Before Watchmen

DC announced today that they will be doing seven new minis based on Alan Moore's Watchmen. All seven are prequels and done by some of the top talent that DC has. While this is definitely a move that is unnecessary and even "unwanted" by many (Moore is completely against it, in a fit of surprise...), I'm for it. Not only do the names attached make me all kinds of giddy (I'll list them below) but there's really no way these can ruin the genius of the original. Did the Dark Strikes Back ruin Returns? Did Eye of the Camera kill the brilliant Marvels before it? No and no. Not only does DC own the rights, so it doesn't matter what he wants anyhow, but (and it's been said everywhere else, I'm sure) Moore based the characters off old ones he couldn't use. Not to mention his books like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Lost Girls that use already established, literary characters for his benefit. In my world, you can't bitch about people using "your" characters when you do it all the time. Should this talent pool be used to make new stories instead? Probably so but that shouldn't diminish there talent on this book. Let the stories happen before we all jump in 'em.





By Brian Azzarello and J.G. Jones

By J. Michael Straczynski and Adam Hughes

By Darwyn Cooke

By J. Michael Straczynski and Andy & Joe Kubert

By Len Wein and Jae Lee

By Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo

By Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner