BEFORE WATCHMEN: Let the hate begin

Winner, Family Friendly cover of the year.

By Bill Sweeney


"Haters gonna hate."
--Ancient Proverb 

 
You can already hear the Bash-Wagon rolling into town.

Like a carpet-bombing across the internet, DC Comics has unveiled their newest badly kept secret, a multi-series prequel to one of the best things they ever published - Alan More and Dave Gibbons' WATCHMEN

And while obviously no one knows just yet how good these books will be, how they will be revered in contrast to the source material, that's not going to stop the oncoming hate train. Regardless of how talented these artists and writers are on these projects nothing gets the buzz started quite like an internet fanboy frenzy:

Rorschach by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo

Comedian by Brian Azzarello and JG Jones

Minutemen by Darwyn Cooke

Silk Spectre by Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner

Doctor Manhattan by J Michael Straczynski and Adam Hughes

Nite Owl by Joe Michael Strazynski with Andy and/or Joe Kubert

Ozymandias by Len Wein and Jae Lee.

We're not alone in seeing the danger in all this. All the web sites that were specially selected to receive art promos and interviews with creative teams are speculating a fanboy backlash that itself is based only in speculation. Why all the worry? Perhaps it's the mindset behind quotes like this:

“Reboots are almost mandatory in an industry that has existed for over three-fourths of a century now.” -- Len Wein

Actually, it seems to us, sadly, that Reboots are the mainstay, easy-out solutions and prequels, generally speaking, are a means by which to milk the last drops of coolness from any pop media property. Nothing about them is MANDATORY. If the industry wants to hold on for another 75 years, it's going to have to start moving forward instead of milling about in it's recent past. Is this just DC/Warner keeping the idea factory going as to produce new material for future movies?

I feel for Alan Moore. Because he's going to be asked about this over and over, essentially jabbed with a stick, until he responds. Not just over the next few months, but for years to come.

What do you think? Tell us all about it!

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