The Good
This is the Before Watchmen book we've been waiting for, and it delivers in a big way. I'm going to get right to it, this is the best first issue of all the Before Watchmen books. This is the most interesting of them all featuring, without a doubt, one of the most interesting characters in this universe. Does it do the Watchmen source material justice? Hell yes it does.
The issue follows Rorschach through his earlier days as he worked alone as he tries to get rid of the scum on the streets. But what happens when he meets someone more organized and tougher? Spoiler: He gets the crap kicked out of him. This is a cool story the reintroduces us to a great character. This is also a great start to another story about what looks like to be a serial killer as well. There's lots to love about this issue.
Writer Brian Azzarello really does a great job of capturing this character's voice, tone, and thought process. Out of all the BW books, this one represents the original character the best. You truly get the feeling this is the same character from the Watchman series from almost twenty-five years ago.
Lee Bermejo's art is not only beautiful, but it fits perfectly with Azzarello's art. He does a great job of capturing the gritty side of the city during the late 70s. On top of that, he does an amazing job capturing moments during a fight. I loved the fight scenes in this issue. They were incredibly cool.
The Bad
I'm not digging the Crimson Corsair stuff in the back. I've been skipping it mostly because I'd rather read it all at once instead of two pages at a time.
The Verdict
I know some comic book fans consider these books to be comic book blasphemy and reading them makes you some sort of comic book heretic, but this book was awesome. This is the Before Watchmen book we've all been waiting for and wanted to read. This book not only has a great creative team, but they work so well together and they do this character and the Watchmen world justice. The story is great, and this is the book you'll want to read, if you've ever read Watchmen before.
Overall, I highly recommend this issue.