7 replies to this topic

[M'onel]

In case you haven't heard, DC has decided to move ahead and publish seven mini-series intended as prequels to the seminal Watchman series. They've gathered quite the talent pool for this venture ranging from Azzarello to JMS to Amanda Conner to Darwyn Cooke to Len Wein.

http://www.comicbook...rticle&id=36724


So whether you think this is a shameless grab for money by a heartless corporation or that creator's rights are once again being trampled and spit upon, sound off if this excites you at all as a reader....or not.

[Dark Knight]

I'm not interested in the slightest beyond Comedian's cover looking like his secret origin is him being bitten by a radioactive rapist, but the writer of Lost Girls and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen doesn't have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to complaining that other writers are using his characters.

[Darren]

I'm indifferent, not because of Moore at all, but because of a lifelong history of reading shitty spinoffs of great stories. Elektra's ongoings. Books of Magic (the series, not the Gaiman original). The Dreaming... I'm sure you could all add to the list. It doesn't interest me. And I agree with DK about the Comedian; it just shows what I'm talking about. The Comedian's fetish gear was understated but obvious for a reason. Because that's more clever. Hitting the reader over the head with a hammer about it isn't more shocking, it's more insulting.

[M'onel]

I have no problem with DC doing this. Yes, this is a grab for cash but they are a business so why should we fault them for doing so?

Would I rather Moore & Gibbons do this? Yes, but given his scarred history with DC, that is nigh impossible.

These stories won't change or impact the original story. Take it or leave it upon that basis. Hopefully, these will be good comics but to go into this with some expectation that these creative teams should or could rival Moore's original work is unrealistic.

[Darren]

"This won't change or impact the original story."

I'm sorry, but tThat's naive. Of course it will.

Edited by Darren, 07 February 2012 - 03:52 AM.

[Dark Knight]

Not really. Is Watchmen itself going to be less of a great read because you didn't also read the Minutemen origin mini twenty-five years later? It's not like every copy of Watchmen currently in existence is going to be magically retconned into being unreadable dreck unless you've also read the story of how Comedian was caught in a gamma rape bomb explosion.

edit: Keeping in mind I agree with these cash-grab minis being stupidly stupid.

Edited by Dark Knight, 07 February 2012 - 04:09 AM.
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[Darren]

Dark Knight, on 07 February 2012 - 04:08 AM, said:

Not really. Is Watchmen itself going to be less of a great read because you didn't also read the Minutemen origin mini twenty-five years later? It's not like every copy of Watchmen currently in existence is going to be magically retconned into being unreadable dreck unless you've also read the story of how Comedian was caught in a gamma rape bomb explosion.

edit: Keeping in mind I agree with these cash-grab minis being stupidly stupid.

For those of us who read Watchmen before the film, before these minis... well, it will probably increase our appreciation of the original. But for new readers, of course it will all be part of the dialogue. Pretending it won't affect the original, or even skew one's reading of the original, and the characters is like saying The Killing Joke didn't affect reader's opinions of Batman (series and character). It allows the reader to say "Well, Moore's story is one interpretation of the character. I prefer Azzarello's." And some will. And that's all well and good. I prefer almost every interpretation of Batman since Bob Kane to Bob Kane's original. That's comics, not a condemnation.

But pretending that won't happen, that these minis will have no effect on the original story... is naive.

[M'onel]

What I meant was that these minis will not affect the original story. Watchmen has a definite beginning, middle, and end. So whatever prequel story they create will have to conform to lead-up to the original story. I don't see any way around that.

Now I see what you mean about new readers comparing these characterizations to Moore's original handling of them. That is to be expected to a degree.