Ozymandias is perhaps the most narrow of the various Before Watchmen books in terms of focus. Len Wein is wholly concerned with fleshing out the early years of Adrian Veidt, and the greater Watchmen universe only begins to intersect with Adrian's rise to power in issue #2. That single-minded approach could work well if Wein had anything new or exciting to say about his hero, but the central flaw with this mini-series is that it tells us remarkably little about Ozymandias we haven't read before.
Issue #1 covered Veidt's childhood and formative journey across Europe and Asia, concluding with the character's first inkling that a superhero career might be just what the doctor ordered. Issue #2, in turn covers the first few weeks of that superhero career. We see Veidt clash with various drug dealers and other scum of New York even as he slowly becomes fascinated by the troubled history of the city's other costumed vigilantes.
As books like Batman: Year One prove, there can be a great deal of entertainment in watching a hero learn the ropes and struggle with establishing their reputation. The problem is that Ozymandias by his very nature doesn't struggle. Like an Ayn Rand hero, Veidt never falls victim to weakness or self-doubt, and his body never fails him. There's no sense of danger in the story whatsoever because Ozymandias so easily accomplishes every goal set before him. And again, the fact that the script and its copious amounts of narrative exposition can't shed any new light on the character makes the entire enterprise feel pointless. If this story were to be taken solely on its own merits outside the context of Watchmen, it would still read like a dull, formulaic origin tale. Perhaps most frustrating is that the cover suggests Ozy will clash with some sort of sexually charged villainess who can throw even his mighty mind for a loop. Strangely, this villainess never appears and the cover has no bearing on the actual contents of the issue.
Granted, Wein does seem to have Veidt's voice down. The proud nobility, casual arrogance, and innate desire to save the world are all there. There just isn't any particular reason to care about the character. Alan Moore kept Ozymandias at a slight distance for most of the original story because readers needed to view him as a kindly, slightly out of touch hero up until the reveal of his masterstroke. Apparently delving more deeply into his psychology yields nothing more interesting than that.
The writing in this series may be forgettable, but the art goes a long, long way towards justifying the purchase price. This is quickly shaping up to be Jae Lee's defining work. The same eerie mood and ethereal textures that characterized his Dark Tower work are still readily apparent, but enhanced by more intricate figure work and a more dynamic sense of storytelling. The figures bleed energy and power. A particular double-page spread casts all its characters in shadow, producing a graceful ballet of motion and combat. This is beautiful stuff.
As usual, the less said about the Crimson Corsair backup feature, the better.
I'll continue picking up this book until the end solely because of the art. That said, it's really disappointing that Wein hasn't found anything new or interesting to say about Veidt so far. I can only hope the final page reveal will shake up the formula a bit.
Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and various other IGN channels. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.
Source : ign[dot]com
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