Before Watchmen

[spiderfrommars]

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2012/02/01/it ... -watchmen/

Impressive line up of creators on the project, though one of the more interesting comments points out the lack of British talent involved.

Anyway, let me know how it goes boys. If it's not totally horrible I might pick up some of the TPBs.

[Shanti418]

Yeah, I'm not sure how they're going to go, especially in regards to how the creative teams seem confident that by the end of it all, everyone will go, "Oh, that prequel was CLEARLY essential!"

Aside from Cooke's Minutemen, can't say anything else has really got be interested.

I did think it was funny how almost to a man, writers interviewed about this thing throw LxG and Girls in the face of Moore's "Wha? You can't touch my universe!"

[Brendocon]

Words cannot describe my indifference.

[bumblemusprime]

Straczynski's will be weird and preachy. Don't trust it.

Azzarello and Cooke's may be cool.

But I'm with Alan Moore. Sometimes a good story should just be a good story. There are plenty of great comics out there and these creators should just go write their own great (or lousy) creations.

[DJ_Convoy]

Do not want.

[spiderfrommars]

I did think it was funny how almost to a man, writers interviewed about this thing throw LxG and Girls in the face of Moore's "Wha? You can't touch my universe!"

And I don't get the comparison. Those stories Moore riffed on were written 100+ years ago!

Straczynski also points out that Moore happily wrote in the Superman universe, but it's not as if Action Comics ever conceived Supes as a standalone story. (or maybe they did? I've never bothered to read the first ish)

[Best First]

I kinda feel if you have to trash the guy who made the thing you are apparently so reverential to to justify working on that thing you have made something of a stinky misstep and should probably avoid mirrors for a while.

Plus the LXG parralel would only stand, for example, if a) the authors of the works in question had actively said "Hey, leave my **** alone" and Moore had told them to F off because he thought it was a good idea ACTUALLY and b) he has written these things as sequels or prequels to the other work - they weren't.

I'm not saying Moore is entirely in the right but the justifications people are trotting out lack, you know, logic.

[Brendocon]

IN THE BEGINNING:

Moore: "I'm gonna write a story using all these C-list heroes!"
DC: "We'd rather you didn't, we might need them."
Moore: "Ok, I'll riff off them and change them enough to make them distinct and different and stuff, so it's not actually them. There you are, nice self-contained story."
DC: "Works for us."

NOW:

DC: "We're going to write some stories using those distinct characters."
Moore: "I'd rather you didn't, it was all self-contained remember?"
DC: "[composite word including 'f*ck'] off, they're ours now."

^^ Basically, yeah?

[Best First]

In fairness the follow up work to DCs other seminal tale, Dark Knight Returns, turned out really well.

[DJ_Convoy]

Boy, I thought DKSA was awful.

[bumblemusprime]

In fairness the follow up work to DCs other seminal tale, Dark Knight Returns, turned out really well.

I detect sarcasm coming through the Internets.

[Jack Cade]

I'm not the biggest Moore fanboy, but this is pretty shameless stuff - expanding a self-contained story in a self-contained universe just to wring more dollars out of it.

What really annoys me is the bland corporate assurances: "Oh, we're getting our best people on the job. Not people who, you know, have any particular affinity with Moore's work or a complementary style or shared thematic interests - just our biggest names, so that you know we're taking it seriously. I mean, Adam Hughes draws gorgeous pin-ups, and there's a woman in the book, right?"

[Jack Cade]

Best comment on that thread:

"For me, the tell on why this is horribly misguided, and that DC knows it, is their insistence on sticking to the language of their mainstream serial comics to describe Watchmen. So we see it called a “fictional universe” rather than a novel. It has a “complex mythology” rather than a plot, theme and characters. To justify all this, DC needs to aggressively redefine Watchmen as just another one of their ongoing serial properties, rather than what it truly is, a deliberately finite commentary on those properties. It’s wrong, all the way up and down the line, it’s creatively bankrupt, it goes against the express wishes of the guy who invented it, and it’s being pimped by people whose egos tell them Moore’s desires as an artist or person don’t matter, and whose paydays make it very hard to care either way. And as always, it’s drizzled in cynical corporate marketing-speak about undefined “controversy” designed to turn their own shamelessly unethical behavior into a sales tool. A pox on all their houses."

[DJ_Convoy]

Something else that sort of bugs me about the idea of Watchmen prequels- they've solicted 30-some odd issues of work. Like they're trying to drown out the actual work (12 oversized issues) with quanity, not quality. And this must surely be a trial balloon... figuring that if we accept prequels... then we'll surely accept sequels.

It's obviously not what Moore and Gibbons brought to the table that made Watchmen special... at least not in DC's eyes. Just more IP to exploit.

[Metal Vendetta]

Straczynski also points out that Moore happily wrote in the Superman universe, but it's not as if Action Comics ever conceived Supes as a standalone story. (or maybe they did? I've never bothered to read the first ish)

Superman was a villain in his first ish. It was only in the second he was a hero.

[spiderfrommars]

Straczynski also points out that Moore happily wrote in the Superman universe, but it's not as if Action Comics ever conceived Supes as a standalone story. (or maybe they did? I've never bothered to read the first ish)

Superman was a villain in his first ish. It was only in the second he was a hero.

As far as I knew he was a do-gooder from the off and Siegel/Shuster just nicked the name off one of their other stories?

[Professor Smooth]

Having seen only a tiny bit of art and the names attached, there's no way that I'm going to dismiss, immediately, the possibility that A-list writers and artists will do an amazing job working with some of the greatest characters in comic book history.

But...

DC had such a great chance to do something really special with this. What they ARE doing is a series of mini-series by A-list creators that will, inevitably, be re-released in hardcover/trade paperback formats (hopefully) until the end of time. Which, you'll realize, is their strategy for every single thing they produce.

Just spit-balling here.

How about, instead of using A-list guys, they use up-and-coming people? Watchmen MADE Alan Moore. His other stuff? Almost entirely awesome, yes. But Watchmen is what people think of when they hear his name. Let these new Watchmen comics MAKE others. The (proven and amazing) talent on Before Watchmen don't really need that feather in their collective caps. Nor, really, do they need a dark stain in their resumes. But up-and-coming talent?

No overprint. No digital release. No going back to press. No trades. Announce that this is a one shot deal. Each book gets released ONE time. If you miss it, take your chances on the secondary market. Huge campaign. Want these books? Get to your local comic shop and have them order them for you. Nobody who takes that step will be left out. It'd be GREAT for comic book stores, collectors, and the secondary market.