Swoon Soon! Before Watchmen: Moloch

Okay, you've done your sums and budgeted for the entire Before Watchmen run. Then DC go and announce that they're slipping in a new series. Due in November is Before Watchmen: Moloch #1 which will be brought to us by J. Michael Straczynski and Eduardo Risso. Until then we have this rather curious teaser:

Weekly Treats! Minutemen! Ed The Happy Clown!

“Little did we know that poor boy would lead to the end of us all.”

What a week. WHAT A WEEK!!! Worth waiting for I think. I'll start with Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1 (DC) otherwise it's just going to be the elephant in the room until I do. There is quite a storm raging about the moral integrity of this project (see here) but all we can do is invite you to vote with your fistful of money. As for the product itself well Darwyn Cooke shoulders the burden of expectation with these rather (I'm sorry, I'm sorry) excellent pages - note the geometrical repetitions linking distant time and space:

Images from USAToday including thoughts from Darwyn Cooke (see here).  Minutemen #1 also includes the first part of the Crimson Corsair back-up pirate story by Len Wein and John Higgins.

If you're looking for something dark, twisted and disturbing (and let's face it: who wouldn't) try Ed The Happy Clown (Drawn & Quarterly) by Chester Brown. Originally starting life in Brown's Yummy Fur publication in the late 1980's this hallucinatory tale grew through improvisation as "a dark roller-coaster ride of criminal activity and a scathing condemnation of religious and political charlatanism" (Drawn & Quarterly solicitations). As the world around him devolves into madness, the eponymous Ed escapes variously from a jealous boyfriend, sewer monsters, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and a janitor with a Jesus complex...

Darkness of a different kind with (drum roll) Walking Dead vol. 16 (Image) by Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard. Rick discovers that there are communities of survivors nearby, and begins to explore a larger world.

Also, rather sadly DMZ vol. 12 (Vertigo) brings to an end Brian Wood's excellent political thriller. Illustrated by Riccardo Burchielli, will the social order in New York City devolve into anarchy, or is there a new New York to be discovered underneath the rubble of the old? And, AND we have Garth Ennis' Boys vol. 11 (Dynamite) as Billy the Butcher gets closer to his wife's killer, The Boys prepare for a final battle...

And finally: Avengers vs X-Men #5 (Marvel)...

Told you! There's even more listed under the tab at the top...

Soon...Before Watchmen!

What you're about to see is classified. Please remove your eyes from your head afterwards:

Before Watchmen: Minutemen by Darwyn Cooke

Yes already; leaked pages from Before Watchmen (see here).  Now we have something to either print up and burn or get excited about...

Swoon Soon-ish! Before Watchmen

DC are keeping up the teasing momentum by releasing a banner image for Before Watchmen by Lee Bermejo who is illustrating the Rorschach story written by Brian Azzarello.

Swoon Soon-ish! Before Watchmen

Have you heard...

Rorschach looks angry - there's steam coming out of his ears!

Introducing Before Watchmen:

• RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo

• MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke

• COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones

• DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes

• NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert

• OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee

• SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner

An issue released every week and each one contains a part to a back-up story Curse of the Crimson Corsair by Len Wein and John Higgins - just in case you were thinking of cherry picking your favourites! Shipping this Summer.

Keep an eye on DC Universe: The Source (see here) and Bleeding Cool (see here) for updates.