DC Entertainment Officially Announces "Before Watchmen"

No.

That's as far as I'll go with explanation because it's all it deserves.

The Minute Men, Rorschach, Ozy, and Night Owl ones look awesome.

Ugh. Well at least no one I like is on this stupid project.

this is eitehr gonna be 5 star awesome or 1 star trash. Using the watchman banner without Moore atatched to it should be a criminal offense.

Azzarello/Bermejo on Rorschach is an inspired choice.

@Gylan Thomas said:

@WildStyle said:

Not a fan of Watchmen nor do I buy comics based on their creative teams. Pass.

Why not buy a comic based on it's creative team?

The character is just that. A character. They have nothin' to do with the quality of the comic. That's down to the creative team. If you want comics you'll enjoy buy the creators you like.

I learned this lesson myself after year of blind loyalty to characters who often disappointed.

Also, why even bother readin' this article if you're not a Watchmen fan? Just to post negativity?

I don't like the idea of more Watchmen. I like the original and think it stands well on it's own. These do look promising though. Not sure about Jae Lee on Ozymandias though. His work never appealed to me and I think his style would probavbly be more suited to Rorschach.

If a character doesn't interest me, I'm not picking up the series. Period. The main reason anyone picked up a comic book in the first place is because of a character they found interesting. I've just never been the type of comic fan who follows around writers and creative teams. Prime example, I'm a fan of Gail Simone but I will not touch Fury of Firestorm. I've never found the character interesting in the slightest. If a series that interests me ends up being mediocre or bad like Static and Blue Beetle, I'll drop it. Lord knows I had to do this with quite a few New52 titles unfortunately.

You seem way too personally invested in my opinion. And it's funny because I've seen worst responses to this very topic on other message boards. Chill out man.

at first i wuz like NNNNOOOOO

but tehn i wuz like YYYEEAAHHHH

Calling Alan Moore a tool for his credibility and choices? Really? That's like all those idiots who acted like we were squares for being vehemently anti-piracy, telling us to "get with the times."

Alan Moore is many things. Some see him as right, some see him as an insufferable curmudgeon. The one thing he ISN'T, is a tool. By definition. He is one of the few who doesn't allow himself to be used for profit if he doesn't agree with it.

Also, buying a comic based on creative team alone is dumb. I love certain actors, but I don't go to see a movie just because they're in it.

i will be looking fowrd to reading Rorschachs and comedians issues :)

the rest ill eventually read later in a collected edition. ima big watchmen fan!

Calling Alan Moore a tool for his credibility and choices? Really? That's like all those idiots who acted like we were squares for being vehemently anti-piracy, telling us to "get with the times."

Alan Moore is many things. Some see him as right, some see him as an insufferable curmudgeon. The one thing he ISN'T, is a tool. By definition. He is one of the few who doesn't allow himself to be used for profit if he doesn't agree with it.

Also, buying a comic based on creative team alone is dumb. I love certain actors, but I don't go to see a movie just because they're in it.

I think it's kind of a neat idea. If you don't like it, then don't buy it. Just be like all of the people who ignore the fact that the Star Wars prequels exist. And besides, Amanda Conner on Silk Spectre = win.

This could turn out to be good and bad. Let's hope it's good. Wish Alan Moore was doing it though.

According to the NYT: "Mr. Moore, who has disassociated himself from DC Comics and the industry at large, called the new venture “completely shameless.”"

What a hypocrite! Of course, it is OK when he does it with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Supreme, Superman, Swamp Thing, Miracleman, etc... and hell, even Watchmen for that matter, but that DC would do the same with its best creative teams? SHAMELESS!

well... if the idea is to attract a lot of attention and sell a lot of comics, DC will probably accomplish their goal with this move. I'm not quite sure how to feel about it. On one hand, I feel like there are certain books/movies/comics that do not need, and should not get prequels/sequels/spinoffs, and Watchmen was certainly at the top of that list in my mind. On the other hand, the background of the characters in Watchmen was given in bits and pieces and it might be interesting to see how these writers fill the gap...

@The Mast said:

Also, buying a comic based on creative team alone is dumb. I love certain actors, but I don't go to see a movie just because they're in it.

Sorry if I'm going off on a tangent here, but I don't really understand this. An actor has little to no creative control over the product, whereas a creative team has much more (but not complete, in most cases) control over the work. It's dumbing down the genre a little, since yeah, for Marvel and DC there are massive continuities to follow which would create restrictions, but even so a bad character shouldn't be able to stop a good writer from writing a good story...I think. Of course, you shouldn't just blindly buy everything a writer puts out just because you enjoyed some of their stuff, but that sorta goes without saying really, I don't think that's what you meant by that (?)

Or is there some sorta context I'm missing here?

@CitizenBane said:

Rorschach and Comedian are being written by Azzarello.......I'm ok with that.

His Batman (which I do not particularly like) already is something of a mix between Rorschach and the Comedian.

@DarthShap said:

According to the NYT: "Mr. Moore, who has disassociated himself from DC Comics and the industry at large, called the new venture “completely shameless.”"

What a hypocrite! Of course, it is OK when he does it with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Supreme, Superman, Swamp Thing, Miracleman, etc... and hell, even Watchmen for that matter, but that DC would do the same with its best creative teams? SHAMELESS!

With all due respect, his characters were never meant to be or exist outside of what he wrote. It was a mini-series with a finite span. This isn't like someone writing Batman.

I... got nothing.

This just sounds like a terrible idea.

well, like they said, they arent taking it lightly. (hopefully Azzarello's WW run wont be affected :) )

I feel like this may end up being like what the Relaunch for DC was, Lots of bad speculation and in the end it will be some issues good, some bad, it will all depend on what happens when they come out. I'm definitely interested in the idea and I would like to see how characters like Nite Owl and Rorshach were in their prime.

@The Mast said:

@DarthShap said:

According to the NYT: "Mr. Moore, who has disassociated himself from DC Comics and the industry at large, called the new venture “completely shameless.”"

What a hypocrite! Of course, it is OK when he does it with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Supreme, Superman, Swamp Thing, Miracleman, etc... and hell, even Watchmen for that matter, but that DC would do the same with its best creative teams? SHAMELESS!

With all due respect, his characters were never meant to be or exist outside of what he wrote. It was a mini-series with a finite span. This isn't like someone writing Batman.

And the characters from League of Extraordinary and Lost Girls were not? And I am pretty sure Mr Hyde raping the Invisible Man to death is probably way worse than anything Before Watchmen will do.

@The Mast said:

comic based on creative team alone is dumb. I love certain actors, but I don't go to see a movie just because they're in it.

How is it dumb? The creative team is not the equivalent of actors. It is the equivalent of the director, producers, writers, cinematographers etc...

If you like what a director does and he is usually very good, how is going to see his movies dumb? I like Kubrick, Lynch and Tarentino, does watching their movies on the basis of their name makes me dumb somehow?

@Adnan said:

@The Mast said:

Also, buying a comic based on creative team alone is dumb. I love certain actors, but I don't go to see a movie just because they're in it.

Sorry if I'm going off on a tangent here, but I don't really understand this. An actor has little to no creative control over the product, whereas a creative team has much more (but not complete, in most cases) control over the work. It's dumbing down the genre a little, since yeah, for Marvel and DC there are massive continuities to follow which would create restrictions, but even so a bad character shouldn't be able to stop a good writer from writing a good story...I think. Of course, you shouldn't just blindly buy everything a writer puts out just because you enjoyed some of their stuff, but that sorta goes without saying really, I don't think that's what you meant by that (?)

Or is there some sorta context I'm missing here?

If Scott Snyder and Paolo Rivera did a 12 issue mini-series adaptation of The Notebook, I wouldn't buy it. They're my favourite writer/artist right now respectively.

Well this definitely proves one thing, DC sure is desperate for money and or Readership. Screw this Miniseries, seriously, the only thing good that could come out of this is the Crimson Corsair, and even then it's not a full fledged series.

@aztek_the_lost said:

I think what upsets Moore is that HE takes other people's creations and makes completely new things while DC takes his creations and builds off of what he did, rather then erasing it entirely as they should (in his opinion?)

DC should be ashamed for not making pornos out of Watchmen. :D

WOOO buying every single one.

Well I love me some Darwyn Cooke.

@DarthShap said:

@The Mast said:

@DarthShap said:

According to the NYT: "Mr. Moore, who has disassociated himself from DC Comics and the industry at large, called the new venture “completely shameless.”"

What a hypocrite! Of course, it is OK when he does it with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Supreme, Superman, Swamp Thing, Miracleman, etc... and hell, even Watchmen for that matter, but that DC would do the same with its best creative teams? SHAMELESS!

With all due respect, his characters were never meant to be or exist outside of what he wrote. It was a mini-series with a finite span. This isn't like someone writing Batman.

And the characters from League of Extraordinary and Lost Girls were not? And I am pretty sure Mr Hyde raping the Invisible Man to death is probably way worse than anything Before Watchmen will do.

Doing original things with unoriginal characters is entirely different than taking someone else's characters and attempting to muscle your way into a story and mythology that already exists and is fine as it is.

Moore made a superhero team out of those characters. He didn't write Dracula 2.

This is one I think they should have left alone, but some of these authors are doing good stuff with the new 52, so we'll just have to wait and see. I'm sure Alan Moore is excited about this...right?

@The Mast said:

Doing original things with unoriginal characters is entirely different than taking someone else's characters and attempting to muscle your way into a story and mythology that already exists and is fine as it is.

Moore made a superhero team out of those characters. He didn't write Dracula 2.

So what you are saying is that if DC had adapted Watchmen as a Gossip Girl-like soap opera teen romance TV series, that would have made it fine by him?

He could not be a hypocrite who would wait years to publish Lost Girls so that he could avoid the payment of copyrights to a freaking Hospital? Because that would make more sense to me.

Interesting.

@The Mast said:

comic based on creative team alone is dumb. I love certain actors, but I don't go to see a movie just because they're in it.

How is it dumb? The creative team is not the equivalent of actors. It is the equivalent of the director, producers, writers, cinematographers etc...

If you like what a director does and he is usually very good, how is going to see his movies dumb? I like Kubrick, Lynch and Tarentino, does watching their movies on the basis of their name makes me dumb somehow?

@The Mast: ...neither would I, and I like both of them as well. But don't you think that'd be a little out-of-character for them though?

After reading you're original post, I think I may have misinterpreted it somewhat. It'd be silly to buy everything just because of the creative team, for some reason I thought you'd just outright ignore a title without taking into account of the creative team and looking into it before deciding whether to buy it or not. Of course, there are other things to consider, like their recent track record.

My bad.

35 issues, nine months, a 100+ dollar commitment, that is more then taking a plunge, might as well be spitting in the readers faces. Not much respect for a property that has made them so much money, I know I know they are all about the money but what would have been so bad about an oversized monthly anthology? would be a little bit cheaper for readers in this economy and people wouldn't have to worry about another weekly event or trying to find so many issues...

Mmm, desperation.

Looks solid to me, BUT I will buy anything Darwyn Cooke writes/draws so...yeah.

If DC are going to do this then they need to do it right. Watchmen is a classic story and they can't afford to half heartedly write these prequels like one. They need to be echoes of the original characters as well as telling compelling stories. It does appear as if DC are putting most of their bug guns on the Watchmen prequels but unless they can do it right, this will be a complete failure.

@WildStyle said:

@Gylan Thomas said:

@WildStyle said:

Not a fan of Watchmen nor do I buy comics based on their creative teams. Pass.

Why not buy a comic based on it's creative team?

The character is just that. A character. They have nothin' to do with the quality of the comic. That's down to the creative team. If you want comics you'll enjoy buy the creators you like.

I learned this lesson myself after year of blind loyalty to characters who often disappointed.

Also, why even bother readin' this article if you're not a Watchmen fan? Just to post negativity?

I don't like the idea of more Watchmen. I like the original and think it stands well on it's own. These do look promising though. Not sure about Jae Lee on Ozymandias though. His work never appealed to me and I think his style would probavbly be more suited to Rorschach.

If a character doesn't interest me, I'm not picking up the series. Period. The main reason anyone picked up a comic book in the first place is because of a character they found interesting. I've just never been the type of comic fan who follows around writers and creative teams. Prime example, I'm a fan of Gail Simone but I will not touch Fury of Firestorm. I've never found the character interesting in the slightest. If a series that interests me ends up being mediocre or bad like Static and Blue Beetle, I'll drop it. Lord knows I had to do this with quite a few New52 titles unfortunately.

You seem way too personally invested in my opinion. And it's funny because I've seen worst responses to this very topic on other message boards. Chill out man.

lol

Not personally invested at all really. Not even a huge Watchmen fan but it is a good read.

Just seems odd to me someone would even read an article about something they're not a fan of and then go on to comment nothin' particularly constructive. See a lot of that online though so nothin' new there.

Why does DC want to bankrupt me?

@Roldan said:

@movieartman said:

why isnt Frank cho drawing the Silk Spectre book :(

Because Amanda Conner > Frank Cho.

lol

No way! :D

She's good but too cartoony to be better than Cho.

I am going to read them. I don't care about Alan being pissed.

Great News!!!

I loved the creative teams anounced, apart from JMS, who I'm not the biggest fan of!

I'm really looking foward to this prequel, I think it'll be quite an interesting project!

I really don't understand why there're so much haters and dislikers of projects like this, only because it's involving character of a historic comic book like Watchmen - who cares if Alan Moore aproves or not? It's not going to change what Watchmen meant, it'll only use the characters!

Well done DC!

This compensates for all that Rob Liefeld S**t!

I would like to see more or the Rorschach and Nite Owl combo

And there they go... ruining a classic.

@lemontron said:

Mmm, desperation.

I'm not sure how you can say they're desperate. The New 52 has been a huge success and it's just getting started. If anything, this is building off of that momentum to try and sell these books to those who came in with the New 52.