Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #2 Reaction

Ozymandias #2

The cover to the tenth Before Watchmen comic, Ozymandias #2, really bothers me. It's not the image itself. It's the fact that this is an image that grabs your attention and then disappoints you because it has NO connection to the actual story inside. Who is this woman? What does the cord around Adrian's neck symbolize? We don't even have a  hint to an answer. Great image but it would have been a better cover for Nite Owl #2.

Adrian picks up his quest to avenge his lover's drug-induced death. The two-page spread that shows Adrian taking out the thugs quick as lightning is absolutely great. All of the objects and figures are silhouettes against a background the same yellow as the cover. Jae Lee slips back to his old standby, the silhouette, in this issue far too often and it quickly gets old.

Ozymandias gets to deliver the famous lines from the poem that inspired his name in this comic which is a great moment. What a fantastically fitting scene, especially because we all know where the character ends up.

I was thrilled with the development the issue takes at the end. Hooded Justice is a mystery among mystery men and to have both Ozymandias and the Comedian (either together or as adversaries) trying to learn what became of him is almost too good to wait for.

In the backup story, The Curse of the Crimson Corsair, I'm a little bit sick of every installment beginning or ending with the main character unconscious. In this case, both are true. The "cliffhanger" endings where the main character is in mortal peril wear thin after awhile as well. Are they really going to kill him in the tenth installment of a series of 200+ pages? No, I sincerely doubt it.