February 1, 2012

 
Today, DC officially announced the prequel stories will be told to the greatest graphic novel ever written, ‘The Watchmen’. Imagine if different creative teams were to formulate Episodes I-III of Star Wars in place of Lucas and that’s what you would get with the new DC mini’s that spawned from Alan Moore’s creative genius.

The Banner Title, ‘Before Watchmen’ will integrate all the following titles below:
 

 
- RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo

 
“Azzarello says he “dropped the phone” when DC co-publisher Dan DiDio called him last summer and asked if he’d write the fan-favorite character Rorschach, the vigilante clad in a mask with shifting ink blots…”
 
from USA TODAY

 

 
- MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke

 
“The nature of the undertaking is going to polarize a lot of the readership,” said Cooke…I think a lot of people will be excited about this and there are a lot of people that will be dead against it.”
 
from LA Times’ Hero Complex

 

 
- COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones

 
“I think the gut reaction is going to be, ‘Why?’ ” Azzarello said in a telephone interview. “But then when the actual books come out, the answer will be, ‘Oh, that’s why.’ ”
 
from NY Times

 

 
- DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes

 
“The lack of his [Alan Moore's] blessings has no more impact on the actual storytelling process than would be the case if we had his blessings. The story has to stand on its own. A crappy story wouldn’t be helped by having his blessings, and a good one isn’t made better for it. Would it be nice? Sure. I’d love it. Again, I have always been a massive fan of Alan’s work.”
 
from Comic Book Resources

 

 
- NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert

 
“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.”
 
from Hollywood Reporter

 

 
- OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee

 
“To me, a reboot is what DC is essentially doing with the New 52, which is changing costumes, origins, relationships, essentially looking at old characters through new eyes,” Wein said in an e-mail to Wired. “What we’re doing is filling in a lot of the blank spaces in a story that has already, to some degree, been told. There were still a lot of gaps in the histories of Watchmen‘s characters, and events only mentioned in passing or touched on briefly in the original story. We’re filling in those gaps in the most creative and inventive ways we can.”
 
from Wired

 

 
- SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner

 
“It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee. “After twenty five years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original.”

Each week will bring a new issue which will include a two-page back up story titled ‘Curse of the Crimson Corsair’ written by the original series editor Len Wein and 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.
 

 
“The original series of WATCHMEN is the complete story that Alan Moore and I wanted to tell. However, I appreciate DC’s reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work. May these new additions have the success they desire,” said Dave Gibbons, WATCHMEN co-creator and original series artist.

Alan Moore had a less than thrilled response by calling the announcement by DC, “Completely Shameless” and “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.” (from NY Times)
 

 
Overall, I look forward to falling into the blitz of having every single issue of these mini-series pulled. Sign me up. I love Watchmen and what Alan Moore has done with creating this with DC. Moore should have pulled a George Lucas and done this under his own independent creation therefore keeping the total creative control of potentially not releasing these stories. Since he didn’t, how about just keep cool until we see what these creative teams can do to expand on the Watchmen Universe. He should be feeling honored that his own creative ideas are getting the Expanded Universe. I’m looking forward mostly to the MinuteMen mini with Cooke, JG Jones will most likely bring the violence of the Comedian, the Original Night Owl looks to be fun with art by the Kuberts…and will we see the origin story of the crazy moth guy? oh and please bring on the lesbian superheros!!! lol

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