- After years, and especially a few recent months, of rumors and leaked teasers which lawyers hastily banned from the Internet, DC Comics have finally released the worst nightmare of Alan Moore - a prequel series to his iconic WATCHMAN maxi-series, which he did alongside Dave Gibbons. To maximize hype, DC offered the story to various official news sources, each offering a different creator interview. The entire project is dubbed BEFORE WATCHMEN, and will produce 44 issues of material to provide a prelude to a tale that only had twelve issues. In fairness, this has been FOX's strategy with X-Men films for at least five years now. To give credit to DC Comics, these various mini series do have A-List creative talent involved. The NY TIMES reveals Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS, WONDER WOMAN, SUPERMAN) will write a six issue COMEDIAN series alongside artist J.G. Jones (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/books/dc-comics-plans-prequels-to-watchmen-series.html?_r=1), and also team with artist Lee Bermejo to handle a four issue RORSHACHE mini series, via USA TODAY (http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2012-02-01/Watchmen-prequel-comic-book-series/52908084/1). Darwyn Cooke (THE SPIRIT, DC: THE NEW FRONTIER) will actually get quite a lot of work out of this; he writes and draws a six issue MINUTEMEN series (http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/02/01/watchmen-prequels-dc-dares-to-expand-on-classic/#/0), as well as writes a four issue SILK SPECTRE series alongside artist Amanda Conner (http://shelf-life.ew.com/2012/02/01/watchmen-prequels-exclusive-details/). Legendary writer/editor Len Wein teams with artist Jae Lee to handle a six issue OZYMANDIUS series (http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/02/exclusive-before-watchmen/). Finally, writer J. Michael Straczynski teams with artist Adam Hughes for a four issue DR. MANHATTAN series (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36726), and with Adam & Andy Kubert for a NITE-OWL series of equal length (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dc-entertainment-watchmen-prequel-7-books-286302). Each issue of these series will begin with a two page CURSE OF THE CRIMSON CORSAIR pirate story written by Wein and drawn by John Higgins - the original colorist of WATCHMEN (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/watchmen-prequels-dc-comics_n_1246317.html). The "event" will then wrap up one shot called BEFORE WATCHMEN: EPILOGUE; wrap your mind behind an epilogue TO A PREQUEL.
The announcement of this series has split the fan community in two online. One side of the debate is that WATCHMEN was a work commissioned and owned by DC Comics and thus the company is perfectly free to pursue additional works with the characters within - much as DC has proceeded to utilize Batman in various good, bad, and average stories after Frank Miller's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. The other side is that WATCHMEN is considered a piece of art beyond being a mere profitable comic book, and cashing in on prequel material (a couple of years after a motion picture attempt, which sold a lot of trades but not as many tickets) tarnishes the original and exposes DC's petty desire for capital. An informal newsletter among various retailers reveals that while they're also split, they're convinced it will move issuea and ultimately trade collections (http://www.newsarama.com/comics/comic-book-retailers-react-to-before-watchmen-120203.html). Alan Moore, contacted by the NY TIMES, was hardly thrilled to say the least: "Completely shameless. I tend to take this latest development as a kind of eager confirmation that they are still apparently dependent on ideas that I had 25 years ago. I don't want money; What I want is for this not to happen. As far as I know, there weren't that many prequels or sequels to ‘Moby-Dick.'" While Moore's reaction is justified, some caveats are to be taken. Moore himself originally sought to weave WATCHMEN around characters DC had acquired in the mid-1980's from the defunct CHARLTON COMICS, and editors basically forced him to instead craft original characters. Moore's very own LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN relies on his use of public domain literary characters such as Captain Nemo and Mr. Hyde for a long spanning action story. In one of his more controversial works, he included several "fairy tale" heroines such as Alice Fairchild (from "ALICE IN WONDERLAND"), Dorothy Gale ("WIZARD OF OZ") and Wendy Darling ("PETER PAN") in what was essentially considered "pornography" (according to Moore himself) which bordered on pedophilia according to critics (LOST GIRLS). Thus, while Moore at the very least isn't seeking a fast buck from fans like DC is, it gets hard for him to claim moral high ground in regards to the integrity of not using other creator's characters for one's own narrative whims. A quote from Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN is useful here: "All writers are liars." DC Comics brass and most of the creators involved, according to interviews and statements, do not deny and have anticipated a fan backlash for this series, but hope that the quality will convince them otherwise. The timing of this "event" is also telling, as it will compete with Marvel's AVENGERS VS. X-MEN - which at least isn't being shy about it being nothing but a shallow, overlong slugfest. This project was one of several former DC publisher Paul Levitz refused to authorize which has now gone forth now that his position has been split between Dan DiDio and Jim "The 90's" Lee. Given that DC's NEW 52 hasn't immediately backfired on DC has some predicted this would, this may have emboldened the company to slaughter their one sacred cow franchise left for big bucks. And at the very least, Rob Liefield isn't involved.
- There are actual DC comics where Rob Liefield is involved - they are literally called THE LIEFIELD LINE-UP at DC's official blog (http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2012/02/03/the-liefeld-line-up-creative-teams-for-deathstroke-grifter-and-the-savage-hawkman/). Back on Jan. 17th, it was revealed that Liefield would take over creative duties on DEATHSTROKE, SAVAGE HAWKMAN and GRIFTER (http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-new-york/dc-comics-news-1-17-12-new-52-s-second-wave-6-titles-axed-green-arrow-tv). Liefield will both write and "draw" DEATHSTROKE, co-write GRIFTER alongside another 90's star Frank Tieri, and will co-write SAVAGE HAWKMAN alongside Mark Poulton and artist Joe Bennett. Scott Clark, the regular artist on GRIFTER, will remain with the series.
- In additional news, DC continues to shuffle creative teams around their NEW 52 line of comics before any of them have reached an 11th issue. Jeff Lemire, an indie cult sensation with his work on SWEET TOOTH for VERTIGO and ANIMAL MAN, will take over writing JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK with issue nine (http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2012/01/31/jeff-lemire-takes-on-justice-league-dark/). With Lemire on JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, that book's former writer, Peter Milligan, will move onto STORMWATCH, which was a relaunch of a Wildstorm property, with issue nine (http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2012/01/31/peter-milligan-heads-to-stormwatch/); Milligan would replace Paul Cornell on that title. Finally, a relative unknown - Matt Kindt, who has done REVOLVER with VERTIGO and SUPER SPY from Top Shelf - will take over on FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. with issue ten (http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2012/01/31/matt-kindt-debuts-as-series-writer-of-frankenstein-agent-of-s-h-a-d-e/). Gregg Hurwitz, who has written VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT, FOOLKILLER, and PUNISHER at Marvel, will co-write BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT alongside artist/co-writer David Finch starting with issue ten (http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2012/02/02/novelist-gregg-hurwitz-joins-batman-the-dark-knight-creative-team/).
- The Green Arrow TV series for THE CW - the former home of "SMALLVILLE" - is officially moving forward to a pilot stage (http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/stephen-amell-is-green-arrow-lands-title-role-in-cw-drama-pilot-arrow/). Stephen Arnell, who has appeared on other CW shows such as "THE VAMPIRE DIARIES" and "90201" will star as Oliver Queen in the series, which has been titled simply "ARROW". In a "modern retelling" of the origin, Queen will lead a double life as the hi-tech martial artist archer vigilante by night, and a former industrialist turned politician by day. David Nutter is directing the pilot, written/executive produced by Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim. The choice of title is odd - the network is banking on fans knowing who Green Arrow is after his appearances in "SMALLVILLE", yet is hesitant to utilize his proper codename in the title.
- Much as they did last month, DC Comics have revealed their top selling digital comics for January. While they did not release hard numbers - as they don't have to - the list remains consistent with the top 10 digital comics from last month. Curiously, the Beat also cites another article which suggests that DC's digital comics may sell at a rate of anywhere between 6% to 16% of what the physical copies sell in shops; a figure far higher than the 1-3% figure touted in earlier estimates (http://www.comicsbeat.com/2012/02/06/so-just-how-many-digital-comcis-did-dc-sell-in-january/). Given the expansion of the digital comics program, it would make sense to see a climb in sales for that format. While retailers may not be sweating yet, it will make "back issues" obsolete in the near future, and thus force more conservative ordering practices for copies they may never move.
Last Week's DC Comics News - http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-new-york/dc-comics-news-1-31-12-dc-s-fcbd-details-amethyst-reprint-dc-nation-more
This Week's Indie Comics News - http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-new-york/indie-comics-news-2-6-12-image-comics-turns-20-waid-ends-irredeemable-more
Last Week's Marvel Comics News - http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-new-york/marvel-comics-news-1-31-12-avx-0-r-i-p-al-rio-the-avengers-sb-ad-more
Comments