DC Unveils Watchmen Prequels

[oldtaku]

Raping the corpse.

When this done they can all team up with the JLA. You think DC wouldn't?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I have VERY relevant exaple; The Watchmen Movie. Alan Moore said; 'I will be spitting venom all over it' yet the film was, if anything, TOO faithful to the comic. It basically filmed as much as the comic pannel for pannel as was humanly possible.

So there.

I'll have to think on that one. It's a good one, I'll grant you...but it's a single spoon of pickle in a barrel-full of gherkins.

 

[GiantRaven]

The creative teams here are really really good, and they'll all hopefully bringing their A-game to this. Even if you don't want to see Watchmen characters written again, you have to appreciate that we're going to get some good writing and art out of this.

 

[Jesus Phish]

I'm was all for complaining about this, but Brian Azzarello writing Rorshach and the Comedian? Well played.

Edit: Also

The perception that these characters shouldn't be touched by anyone other than Alan is both absolutely understandable and deeply flawed. As good as these characters are and they are very good indeed, one could make the argument, based on durability and recognition, that Superman is the greatest comics character ever created. But I don't hear Alan or anyone else suggesting that no one other than Shuster and Siegel should have been allowed to write Superman. Certainly Alan himself did this when he was brought on to write Swamp Thing, a seminal comics character created by Len Wein.

Leaving aside the fact that the Watchmen characters were variations on pre-existing characters created for the Charleton Comics universe, it should be pointed out that Alan has spent most of the last decade writing very good stories about characters created by other writers, including Alice (from Alice in Wonderland), Dorothy (from Wizard of Oz), Wendy (from Peter Pan), as well as Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, Jeyll and Hyde, and Professor Moriarty (used in the successful League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). I think one loses a little of the moral high ground to say, "I can write characters created by Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle and Frank Baum, but it's wrong for anyone else to write my characters."

The whole point of having great characters is the opportunity to explore them more deeply with time, re-interpreting them for each new age. That DC allowed these characters to sit on a shelf for over two decades as a show of respect is salutary, but there comes a time when good characters have to re-enter the world to teach us something about ourselves in the present.

- J. Michael Straczynski

I think that quote sums it up perfect. Moore is all to happy to writer other peoples works, but has until now steadfastly refused to allow anyone touch his. I understand they're his creation but there's such a hit of double standards off it.

Will this be any good? I don't know. I probably wont pick up the single issue, but wait until the collected volumes come along and cherry pick the ones I'm interested in.

What I do see though, is a chance for something to expand. And for those who don't want it expanding, ignore it. Pretend in your own little world that Watchmen stopped when Moore stopped it. It's kinda what a lot of people do with things like Indiana Jones, Star Wars and other IP extenders.

 

[Hyper-space]

snip

I think JMS's point is kind of flawed, in that classic super-heroes such as Spider-man and Superman were from the beginning franchises, the stories was always serialized and meant to continue. Were as Watchmen is a stand-alone story, all of the characters have been wrapped up, they have gone through all of their character developement. We know everything that we need to know, their motivations, their flaws, everything.

Meaning, these prequels will either shit on the characters, or be totally inconsequential to the Watchmen universe and therefore unnecessary. Despite the talent of some of these writers, none of them ever try and do what Alan Moore did, namely, exploring the medium and experimenting with the narrative. Grant Morrison is probably the only one who tries what Alan Moore did throughout his career and the only one I would ever feel satisfied with writing a prequel for Watchmen.

Oh and not to mention the Crimson Corsair, the whole point of it was that it mirrored what happened in the story, so treating him as a character in an isolated story would be completely missing the point of it.

 

[Awexsome]

I know it's one thing to want people to respect your work but from my perspective Moore seems more self-centered dick than protective artist.

 

[Bobic]

"I tend to take this latest development as a kind of eager confirmation that they are still apparently dependent on ideas that I had 25 years ago."

Can the writer of the league of extraordinary gentlemen really come out with a statement like that?

 

[malestrithe]

I can't wait to see them.

 

[Thrashgrinder]

please, DC please, do not do this. Oh god! For the sake of art don't. Watchmen does not need any kind of retcon what so ever. Its the perfect standalone story of all time. Don't ruin this.

And WHY!? Aren't you guys making enough money with the new 52?


Also, i really don't think the internet can withstand an another Star Wars case

 

[Zen Toombs]

I'll wait to see what Moore thinks of them. They aren't canon and I'm not reading them if he disapproves of them.

Concuring Toombs concurs. Watchmen was fantastic, but if the Watchmen prequels aren't Moore approved then there's no point. (You know, except for the Rorshach one. I MUST see that one...)

 

[Legomaniac91_v1legacy]

While quite a few of DC's new relaunches have been good, I have to wonder if they're running out of material with this one. If these are just here to provide back story to the Watchmen characters, then these comics will be totally unnecessary. If you read the various articles and stories in between the chapters, then you got all the back story you need. The Minutemen rose and fell with the public's opinion of superheroes, Comedian's war on crime caused him to see humanity as a joke, Nite-Owl was a legacy hero who went into retirement with dignity, and Dr. Manhattan lost touch with his humanity as his powers evolved. The only one that looks kind of interesting is the "Crimson Corsair" title, which I assume is a expansion on the "Tales of the Black Freighter" sub-plot.

 

[Aureliano]

So...we're getting a prequel. To a story that did much of its exposition in the form of flashbacks. And the prequel will likely be set in large part during those flashbacks. For characters for whom we have already seen the beginning, rise and tragic fall. And whose secret lives, relationships, inner feelings about each other throughout their careers and ultimate agendas have already been revealed.

I'm seriously beginning to think somebody down at DC saw the Saturday Morning Watchmen cartoon and did NOT get the joke.

 

[poiuppx]

I... wow. Deep down, part of me knew this was coming one day. But I kept trying to convince myself they wouldn't go there. Even seeing what they did with the 'New 52', I convinced myself they wouldn't go there. I guess this is what I get for, y'know, having faith in humanity and all that.

*sigh* I shouldn't go alarmist and be declaring it crap in advance. But the thing is, to say that it would be INSANELY hard to live up to the standard invoked in the original on every level- the setting, the characters, the revelations, the interconnections, the themes of loss and of being swept up in the changing times, mixed with a brutal and brilliant plot -would be nearly impossible.

...that said... part of me is curious, I confess. I can't imagine they'd try a raw cash-grab with this. Especially with some of the talent involved. So the question ultimately becomes, what is the driving purpose behind it? What is the story they felt they could tell that would work without being universally derrided in comparison?

Mark me down as against it in theory, but cautiously observant. I want to see where they go with this, but from a distance. If by a miracle they make it work, the trades are in my future. If not... well... we can just treat it like New Coke, stick it in a back bin, and move on with our lives.

 

[Xanthious]

I'm was all for complaining about this, but Brian Azzarello writing Rorshach and the Comedian? Well played.

Edit: Also

The perception that these characters shouldn't be touched by anyone other than Alan is both absolutely understandable and deeply flawed. As good as these characters are and they are very good indeed, one could make the argument, based on durability and recognition, that Superman is the greatest comics character ever created. But I don't hear Alan or anyone else suggesting that no one other than Shuster and Siegel should have been allowed to write Superman. Certainly Alan himself did this when he was brought on to write Swamp Thing, a seminal comics character created by Len Wein.

Leaving aside the fact that the Watchmen characters were variations on pre-existing characters created for the Charleton Comics universe, it should be pointed out that Alan has spent most of the last decade writing very good stories about characters created by other writers, including Alice (from Alice in Wonderland), Dorothy (from Wizard of Oz), Wendy (from Peter Pan), as well as Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, Jeyll and Hyde, and Professor Moriarty (used in the successful League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). I think one loses a little of the moral high ground to say, "I can write characters created by Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle and Frank Baum, but it's wrong for anyone else to write my characters."

The whole point of having great characters is the opportunity to explore them more deeply with time, re-interpreting them for each new age. That DC allowed these characters to sit on a shelf for over two decades as a show of respect is salutary, but there comes a time when good characters have to re-enter the world to teach us something about ourselves in the present.

- J. Michael Straczynski

Straczynski can go take his disingenuous bullshit and choke on it. This isn't being done to better or expand the franchise this is a cash grab pure and simple.

Watchmen was a totally self contained story. There is nothing to expand upon that will do anything to add anything meaningful to it. There is a reason it hasn't been touched in two decades and that reason is because it's already pretty much perfect as is.

I hope these prequels bomb, and bomb hard. I hope people avoid paying money for these abominations out of fucking principal.

 

[Animyr]

Not sure what to think of this. If they suck, we can always pretend they aren't canon.

 

[Jaebird]

Darwyn Cooke?!! AND Amanda Conner?!! SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!! EXCLAMATIONS!!!

Seriously, though, I am looking forward to Minutemen, since we only know about what happened to them later in life, rather than when they were a team and out fighting crime. The only aspect I'm not quite as excited for is JMS's role in all this. The guy is hit and miss with me. Plus, he turned Gwen Stacey into the mother of Norman Osborn's children and altered Spider-Man's origin from science fiction to fucking magic.

 

[LawyerScumGhost]

I think they should magically transform the Watchmen into teenagers and stick them all in the same high school. I would buy that comic.

 

[Vault101]

Yeah it's going to be complete shit, especially because Alan Moore will have nothing to do with it. It's kind of ironic that the comic was originally written as a post-modern deconstructionist view of superheros and comics and now is getting what every other comic gets, a reboot with new continuity.

Watchmen was good enough without some suits deciding there needed to be more (money) to be taken out of the story. Personally I'd be interested in what happened with the Minutemen and all that but not if Alan Moore isn't writing it because Alan Moore thinks there is another story there...that might involve rape...again...

wait..I dotn think this is a reboot with a new continuity (they arnt THAT stupid) just some preaquels...I think

Alan Moore also doesnt like alot of things

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

the brain...it hurts. What I;m really afraid of is that people are SO reverent with Watchmen that they just don't have any balls when it comes to challenging it. This will at best come off as a lukewarm official fanfiction and at worst just another Watchmen wannabe that misses the point.

Also, Alan Moore and his beard's zinger was truly surgical

 

[WolfThomas]

I think they should magically transform the Watchmen into teenagers and stick them all in the same high school. I would buy that comic.

If Grant Morrison or Warren Ellis wrote it, I'd buy it.