Watchmen Prequels

[flutterscotch]

DC's officially announced that they're doing a a series of mini-series prequels for each character from the Watchmen.

http://comics.ign.co.../1217662p1.html

What do you think?

I personally think it's a little silly, mostly because I enjoy characters who don't have every aspect of their history spelled out for me sometimes, especially in that kind of context.

[lordbrony]

they have some good talents working on it but I think it'll probably miss out on the atmosphere and symbolism of the original book so it'll probably be a cookie cutter conflict based origin story

[flutterscotch]

Here's an even bigger WHYYYY

http://comics.ign.com/articles/121/1216485p1.html

WHHYYYY are they hiring Rob Liefeld to write comic books anymore?

[RarityDash]

I don't see why it shouldn't be allowed or anything like that. Watchmen's character have become iconic. People will always want to tell new stories about iconic characters, especially in the comics industry. Moore might protest, but he's made a living of utilizing other writer's iconic characters in his own stories (I find it especially ironic that one of Swamp Thing's creators is attached to this project given how closely Moore has become associated with that character). I can't see why DC shouldn't be allowed to use these characters in new stories if the creators have new stories to tell.

Is it necessary? Probably not. Watchmen stands fine on its own, but so do a lot of things that have continuations and spin offs. Will the stories be good? I don't know. We'll just have to see. The creative teams sound like they could do great things at the very least, but I'd be shocked if the stories all live up to the source.

I won't claim this is a "great" idea, but I personally plan to read the books and judge them on their own merits and I'd say I'm fairly excited to see how it goes down, even if I don't rightly know what exactly to expect.

Liefield on the other hand... I can't really call that a good idea. It is kind of alarming he's still getting work. That said the titles in questions seem like ones that might play to whatever "strengths" Liefield might have, and might appease the fans he still has. I'll be staying away though. I wasn't reading those three books anyway.

[TheColtofPersonality]

I could dig it as long as its got some good writers,as for Liefeld well he is an overall good guy from what I know of him so terrible artist or not he does have a good head on his shoulders.

[RarityDash]

Yeah. I can agree with that. He seems likable and enthusiastic in all the interviews I've seen with him. I don't hate Liefield personally. It's just his art is nothing short of terrible.

That said, looks like he's only actually drawing one of these three books. I haven't heard much good about his writing either though...

[flutterscotch]

Re: the comics. Yeah, they're allowed to do it, it doesn't mean it won't be a trainwreck. I just feel like some of the artists and authors these days are enthusiastic enough, but, much like other times in the past, they're trying to shoehorn too many real-world issues (cough *x-men* cough) and trying to be "relevant" or edgy to forget to add humor into the mix. The Watchmen might have ushered in the age of darker and edgier, but there was a whole lot of black comedy in that title. Sometimes subtle, but always present.

Re: Liefeld As someone who followed his interviews in the 90's when he was "big", and at the height of being a superhero fan, I find him arrogant and annoying. Always have.

[Davroth]

Watchman prequel you say? :3

Watchbabies!!

Also, considering that Watchmen is the way it is because Moore couldn't get the rights to the actual heroes he wanted to use, It's kinda ridiculous to try something like this. Just goes to show how incredibly desperate the Industry has become, if they grab after that straw.

I still wait for the crossover event that merges all superhero continuities into one giant, genetically engineered, intergalactic octopus. Until then, I'll just not bother.

[flutterscotch]

Really, though, if he had used the defunct Charleton comics characters, it wouldn't have made a difference. It might have been super lame, actually, Except the Blue Beetle.

[Davroth]

HEY!!

...

...I like Question.

edit: The difference would have been that noone dies. ^^

[flutterscotch]

I don't mean the characters themselves are lame. I just mean that shoehorning them in would have been lame. The Question's not nearly enough of a psycho to play the role Rorschach did without some serious canon breaking. The entire storyline would have needed to be altered.

But if you replaced Night Owl with the Blue Beetle? What would have been the difference besides some backstory elements not exactly central to the plot? Besides Dr. Manhattan not pulling focus due to his coloring?

[Kirby Krackle]

As if Alan Moore needed another reason to hate the world.