I have to say that if you are a reader that just wanted your favorite characters on tap forever, and never cared about the creators, then actually you’re probably not the kind of reader that I was looking for. I have a huge respect for my audience. On the occasions when I meet them, they seem, I like to think, to be intelligent and scrupulous people. If people do want to go out and buy these Watchmen prequels, they would be doing me an enormous favor if they would just stop buying my other books. When I think of my audience, I like to have good thoughts and think about how lucky I am to have one that is as intelligent as mine and as moral as mine. […] The kind of readers who are prepared to turn a blind eye when the people who create their favorite reading material, their favorite characters, are marginalized or put to the wall — that’s not the kind of readers I want. So, even if it means a huge drop in sales upon my other work, I would prefer it that way. I mean, there’s no way I can police this, of course. But, I would hope that you wouldn’t want to buy a book knowing that its author actually had complete contempt for you. So, I’m hoping that will be enough.
“Watchmen” Prequel… Is Actually A Thing
populationgo:
Rumors of a sequel or prequel to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons seminal series have been circulating for a good while now. Actually, they’ve been going around for several years. All the while there’s never been conclusive evidence until today.
Hot off the tails of yesterdays news about some creative switch-ups on a few books, DC has officially announced “Before Watchmen”.
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This summer DC will begin publishing (seemingly one issue per week) a series of mini-series that focus on the main characters from Watchmen. The creative teams for these series are as follows:
- RORSCHACH (4 issues) - Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo
- MINUTEMEN (6 issues) - Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke
- COMEDIAN (6 issues) Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: JG 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 Conner
DC claims that each week new issues will be released, so I’m going to just guess that this is going to be a 34-week event. Each issue will also feature a backup story called CURSE OF THE CRIMSON CORSAIR by Len Wein and John Higgins, and everything will be followed up by the single issue, BEFORE WATCHMEN: PROLOGUE.
So whether you’ve been wanting something like this to happen, or you’ve been cringing at the idea of more Watchmen material, it’s officially happening. In my opinion, it couldn’t have been handled any better way than it is being done. Look forward for more news to come in the near future.
[DCU Blog]
I really wasn’t feeling a prequel before, but looking at some of those creative teams…
I’m interested.
