FAN EXPO: "Before Watchmen" Team on New Series, Controversy

[CBR News]

DC Comics hosted a lively discussion about "Before Watchmen" at Fan Expo, where they announced a new title and a new inker for "Nite Owl."


Full article here.

[veryunderstated]

do people actually give a shit about these books? the original watchmen isn't even that good, why should anyone care about some sort of prequel? man... I just don't get it, Alan Moore made it so people love it, even though it's shallow and boring. wtf?

[Eric Chang]

do people actually give a shit about these books? the original watchmen isn't even that good, why should anyone care about some sort of prequel? man... I just don't get it, Alan Moore made it so people love it, even though it's shallow and boring. wtf?

Wow lol some blatant flame baiting here.

[berkovw]

It may have been shown in the movie, but wasn't the Comedian assassinating JFK alluded to in the book? I'd check, but my copy is packed away.

[Mr. Holmes]

Yeah it was.

[Joe Lee]

Wow lol some blatant flame baiting here.

Nah that's pretty tame. CBR forums are a joy to read. You should see the flaming at comicon.com. People tried to post a memorial thread to Joe Kubert and a bunch of guys claimed Kubert's participation in the Before Watchmen was a black mark on his career and much much worse. Like I said, the CBR forums are a joy to read this place is much more civil than some places.

[Tayne Japal]

I'm enjoying the Before Watchmen books. The original series came out long before I started reading comics and even then I didn't buy anything from DC. The movie introduced me to the characters and maybe one of these days I'll buy the original issues.

[PreacherCain]

*snore*

Azzarello comparing the continuation to Watchmen as the same as Batman or any other superhero comic shows that he's either a complete idiot or he's being wilfully ignorant. And they're still ignoring the whole, you know, ethical side of things in terms of contracts and creators being lied to. Quite conveniently. A touchy subject these days, what with people jumping ship from DC as fast as humanly possible. Will DC even have any writers left this time next year?

Has this whole debacle really been a success anyway? The highest placed #1 (Minutemen) hit no. 5 in the sales chart; it's hardly setting the comics buying world on fire. I imagine DC are expecting the trades to be where the real moneys at so only time will tell there. I think it's a bit early to call it a success or failure at this point, but I guess CBR are going to report the spin so as not to upset one of their biggest sponsors, eh?

[gma2darescue]

Has this whole debacle really been a success anyway? The highest placed #1 (Minutemen) hit no. 5 in the sales chart; it's hardly setting the comics buying world on fire. I imagine DC are expecting the trades to be where the real moneys at so only time will tell there. I think it's a bit early to call it a success or failure at this point, but I guess CBR are going to report the spin so as not to upset one of their biggest sponsors, eh?

#5 on the sales chart is very good. 100k sales, very good. Obviously not groundbreaking, but a big success so far, yes.

[Gabe De Los Muertos]

Comedian's involvement in J.F.K.'s assassination was never explicitly stated, but was implied when he said "Just don't ask me where I was when J.F.K. was shot" right before Laurie confronts him about Sally's rape.

They can deny all they want, but what they are doing is a joke.

[Bsavini781]

yeah but all the 2nd issues dropped big time, so is it really a success?

[fanboiii]

yeah but all the 2nd issues dropped big time, so is it really a success?

Yes, they helped DC beat Marvel in last month's sales.

[Gothamdet]

I enjoyed the first 2 issues of Minutemen and Rorschach #1. Comedian/Ozy have been the worst books IMO. It's nice to see a few take on old characters, many of our favorites wouldn't be around today if nobody gave then a rebirth even though Watchmen was popular as a stand alone.

But hey, maybe next summer they will ressurect V!

[Jimmy Bond]

This project is just a bad idea creatively. If you put aside the Moore rights controversy and the sales, Watchmen is a landmark because it trashed the superhero genre. It just doesn't seem right to me to just bring back more of it. It just seems like the industry has become too stagnant.

[RevGabe69]

That is still the problem. It WAS a stand alone. If DC is so righteous why hasn't anyone done prequels to V for Vendetta? Also the above poster was right, comparing Watchmen to Batman is just arrogant. None of these books have been amazing (although Lee's artwork has been compared to his norm) or even come close to great/good. This is simply a easy money grab. Although I am not Moore biggest fan, I have to agree with him that if these creators are so top notch why aren't they creating their own "Watchmen" instead of standing on the shoulders of the original.

And lastly, I think alot of people aren't buying these because they will look much better as graphic novels next to the original book.