with the work, Watchmen is one of the four or five "best" comic book series ever published. Created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, that original series redefined for many people the boundaries of what a "comic book" story could be about. Like all great works it has many different themes. It covers the different types of "super heroes", the incongruity of vigilantism and a legal system, what it might really mean to the world if there were truly superbeings like a Superman. Please read the reviews of that work and consider reading it in a collected form - the recent movie really doesn't do it justice.This work is part of a series of works which tries to fill in parts of the "Watchmen Universe". When it was first announced, it was widely derided as just being a cheap money grab - until the quality of the artists and writers were known. They were able to get some excellent people to work on this project and the quality shows. For those familiar with Watchmen, the fun is seeing how the little nuances are developed and dropped that foreshadow the story we know is coming. The subsequent review assumes the reader has read Watchmen. If not, it might not make much sense. It would be like reading about a book which fills in the background characters of some huge novel like War and Peace or Tale of Two Cities if one had not first read the originals.The production values are pretty good - not as good as the Absolute Edition" but still pretty good. The paper is decent and colors are clear. One quibble is with the binding which seems very tight and without much which edge space.In this volume two of the limited series are collected - the issues pertaining to Ozymandias, the Crimson Corsair and a short on Dollar Bill. Len Wein plots out a convincing tale which fills in the background of Ozymandias. Jae Lee's art work is good but some may find it stilted and posed. Purists might argue that a critical scene which portrays the first meeting between Ozymandias and The Comedian is mis-handled. In the original a good feint is referenced as being the one maneuver Ozymandias felt that The Comedian possessed; here is it given a broader interpretation. Finally for real detail nitpickers, would the Comedian have had what looks like a pretty modern AR-15 and a HK SMG in 1959?The Crimson Corsair part fills in a story much as one would expect to find in The Tales of the Black Freighter. It reads like one of the older horror or suspense comics with a not-that-surprising but gory ending.The Dollar Bill short is a nice bit which interestingly could be read as a stand alone. It helps to fill in the least well described character in the original work.For fans of Watchmen, I'd recommend it - I'd give it a higher star except for the reasons noted above.

This high-quality hardbound edition of the Before Watchmen series is divided into three segments: Ozymandias, Crimson Corsair and Dollar Bill.Ozymandias makes it all worth while, as the artwork and story are engaging. The Ozymandias we know from the classic Alan Moore novel is fleshed out in all his anti-villain splendor.That is what the Before Watchmen series is about. Dollar Bill is a cool One-Shot chapter which adds to the excellent 6 issue Minutemen series (available separately or combined with Silk Spectre in hardbound or TPB also). This Deluxe Edition includes the variant covers in the back. And then there is Crimson Corsair... Totally unrelated to the Watchmen World, unless you are a Black Freighter fan. And, beware! Gloomy, gory, tragic, tedious, depressing, violent... The artwork is fantastic, but nightmarish. If you want to pay a visit to Hell, here is your chance. (If you ARE a fan of this story, this is the way to read it. Otherwise, Crimson Corsair pops up in 2-page pieces throughout the whole Before Watchmen series.) Ozymandias/Dollar Bill are SO well done I gave this 5 stars in spite of the pirate story.

Interesting backstories that add to the characters in Watchmen. Items were carefully packaged and delivered fast, in impeccable condition.

The "Ozymandias" storyline is OK; not as good as some have said, but pretty good. It gives us more of a genuine origin story than any of the other "Before Watchmen" stories give. "Crimson Corsair" doesn't suit my tastes at all and I found it to be very uninteresting. The included Dollar Bill one-shot probably is the best thing in this compilation.

These are great books as a set but the Ozymandias one is by far the most meningfull in my mind. As he was such an important character in Watchmen yet, you don't get to see his story as much as you should. This book is great.

Le "Before Watchmen" concernant Ozymandias est très agréable à lire et invite à une relecture de Watchmen avec un autre regard.Un livre qui enrichira la collection de tous les fans d'Alan Moore et de Watchmen.

Fast shipping. Awesone drawings.It's a masterpiece. You might want to get youself a laptop case if you want to travel with it.

I loved Watchmen and I'm loving before Watchmen, I was worried that these prequel comics wouldn't pack the same punch as Watchmen but they do. The artists are superb and the storylines are clever and well written tying in themes form the original graphic novel. Delivery was fast and packaging meant my book came in excellent condition. Reckon most of my comic needs will be fulfilled by Wordery now

You can't compare unlike objects. And that is what Watchmen and Before Watchmen are. Sure they share a common storyline but its strange to see most reviews give negatives to BW based on their love for the original and the unreachable standards set by the mothership.The BW series are really story arcs that really work well do link the reader with the characters a lot better. And though definitely not as singularly breathtaking as Moore's masterpiece, they nevertheless imbibe a lot of the pleasure of what the series brought to the reader's life. The artwork is great, the stories are tight and if you are a watchmen lover, then you need to own these.The deluxe editions are wonderful and together with the deluxe edition of watchmen, they stand tall, handsome, almost costumed vigilante-like on your bookshelf.Collect them if you are a fan of the concept called watchmen and aren't too much of a puritan who compares Alan Moore to lesser mortals. Its unfair. If he is the head of the family, then the younger members at least tried and what they created was a worthy extension.And now the family can indeed stay 'Happily ever after'.

A great book! The inclusion of the crimson coursair is a wonderful addition to the Watchmen universe and a further look at ozymandias reveals another side to his story. Obviously comes with the uncomfortable downsides of hardbacks when reading but looks very good on a bookshelf as a whole set. If I didn't already have a full set I would buy them all again!