Created on June 22, 2012 and written by TommyZimmer
Category: Comic Book Reviews

Rating: 4/5
Publisher Name: DC Comics
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Pencils: JG Jones
Number of Pages: 32 pgs.
Price: 3.99
Color: Color
Safety Content Label: MAX – EXPLICIT CONTENT – 18 years old.

Publisher’s Blurb:
“I’m a funny guy…”

Plus: Don’t miss the CRIMSON CORSAIR backup story by writer LEN WEIN and artist JOHN HIGGINS!

Reviewer’s Comments:
With the Before Watchmen issues coming out, I was keen to pick up the Comedian’s miniseries. Not only is he one of the more interesting characters in the hit graphic novel but he also predates the Watchmen group.

We find Edward Blake in his home late at night as he listens to music. He finds an old baseball, and begins to reminisce. He goes back to his days when he was friends with the Kennedy family. He is playing football with Jack and Ted Kennedy while Jackie Kennedy, Jack’s wife, looks on. Comedian makes his way into the Kennedy home where he speaks with Jackie. The two discuss the interest of Comedian in their family. As Jackie tries to get Comedian to admit his love for Jack, he will only admit he respects him. They finally come to the conclusion of Comedian’s complete respect for the boys even though; Jackie pierces away at her mythical family. She brings up Ms. Marilyn Monroe who Jack has been sleeping with, and Jackie persuades Comedian to take care of the situation. He does it, and moves onto a bar. He talks with the Kennedy brothers who he had made bets with either. He is apparently not doing too well, and wants to continue going. They conclude a bargain, and go on. As Comedian is about to leave on a plane, a FBI agent stops him, and wants him to take care of Moloch the Mystic. Blake stops him just as Walter Cronkite is announcing Kennedy has been shot. The two men stop their battle of good versus evil, and Mr. Moloch poses the question: “What are we going to do now?”

Brian Azzarello does a fine job here. He makes Blake more of a character you sympathize. He has had a troubling life, and Mr. Azzarello tries to bring that out rather than leave his anger as the thing motivating him. The only troubling thing is that in the graphic novel Watchmen, the Comedian is hinted at being the one who killed JFK. However here, we have Blake taking down Moloch as it happens. It doesn’t add up but yet again, Azzarello may just be writing this page in history down as Eddie being innocent. Backing Azzarello up is JG Jones who does a magnificent job capturing that past era of American history. He really manages to capture every detail of that time but also capture the Watchmen-esque take on that era made famous by Dave Gibbons. While it had an issue with continuity, I cannot fault the issue for that. Mr. A may have wanted to clear Blake of that crime to make him a more sympathetic person…… Who knows…… All I know is that it is a good re-entry point for Comedian.

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About the Writer: TommyZimmer (133 Posts) Tommy Zimmer is an upcoming writer of short stories, comic books, journalism/media reviews, screenplays, and anything related to writing. He is headquartered in Detroit, MI where he attends University of Detroit Mercy. He is majoring in English Creative Writing with two minors in Business Administration and Multimedia Journalism. He currently helms his "zimmert101" blog at zimmert101.wordpress.com. He also writes for Paper Dragon Ink and Super Powered Fiction, and wrote for Modern Myth Media.

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