Here is the latest installment of ...And the Superhuman Review, where Chad Nevett and Brian Cronin discuss each issue of DC's Before Watchmen event. Just, you know, eight years late. You can check out the earlier reviews here.

We continue with Before Watchmen: Minutemen #6 "The Last Minute" by Darwyn Cooke and Phil Noto.

Brian Cronin: Doesn't it strike you as odd that we've had two otherwise unrelated stories reference the ending of this comic and yet this comic ended with still five other Before Watchmen comic books set to come out? Shouldn't this have logically been the last book to be released?

Chad Nevett: It definitely feels that way. Like it should have been paced so the first issue was the first BW comic and the last issue was the last released with the rest evenly spaced out. Then again, that would have required all of the books to hit their marks and keep to the schedule, so...

Brian Cronin: But I mean, they could have just HELD this one, no?

Chad Nevett: Of course. I mean, it was released the same day as Ozymandias #5, so it's not like that week would have been without a Before Watchmen comic. But they didn't because... uh... reasons...?

Brian Cronin: The only thing I can think of is that originally Wein was going to do a prologue and so they wanted to end with a Wein comic?

Brian Cronin: But yeah, it was a strange decision to make Hollis' mystery be such a big deal in the overall narrative and then have it be revealed as almost an afterthought.

Chad Nevett: Not an afterthought, Brian. The funniest joke the Comedian was ever involved in.

Brian Cronin: Ha!

Brian Cronin: Yeah, that's the other thing. They build this all up and the revelation is fairly blah.

Chad Nevett: It made me laugh. But, that probably says more about me than anything. I see where Cooke was going with the 'clever' reveal that Hooded Justice not only wasn't a kidnapper/rapist/murderer of children, but was almost certainly a victim himself, but, you're right, it falls flat.

Chad Nevett: It's too labored to not be what we all expect. Too cute by half.

Brian Cronin: I'll certainly give Cooke this much, he obviously told the story all really well.

Brian Cronin: You can (and should) take an issue with the reveal in general (especially in terms of it being a DARK SECRET), but damn, Cooke was a brilliant sequential storyteller.

Brian Cronin: It makes some of these other books we've been reading look kind of embarrassing in terms of its economic nature.

Brian Cronin: I mean, to be fair, you don't want to be economical in your panels when you have Jae Lee wanting to cut loose on some cool shit.

Brian Cronin: But otherwise, a lot of the narratives that we've been seeing have been strained at best and Cooke has been fitting, like, two issues' worth of story in each issue of Before Watchmen: Minutemen and having it WORK.

Chad Nevett: Agreed. And that's the contradictory pull of this series, in particular. I marvel at Cooke's technical ability, but find myself at odds with the approach he takes to the material. I find it closer to Straczynski's "filling in holes that didn't need to be filled" than Azzarello's "fuck it, I'll just do what I want" approach.

Chad Nevett: What he does is rarely what I want, but he does it quite well.

Brian Cronin: That really describes it exactly.

Brian Cronin: And when the series has been at its best, it has been when it went off script.

Brian Cronin: The Japanese father and son last issue? That was excellent.

Brian Cronin: And Cooke's Silk Spectre (with Amanda Conner and Paul Mounts) was its own thing and that was quite good, as well.

Chad Nevett: We seem to agree that the best of these books are the ones that don't feel the need to explain Watchmen or even add to it, but just live inside these characters' pasts without trying to make it more than that.

Brian Cronin: It just makes sense, though, right? They hired these guys because they're some of the top people in the business.

Brian Cronin: You get to be the top people in the business because of your originality.

Brian Cronin: And yet so many of them have decided to be, like, "Remember when Doctor Manhattan walked past that cab in Watchmen #3? What's the deal with that cab? How did it get there in that exact moment?"

Chad Nevett: I think it's more than that. I don't think anyone really considers these works as part of Watchmen in any serious way. There is no continuity to fit into, really, because that work exists over by itself and this is something related-but-separate, so all attempts to colour inside those lines is grating. Better to use that originality you mention and do something your own.

Brian Cronin: What's funny, of course, is that one of Cooke's most famous piece of work was also an adaptation, the Parker novels.

Chad Nevett: I mean, these have as much relationship to Watchmen as the Pax Americana issue of Multiversity. Or Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt.

Brian Cronin: And yet he was a lot more clever with those adaptations than he has been here, for the most part.

Brian Cronin: Man, it kind of irks me to even think of Pax Americana and Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt, in comparison with these series.

Brian Cronin: Those two works were on a whole other level of creativity.

Brian Cronin: I take it that Morrison and Gillen were not interested in doing Before Watchmen stories.

Brian Cronin: I guess that was a trick of it all, too, as you had to find people willing to put their reputation on the line for this series.

Brian Cronin: Wein was at the end of his career, so it really didn't matter.

Brian Cronin: Straczysnki could care less what comic fans think of him.

Brian Cronin: And Azzarello thinks the same way, but without the "I'm more of a TV writer" aspect of it all.

Brian Cronin: So Cooke is really the curious one in it all.

Brian Cronin: He has the most reputation to loose out of this and he didn't really get anything out of this series, critically-wise.

Brian Cronin: I'm sure these paid well, but I would imagine that Cooke would have been paid well for, like, a Batman graphic novel or whatever.

Brian Cronin: Okay, I found Cooke talking about his reasons. It's weird.

Brian Cronin: From io9, "I can remember being approached a few years back by [DC Comics Co-Publisher] Dan DiDio. My initial response was "absolutely not." The reason for that was simple — I consider Watchmen a magnificent book, and I just didn't see doing anything that could live up to it, especially after all of this time. Dan did his best at that point to get me on board. He let me know he wanted me to handle the Minutemen, but I just couldn't see it, so I passed.

When you do this stuff for a living, ideas come through your head day in and day out. It was close to a year later, I suppose, the idea for the Minutemen fell into my head. I sat down, plotted a treatment, and it really got me excited. There was something there I could bring to the party, but it didn't contradict anything Alan and David had done. It fit perfectly into the scenario they had set up for these characters, so I contacted Dan and told him, "Count me in.""

Brian Cronin: So there ya go, he felt that he was doing a story that could stand on its own.

Brian Cronin: And then they made a point to reference his story in a bunch of the other series, soooo...yeah.

Chad Nevett: Makes sense. The challenge/an idea came to me. I'm sure the others all had some form of that. But, you did imply something I'd never considered: who else was asked and begged off...?

Brian Cronin: It had to be a lot of people.

Chad Nevett: What's weird is that I don't recall seeing much get out about that. No rumours or anything.

Brian Cronin: Looking into it, the two people I found (other than Moore and Gibbons, of course) right away were Kevin Smith and John Byrne.

Brian Cronin: How odd, right?

Brian Cronin: Kevin Smith and John Byrne?

Brian Cronin: I mean, I'm sure it was for separate series, but still.

Chad Nevett: I would have been up for a 13th "Just Imagine..." book!

Brian Cronin: Oh man, that would have amazing.

Brian Cronin: Get Steve Ditko to do it.

Brian Cronin: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko re-imagine Rorschach!

Chad Nevett: I picture something called Watchmen that's like clockwork steampunk robots...

Brian Cronin: With John Romita re-drawing all the faces, for the heck of it.

Brian Cronin: Speaking of Cooke's skill as an artist, he decided to go nine-panel grid just to show off.

Brian Cronin: And it totally worked.

Chad Nevett: I don't know what I think of that as he didn't really go for it... it's just something that happens sometimes before he returns to his four-tier page-wide panels layout again.

Brian Cronin: He goes to it for the assault on Hooded Justice.

Brian Cronin: There's no real good thematic reason for that.

Brian Cronin: It sure seems like it was mostly just because he thought it'd be cool.

Brian Cronin: It IS impressive to be able to do it.

Chad Nevett: I think I was more impressed with the Dr. Manhattan page and the way that he breaks panel borders there.

Brian Cronin: He and Jae Lee have both brought it with their Doctor Manhattan spotlight pages.

Brian Cronin: I think it is fascinating, in a way, to see just how pathetic Hollis is.

Brian Cronin: He is in love with a lesbian and his greatest success is killing an innocent man just so that he could be blackmailed by some asshole.

Chad Nevett: And thinks himself noble because he doesn't tell the world.

Brian Cronin: What I don't get is, why did Blake want the Hooded Justice story taken out?

Brian Cronin: Or did he want the rape stuff taken out?

Brian Cronin: And this was his attempt to get that taken out?

Chad Nevett: Well, the one bit we see in the manuscript where it's edited is around the Committee of UnAmerican Activities. I assume it's more about their government-related work than anything.

Chad Nevett: I don't think Hollis would have put the Hooded Justice bit in anyway. Who confesses to murder like that?

Brian Cronin: Like the Japanese son and father bit?

Chad Nevett: Yeah.

Chad Nevett: I think Blake would have wanted the attempted rape kept out, but... well, we all know how that turned out.

Brian Cronin: Blake's plan was a bit too cute by half.

Chad Nevett: Well, he got a little distracted by ensuring he got to his punchline.

Brian Cronin: Hah

Brian Cronin: Basically.

Brian Cronin: Here's what i don't get - why would Hollis give a shit about Dan knowing this about him?

Brian Cronin: Doesn't this seem like the sort of thing that you'd totally tell a close friend?

Brian Cronin: Especially your protege

Chad Nevett: Well, he did kill Hooded Justice. For no reason.

Brian Cronin: Yeah, but he was clearly manipulated by Comedian into doing it.

Brian Cronin: Dan would understand that.

Brian Cronin: But it is pretty funny to see Comedian solve the mystery so easily that had tormented Hollis for over a decade.

Chad Nevett: There's a reason why he was the only Minuteman still active into the 80s.

Chad Nevett: Between this and his own series, Blake is presented as nothing short of the most capable non-powered costumed adventurer of them all.

Brian Cronin: Yeah, pretty much. Ozymandias' series, too.

Brian Cronin: I like the circle call back at the end of the issue.

Brian Cronin: Let me see if the first issue opened with a circle.

Brian Cronin: The opening of this issue did.

Brian Cronin: But I bet if I go back to #1, it'll be there, too.

Chad Nevett: I liked that too. Cooke used circles quite a bit in the series -- much differently than Jae Lee over on Ozymandias, but consistently.

Brian Cronin: Yep, the opening two pages of the series are almost complete bookends.

Brian Cronin: I assumed as much, but good to see it was true.

Brian Cronin: Cooke was a talented, talented guy.

Brian Cronin: This isn't the series I would hand anyone to see how great he was.

Brian Cronin: But at the same time, if you DID, his talent would still shine through.