I wanted to like The Watchmen. I really did. Unfortunately, it was ultimately a bit boring for me. I tried reading the maxi-series back in the 1980s when it first came out and didn't get beyond the first issue. Compared to my favorite comics at the time (Marv Wolfman and George Perez' The New Teen Titans, John Byrne's Fantastic Four, and Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men), it lacked a lot, both in story and in art.
I again tried to read the entire collection in 2009 before the movie came out. I got about halfway through the graphic novel before finally deciding to put it to rest. I discovered that I wasn't actually too young at the time to appreciate it in the 80s; it was actually very boring. Worse, each page consisted of 9 tiny rectangular panels, one after the other. It didn't vary at all from that formula, making the artwork bland as well. And each tiny panel had more words in it than should have been allowed. What happened to showing the story instead of just telling it? I'm all for dialogue to keep a story flowing. In fact, I thrive on dialogue much more than descriptions when reading a novel, but too much -- especially in a comic book -- can be incredibly distracting.
I saw the Watchmen movie and enjoyed it overall, although I felt that it did drag in spots. Following that, I decided to pick up a few of the Before Watchmen series that DC Comics released in 2012. I picked up Comedian, Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl, Rorshach, and Silk Spectre. While I surprisingly enjoyed Nite Owl more than some of the others, it was Silk Spectre that really stood out, both in story and art. I wasn't that crazy for Amanda Conner's cartoonish art in the short-lived Power Girl series, but in Silk Spectre, she really did an AMAZING job. The quality rivals Nicola Scott and George Perez, two of my favorite artists. The characters feel very lifelike and each panel feels like a work of art. I was VERY impressed. After seeing what she can do on this book, I'd love to see her on a monthly series.
The story itself was more interesting than the others, too. Silk Spectre's mother Sally Jupiter (the first Silk Spectre) is very controlling and self-centered. She's like the Norma Desmond (Sunset Boulevard) of superheroes, always concerned about aging and her looks. She consistently puts down Laurie, making her feel alone and unwanted. Unlike in the original Watchmen series, in the panel to the right, the author Darwyn Cooke shows how a 9-panel page can tell a LOT about a person (aka Sally) and hold the reader's attention. Naturally, the excellent artwork by Amanda Conner complements the scene.
Cooke wraps the Silk Spectre's story up nicely, introducing her to the rest of the Watchmen team, giving us her first impressions. Again, he does this successfully in a page cluttered with words, but Amanda Conner's beautiful art doesn't take a backseat.
I'm not saying that I'd read any other Watchmen series in the future. I'm really not that crazy about any of the characters and the world in which they live. However, I would love Amanda Conner to get another regular monthly gig on a DC Comics series because she's demonstrated that she can do so much more than Power Girl.
When I heard last year that Ms. Marvel was being "promoted" to Captain Marvel and getting her own new series, I thought, "Well deserved!" Back in the day, Ms. Marvel was created as Marvel Comics' answer to DC's Supergirl; she was the female version of a male powerhouse. I've always liked her character since her days as Ms. Marvel in the 1970s and Binary in the 1980s. I also loved the connection between she and Rogue (back when Rogue was ultra cool, a bit wicked, and not some hooded no-personality with a daddy fetish). There was such animosity between the two that led to some great tension in the X-books. Ms. Marvel may have started out as a "super girl," but she became so much more.
My first reaction a year ago to the released images of Ms. Marvel as the new Captain Marvel was, "Why are they making this once-sexy woman look like a bird-headed dyke?" Yes, that was a brash and stereotypical thought and comment. However, it wasn't far from the truth. Her new hairstyle did look like that atop a cockatoo, and not unlesbian-like.
Despite my initial reaction, I gave the series a try, and I recently had the chance to read the first year of the new Captain Marvel series. Sadly, I'm underwhelmed. The stories and characterizations are very mediocre. The time-travel saga with the female pilots felt like I was caught in a time loop and couldn't get out. The highlight of Captain Marvel's first year was probably the guest appearances of Monica Rambeau, the 1980s Captain Marvel, another character I really liked. She could make for a great regular supporting character.
Fortunately, in the later issues, Carol Danvers is letting her hair grow long again and gaining back some of her feminine appearance, but the stories still feel lacking to me. Worse, the art has gotten poorer with Filipe Andrade's distorted imagery of Captain Marvel. For instance, what's happened to her face? It's enough to send children screaming. Is there a new Cubist movement?
I don't see myself continuing to read the new Captain Marvel series. It feels like such a letdown, which is disappointing because Marvel has so many great female characters in their universe, but too few solo female comic books. There's Captain Marvel and, um...Red She-Hulk. Is that it? Am I missing any? Even Marvel Comics' new upcoming female-only X-book is simply titled X-Men. What's that about, ladies? Marvel would probably reply, "Female-driven comic books just don't sell." The reality, though, is that crappy comic books don't sell. It doesn't have to do with sex; it has to do with quality storytelling (and art).
I wanted to like The Watchmen. I really did. Unfortunately, it was ultimately a bit boring for me. I tried reading the maxi-series back in the 1980s when it first came out and didn't get beyond the first issue. Compared to my favorite comics at the time (Marv Wolfman and George Perez' The New Teen Titans, John Byrne's Fantastic Four, and Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men), it lacked a lot, both in story and in art. 
I again tried to read the entire collection in 2009 before the movie came out. I got about halfway through the graphic novel before finally deciding to put it to rest. I discovered that I wasn't actually too young at the time to appreciate it in the 80s; it was actually very boring. Worse, each page consisted of 9 tiny rectangular panels, one after the other. It didn't vary at all from that formula, making the artwork bland as well. And each tiny panel had more words in it than should have been allowed. What happened to showing the story instead of just telling it? I'm all for dialogue to keep a story flowing. In fact, I thrive on dialogue much more than descriptions when reading a novel, but too much -- especially in a comic book -- can be incredibly distracting. 
The story itself was more interesting than the others, too. Silk Spectre's mother Sally Jupiter (the first Silk Spectre) is very controlling and self-centered. She's like the Norma Desmond (Sunset Boulevard) of superheroes, always concerned about aging and her looks. She consistently puts down Laurie, making her feel alone and unwanted. Unlike in the original Watchmen series, in the panel to the right, the author Darwyn Cooke shows how a 9-panel page can tell a LOT about a person (aka Sally) and hold the reader's attention. Naturally, the excellent artwork by Amanda Conner complements the scene. 
Cooke wraps the Silk Spectre's story up nicely, introducing her to the rest of the Watchmen team, giving us her first impressions. Again, he does this successfully in a page cluttered with words, but Amanda Conner's beautiful art doesn't take a backseat. 
