[Re-Update: Read on for Alan Moore's thoughts on the Watchmen Prequel Series and Covers of the Prequel Comics!]
Few things in media today are held sacred, from remakes and reboots of popular TV shows and movies, to the practice of mining a franchise until every last gem of profit has been pulled loose.
In that sense, it’s not surprising to learn that reports from last year were accurate, and that DC Comics is going to be bastardizing revisiting Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal graphic novel, Watchmen, in order to create a series of prequel stories, set within the Watchmen universe and featuring some of the iconic Watchmen characters.
Read on for details on the prequel series, which has been titled Before Watchmen:
This summer, DC Entertainment will publish all-new stories expanding on the acclaimed WATCHMEN universe. As highly anticipated as they are controversial, the seven inter-connected prequel mini-series will build on the foundation of the original WATCHMEN, the bestselling graphic novel of all time. BEFORE WATCHMEN will be the collective banner for all seven titles, from DC Comics.
Stepping up to the challenge is a group of the comic book industry’s most iconoclastic writers and artists – including Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS), Lee Bermejo (JOKER), Amanda Conner (POWER GIRL), Darwyn Cooke (JUSTICE LEAGUE: NEW FRONTIER), John Higgins (WATCHMEN), Adam Hughes (CATWOMAN), J.G. Jones (FINAL CRISIS), Andy Kubert (FLASHPOINT), Joe Kubert (SGT. ROCK), Jae Lee (BATMAN: JEKYLL AND HYDE), J. Michael Straczynski (SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE) and Len Wein (SWAMP THING).
BEFORE WATCHMEN includes:
- RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo
- MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke
- COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones
- DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes
- NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert
- OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee
- SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda ConnerEach week, a new issue will be released, and will feature a two-page back-up story called CURSE OF THE CRIMSON CORSAIR, written by original series editor Len Wein and with art by original series colorist John Higgins. There will also be a single issue, BEFORE WATCHMEN: EPILOGUE, featuring the work of various writers and artists, and a CRIMSON CORSAIR story by Wein and Higgins.
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RE-UPDATE: Check out the gallery of covers for the Before Watchmen comics!
While the lineup of creative talent is VERY promising (Azzarello doing Rorschach and The Comedian? Yes Please!), the question still remains: is this endeavor going to do anything but hamper the greatness of Alan Moore’s dark, disturbing and insightful look at the existence of superheroes in a real-world socio-political context? Are the pasts of the Watchmen characters (a lot of which were mentioned or implied in the original series) going to offer insight into things not already revealed by the original tale?
More to the point: even if there is new ground to cover, considering how deftly and effectively Alan Moore developed these characters and brought them around to resolution, is there anything that actually matters left to explore?
Moore himself has remained a controversial figure in the comic book industry; the few times he does speak up to let his opinion be known, it has almost always been to express his negative view of “the industry” – be it comic book publishers, or the many movie studios that have tried to adapt his various works. Moore has had his name removed from many of the films based on his stories (see: Swamp Thing, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Watchmen) and it’s no surprise to see that his name is nowhere to be found amongst the list of creative talent working on Before Watchmen.
At the risk of speculating, it’s easy to assume that Moore sees this as yet another attempt at a cash-grab by a profit-driven industry, rather than a genuine attempt to pursue the goal he believes in: telling a good, thought-provoking, status-quo-upsetting story. Whether or not Before Watchmen turns out to be a hollow commodity rather than an enriching addition to the Watchmen universe, remains to be seen.
UPDATE: No need for Speculation any more! Moore himself spoke with the New York Times, calling this move by DC Comics “completely shameless.” He added, “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.”
As we here at Screen Rant asked nearly 3 years ago: with DC Comics creating more Watchmen stories, can the publisher’s partner, Warner Bros., be far behind in creating more Watchmen movies? Only time will tell.
Stay tuned for more details as the summer 2012 release date for Before Watchmen draws nearer.
Source: DC Comics & New York Times
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Wasn’t the prequel already half of the original movie?
The flashbacks went into enough detail about their pasts IMO.
i understand why these writers and artists would sign on ($$$$)
but if any of them actually enjoyed watchmen i dont know why they would tread on it by making a prequel.
unnecessary.
although the minutemen series could be cool.
I agree. Not thrilled about a prequel, but if there has to be one then something on the Minutemen would be the best route.
u should have left bastardiziation unmarked through since alan moore seeminly will not be involved, and also i would think warren ellis should be one of the writers since some of his stuff is gritty
maybe a spin off would have been more appropriate?
seems like focusing on the minutemen or maybe on just a nite owl & rorschach team-up
even better would be just a series of dr.manhattan walking through vietnam blowing up charlie’s left and right haha
but seriously, good luck to these writers who are going to attempt to weave together different stories lines on the level of alan moore.
Will there also be a real Saturday Morning Watchmen?
With the kind of talent involved I’d assume they arent going to touch on the flashback parts of the Watchmen. Hopefully not, anyway.
Moore didnt like the movie adaptation of his story? I really enjoyed the movie after watching the motion comic and thought it to a very precise replica. :/
Alan moore doesn’t like any of the movie versions of his comics. It could be the best movie ever made and he wouldn’t like it. He’s great writer, but the guy is a little off his rocker.
I think a Minutemen series will be great. I always wondered what kinds of adventures they had, what with all the villains being like Joker, Penguin, Red Skull etc. You know, all the non powered, gimmick villains. This whole thing might not be bad, I mean look at the talent lined up. All of these guys are famous in their own right, and now, they are bringing what makes them great, to tell more adventures of a universe we all know and love. I may get a lot of flack for this, but I can’t wait to see these books out on the stands and racks of shops.
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no non onononoon o nononononononono nononononononono!!! This should not be done! I’m sorry, normally I’m open for different takes on good stories, but Watchmen was THE best thing to happen to comics. (You can argue all you want about the validity of that statement, I don’t care.) And now it’s going to be tainted forever by these lesser works, who thought this was a good idea?? It’s gonna be like the Star Wars prequels all over again, for the love of god just accept that something was damn good and leave it alone. URRRGGG.
hear hear!!
I’m curious about what they have to say about the characters. Watchmen fans can easily say “If Alan Moore ain’t writing it, then it doesn’t count” and not read them. I want to see how it goes, personally.
It was only a matter of time…
There’s no way these series could touch on the subject matter the original had.
can’t blame the writers though; we all say its sacrilege, but who wouldn’t jump at this opportunity if asked?
People with common sense.
Money can make people make irrational decisions.
Typical money grabbers.
Ah ya bunch of whiners, its about damn time there was more backlog. Honestly, I’d love to see some stuff of Rorschach and Nite Owl teaming up before old ink face went total hardcore on the world. Also, why not a series about the Minutemen? I’d love to see some of the stuff they went through in the “good old days”, back when all a criminal needed to get noticed was to put on a silly costume, hold up a bank, and say “Blah blah blah, who will challenge me, blah blah blah”. Then the team comes in, beats up some henchmen, epic fight with said villain and big finish!! After that its key to the city, speeches, and back to headquarters to relax.
DOIREP .AEDI ELBIRROH A SI SIHT
they did that already…it’s called batman.
I think instead of prequels (much of which was already discussed enough in the original work) they should’ve focused on extending the story from its conclusion: now that Veidt’s plan had been accomplished, what DOES happen to the world, and how do superheroes fit into that “new-found friendship between nations”?
They could set it into an alternate 90s, or even skip a generation and make it contemporary… fifteen years later, what does the world that Adian created look like?
Just going back and playing in the character histories (like so many other things) is stupid (and almost always ends up screwing continuity).
Watchmen is a masterpiece, but the plot and characters are almost incidental. It’s the way the comic form is used that makes it so great.
In 25 years people will still be pointing to Watchmen as a fine example of the comic book form. These comics will barely be remembered (along with the movie).
The plot was incidental? Characters too?
Those two things sets the whole thing apart from all the other superhero comics.
The plot was taken and expanded upon from an Outer Limits episode, “The Architects of Fear.” It’s running on a TV in the background near the end to the story. The characters were made-up copies of Charleston characters. Alan Moore could have made the same story using the Justice League if he’d wanted to. Rorshach is Moore’s idea of what a real batman type vigilante would be like. He could have made up or used other characters to do mostly the same thing he wanted to do.
There’s a lot of character depth and complexity that hadn’t been in comics up to that point. Certainly there has been since, to varying degrees of sucess. But I think it’s the story structure and layout that set Watchman apart. For instance the pages of the pirate story that overlap with the dialogue, and the “real” stories. It uses the comicbook format to tell a story in a way that it couldn’t be told in any other format. It has a very deliberate structure to the way it’s written and drawn.
Lets hope the movie doesn’t get forgotten, cause Jackie Earle Haley killed as Rorschach.
yeah he could easily pull off joker too hope his in these series
Excellent idea! Moore is a great writer but needs to can it most of the time.
It’s good to see something else regarding Watchmen while I’m still alive:]
I loved the graphic novel. I enjoyed the movie. But, I don’t think I will support this in comic or movie form. I might buy it as a video game though.
Why didn’t DC just make a group out of all the Ditko characters the Watchmen were based on, then nobody would be pissed off…?
Now there’s an idea.
I’m not going to say it’s impossible that some good story or two may come out of this. But looking at some of the illustrations they just seem to go against the feeling of watchmen, and the style of Dave Gibbons, as more realistic people. I’ll bet these are going to lean a lot more heavily towards typical superhero comics with a helping of “grittiness,”
DC and the writers are just wanting to make superhero stories using the cloak of depth and sophistication that Watchmen provides. If they really wanted to do something new and groundbreaking they could indeed use the Ditko characters, or simply make up new characters.
In the long run these won’t add or take away from Watchmen. They’ll be like some bad TV show they try to make from a hit movie, or like the Star Wars X-mas special.
DC were trying to push a Rorschach/Comedian teamup or a Comedian in Vietnam book before the twelve-part Watchmen series had even been collected as a single graphic novel, so this is nothing new; the only surprise is that it’s actually happening and some respectable names have taken the money for it 26 years down the line. I’m not crying about it, but I won’t be buying the outcome. Apart from anything else, the post modern subtext of what was being said about superhero comics in 1986 has been received loud and clear, had its time, and come and gone. Good luck to all concerned: they’ve got some big shoes to fill.
Yeah, I’m surprised/impressed by the talent they got attached to these books as well, they must be throwing some serious money at this project. Of course, if the Lee Bermejo and Adam Hughes drawn books ever see the light of day I’l be floored.
I can’t help but wonder if Dave Gibbons was approached for any of this and whether he turned it down or was offended at all for not being asked to be a part of it? My wild guess is he probably decided to side with Alan on principle and taste, although he was quite diplomatic about it however it went down.
Retcon, prequels, reboots, preboots, it’s all the rage right now so it’s not shocking. The logic behind it from a money standpoint is sound I guess, take something that has a built-in audience and name recognition and use it to make cash. Placing it in an earlier time period just covers for the fact it’s a re-hash of sorts because of the retro theme.
For Mr. Moore to be upset that others are working on Watchmen is silly. He certainly made money working on Batman, Superman, Captain Britain, Miracleman, Swamp Thing and many other books that he didn’t create. Watchmen is a wonderful piece of work and these new stories take nothing away from the original.
Ding ding ding
I will give them a try..
Moore has done nothing to support any material that has expanded on his work…I think he thinks no one can do it as well as he (and he might be right). I have no problems with the talent atteched to these issues and would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to see Darwin Cooke’s take on the Minute Men as a writer and artist, it will harken back to “The New Frontier.”
People are and will get upset by this news considering how iconic the original books are but I hope we get some new gems from these creative teams and that the finished work is a complimentary set that can be placed proudly in my collection with the rest of my collection.
Moore has always been eccentric when it comes to his work, but anyone who collected comics could understand his point of view. His work for the most part seems like stand-alone graphic novel work that he never really meant to be serialized and ran for any long length of time.
One of the main problems that happen with all comics over time is that pesky problem of continuity. When different teams of writers, artists, and editors have taken over books the results have been mixed. Some things people do add to the overall mythology they have been tasked to continue, while others have just made a mess.
After this, I can’t wait for the V for Vendetta prequel. /Sarcasm
It wont be as good as the original, that’s for sure. But i will give this a chance. I hope that they respect Alan Moore’s style at least.
All these people saying this a bad idea, and the writes etc, are just cashing in, will mostly likely be buying the comics as soon as they come out!
dumb. even tough dc owns the rights, alan moore is the reason watchmen is awesome.