Dan DiDio, Jim Lee Address "Before Watchmen" Controversies

[CBR News]

DC Comics co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee discuss the controversies surrounding "Before Watchmen," directly addressing Alan Moore's issues with the publisher, Chris Roberson's public statements and more.


Full article here.

[Kiryu]

DC Comics co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee discuss the controversies surrounding "Before Watchmen," directly addressing Alan Moore's issues with the publisher, Chris Roberson's public statements and more.


Full article here.

"I guarantee you that every single one of these creators that's working on these books, think they can outdo -- match or outdo -- what was done in the original," Lee added.

Okay, I think that speaks more to the egos of a lot of these people. I'm sorry, but I've read JMS, he couldn't even out-do Chris Robertson who had to turn his debacle of a Superman story into well..something.

Just more cementing that with these guys in charge, DC isn't a company I want to lend support to. I think they convinced me I shouldn't go see Dark Knight Rises.

They have me on Batman Inc til Morrison leaves, but yuck, these guys skeeve me out.

[gbshabo]

Okay, I think that speaks more to the egos of a lot of these people. I'm sorry, but I've read JMS, he couldn't even out-do Chris Robertson who had to turn his debacle of a Superman story into well..something.

Just more cementing that with these guys in charge, DC isn't a company I want to lend support to. I think they convinced me I shouldn't go see Dark Knight Rises.

They have me on Batman Inc til Morrison leaves, but yuck, these guys skeeve me out.

If I bad talk my boss in public, I lose my job. What makes a comic creator so special? Didio hit it perfectly. Roberson was unhappy working for such a tyrannical company. So DC let him go. It's what I would've done.

[Jeff Brady]

If I bad talk my boss in public, I lose my job. What makes a comic creator so special? Didio hit it perfectly. Roberson was unhappy working for such a tyrannical company. So DC let him go. It's what I would've done.

That has nothing to do with what Kiryu said.

[Mr. Holmes]

The Roberson statement doesn't really make sense to me. The Moore and Watchmen problem happened with a different regime than what they have now, and the Siegels issue is something Warner Bros. is handling.

[Kiryu]

If I bad talk my boss in public, I lose my job. What makes a comic creator so special? Didio hit it perfectly. Roberson was unhappy working for such a tyrannical company. So DC let him go. It's what I would've done.

I wasn't referring to them letting Robertson go, of course they did that. I doubt it surprised him and I doubt it surprised many folk. I don't think the guy is such a dummy he would bad mouth them on the internet and not expect it to A) Become a story and B) Have ramifications.

I just mean those guys, I don't care for the way Jim and Dan steer the ship. It hasn't produced many stories I want to read and is in the act of producing a story I feel really weakens, cheapens, and lowers the industry. Just my personal preference.

[greatmetropolitan]

I'm actually right behind Dan and Jim on this one.

Roberson said he didn't want to work for DC, DC said "OK, you don't." Nothing wrong there.

As for the comments about wanting to match or out-do Watchmen, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If I were going to tackle a Watchmen prequel or spin-off you can be damn sure I wouldn't do it without being absolutely positive I could at least live up to the quality of the original. There's nothing wrong with a bit of professional ego, either. Sometimes you'll get smacked down for it, but sometimes it might push you to new heights. With Before Watchmen we'll have to WAIT AND SEE how it turns out.

Also, Alan Moore didn't read his contract? That's insane. My sympathy for him just decreased even farther.

[Leirus]

Wow... that was far more douchebaggish that it needed to be. Before reading this, I was going to check out the issues out of sheer curiosity... now I am not so sure I will want to.

[Kiryu]

That's really unfair, JMS has put out some great stuff besides Grounded.

We can agree to disagree. I've read his Thor, which I found enjoyable but slow, plodding, and unfinished. His Supreme Power, which was enjoyable(When it was MAX) but also slow, plodding, and unfinished. I really didn't care for his mystical take on Spider-Man, the Norman/Gwen kids(I think the idea is lame that Norman banged Gwen and I think Peter having super powered children who would be reconnected, the original idea, lame), I think Superman: Earth One is a genuinely terrible graphic novel, and Babylon 5 isn't really my cup of tea either.

I personally find his output very underwhelming and since I've been reading comics I've seen him finish like 1 story, with a failure to complete many of his stories. As always your mileage may vary. But I think whatever great works he had in him are in the past and that his current output has been mediocre-full on bad.

[Mr. Holmes]

I'm actually right behind Dan and Jim on this one.

Roberson said he didn't want to work for DC, DC said "OK, you don't." Nothing wrong there.

As for the comments about wanting to match or out-do Watchmen, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If I were going to tackle a Watchmen prequel or spin-off you can be damn sure I wouldn't do it without being absolutely positive I could at least live up to the quality of the original. There's nothing wrong with a bit of professional ego, either. Sometimes you'll get smacked down for it, but sometimes it might push you to new heights. With Before Watchmen we'll have to WAIT AND SEE how it turns out.

Also, Alan Moore didn't read his contract? That's insane. My sympathy for him just decreased even farther.

Yeah Moore has stated in recent interviews that he thought the DC people he was negotiating with were friendly people and believed he would get the rights back. Trying to judge morality on a business maximizing its profits is incredibly naive.

[Kiryu]

I'm actually right behind Dan and Jim on this one.

Roberson said he didn't want to work for DC, DC said "OK, you don't." Nothing wrong there.

As for the comments about wanting to match or out-do Watchmen, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If I were going to tackle a Watchmen prequel or spin-off you can be damn sure I wouldn't do it without being absolutely positive I could at least live up to the quality of the original. There's nothing wrong with a bit of professional ego, either. Sometimes you'll get smacked down for it, but sometimes it might push you to new heights. With Before Watchmen we'll have to WAIT AND SEE how it turns out.

Also, Alan Moore didn't read his contract? That's insane. My sympathy for him just decreased even farther.

Contracts like the one Alan had were new to comics at the time, it's likely is was negotiated and sold to him and he probably signed it without even having a lawyer look it over because it was a different time then, these were new issues, and they sold the contract to him as "The next step in creator rights.". I know we should all know better now and understand anyone looking to get us to sign a piece of paper is doing so to try and screw us in every way imaginable, but he had a naive thing called trust going on with his employees. Silly Alan. If only he was old, paranoid, and bitter when he did Watchmen instead of because of his experiences being screwed - and he was screwed, maybe this sideshow of a comic wouldn't be on the docket.

Ugh

[Mr. Holmes]

We can agree to disagree. I've read his Thor, which I found enjoyable but slow, plodding, and unfinished. His Supreme Power, which was enjoyable(When it was MAX) but also slow, plodding, and unfinished. I really didn't care for his mystical take on Spider-Man, the Norman/Gwen kids(I think the idea is lame that Norman banged Gwen and I think Peter having super powered children who would be reconnected, the original idea, lame), I think Superman: Earth One is a genuinely terrible graphic novel, and Babylon 5 isn't really my cup of tea either.

They may not be your cup of tea, but it doesn't mean he's the terrible writer you're trying to make him out to be. Again, it's really unfair. You might not like his work, but his writing on books like Supreme Power, Spider-Man, Thor, etc. were acclaimed commercially and critically.

I personally find his output very underwhelming and since I've been reading comics I've seen him finish like 1 story, with a failure to complete many of his stories. As always your mileage may vary. But I think whatever great works he had in him are in the past and that his current output has been mediocre-full on bad.

Grounded was pretty bad, but everything else he's done is infinitely better, so I don't think all his great work is in the past.

[turtlefood]

I removed Before Watchmen #1s from my dcbs order despite them being 75% off, i want nothing to do with this now after Roberson's and Didio/Lee's comments, though i didn't LOVE Watchmen to begin with.

[Ziggy Stardust]

"I guarantee you that every single one of these creators that's working on these books, think they can outdo -- match or outdo -- what was done in the original," Lee added.

Wow.... never knew Jim was such a comedian.

[greatmetropolitan]

As far as I'm aware, Moore did work for hire for a large company. He signed a contract with that company without reading it. The contract said he'd get the rights to Watchmen if/when Watchmen went out of print. It never did. Moore is still entitled to millions in profits from this work. He is refusing them. Moore may be getting screwed by DC - but not half as much as he screwed himself then and now.

As for trust, DC have lived up to the letter of their contract, as far as I'm aware. They haven't broken an iota of trust.