When the Watchmen movie hit theaters, it revealed a vast chasm between comic book movies and the comics themselves. Critics and general audiences were lukewarm at best, many deeming the movie a failure for being too bleak, too serious, without any sense of 'fun.' While those were all part of what made Alan Moore's graphic novel so revolutionary, it was also at odds with the 'edgy' superhero story Warner Bros. had marketed. Unfortunately, the fallout of Watchmen's box office didn't just sour studios on mature comic movies--it also secretly killed a violent (but potentially incredible) Batman story in the comics, too.
The break between movies and comics continues to this day, with some suggesting WB's mature Joker movie shouldn't have been made--while in the comics, the similarly grim and distressing Joker graphic novel had fans clamoring for more. Now it's been revealed that comic book fans almost DID get a spiritual sequel to the acclaimed book. One that would have put guns back into Batman's hands, as he fought corruption and crime in 1940s Los Angeles. But the series was scrapped, since the Watchmen movie convinced executives the last thing comic fans wanted was serious, controversial storytelling.
Speaking with Joker writer Brian Azzarello about the now hardcover-ed edition of his and Lee Bermejo's sequel series, DC Black Label's Batman: Damned, the decade delay was finally explained. Apparently it wasn't just a case of development trouble, but a decision on the publisher's part... based on the lukewarm reception the Watchmen movie received:
When we were talking about it originally after Joker came out, we were just talking like, 'There is nothing to follow this up with.' DC had no idea Joker was going to be as successful as it was. So it wasn't even called Black Label then, we were calling it Jokerverse. Black Label kind of came into being... man, I don't even know when we were calling it that. But it was gaining some traction and some momentum, and then Watchmen came out. And it was R-Rated, and it didn't do so well. The studio, and we work for the studio, they were like, 'No no no no, we don't want to do any mature readers superhero stuff.' So it got killed.
There is actually a script out there. One thing we were going to do was Cliff Chiang and I were going to do the old '40s Batman. You know, with the guns. There was a script and everything. Gotham City got moved to the west coast, it was sort of Like L.A. from the Raymond Chandler times. It didn't happen.
Chiang gave his own explanation of that abandoned Bat-Man project back in 2014 (via BleedingCool), but without offering the added context of Watchmen apprehension. However, it does make the history behind Chang's Batman Black & White statue (seen above) even richer for collectors. Here's Chiang's side of the story, going into greater detail about the proposed 1940s era gangster tale:
Vertigo had a reputation for reinterpreting classic DC characters, so we thought what if we did that with Batman, perhaps as part of the Vertigo 20th Anniversary? We got the go-ahead, and Brian wrote the first script and I started doing the visual development. My Batman: Black and White statue was intended to come out the same month as the book, to help promote it. If you look at that statue of Batman with his guns drawn, it would have made more sense if you saw the book.
It would have featured this young and inexperienced Batman who still relied on his guns, fighting police corruption, gangsters, and Mexican drug cartels in a West Coast version Gotham City. L.A. Confidential meets Batman. Brian and I were really excited. After Jimmy Olsen, after Aquaman, we’d been talking about it for so long, it was finally going to happen! [Laughs] Then one night Brian called me and asked, 'What do you think of Wonder Woman?' He’d just been asked to write the book... In hindsight, I think they really wanted Brian and me together on Wonder Woman.
The times may have changed, but it's sad to think that if Azzarello and Chiang's plan to return to Batman's early gun-wielding days was scrapped in fear of being too mature, then other projects were likely discarded before and after for the same reasons. With one down, perhaps some day those canned projects may see the light of day after all. Fingers crossed.
Batman: Damned is available now (for mature readers) in single issues and collected hardcover edition.
Source: Bleeding Cool