Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #2 Review

Aside from Silk Spectre, Nite Owl might be the Watchmen character best suited for an extended origin treatment. After all, Nite Owl is essentially equal parts Blue Beetle and Batman held together by a glue of sexual dysfunction. Unfortunately, issue #1 did too little to realize that potential, as it powered through Dan Dreiberg's early years and all the way up to his early team-ups with Rorschach. Where is there left for the series to go from there?

Writer J. Michael Straczynski changes up his approach in issue #2, as he frequently switches between Dreiberg's costumed antics and flashbacks to his unhappy childhood. It's an approach that probably should have been employed from the start. And unfortunately, having already seen the most formative events of his childhood last month, these scenes tend to feel a little pointless now. There's no real sense of progression with these flashbacks, only that of circling around and around.

One area of improvement is that Straczynski makes sex a more prominent theme in this issue. A new costumed character called Twilight Lady provides much of the impetus, as she spends the majority of her scenes with Nite Owl sans costume. Not the most subtle way of going about things, but so far it works well enough. Incidentally, there's an odd, hazy quality to Twilight's body, as if DC changed their minds at the last minute as far as how much nudity they wanted to show. In any case, the theme of sex continues to be a driving force throughout the issue, affecting both Nite Owl and Rorschach in interesting ways.

Speaking of Rorschach, another questionable storytelling choice is to give him such a prominent role in the script. For all intents and purposes, this book should be called Before Watchmen: Nite Owl and Rorschach. Their partnership is certainly one of the more compelling aspects of the Watchmen saga, but it's difficult not to wonder how much more Straczynski could accomplish with Dreiberg and Hollis Mason without Rorschach hogging the spotlight.

Aside from the aforementioned haziness, Andy and Joe Kubert do a solid job with this issue. The series is easily the most faithful to the original in terms of visual tone and texture, if not necessarily page construction. The elder Kubert's inks lend just the right touch of grit and grime to the younger's powerful heroes.

Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #2 feels less familiar than the first issue. However, Straczynski needs to maintain focus on the title character and leave Rorschach to his own series.

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