The biggest graphic novel of all time is getting a prequel, or eight.

Written By Adam A. Donaldson

One earth-shaking event in a year doesn’t seem to be enough for DC Comics as they announced last week, after much rumour and speculation, that they were launching prequel miniseries to the seminal 1986 graphic novel Watchmen. That sound you heard was the internet exploding, and naturally, initial fan reaction has predominately negative. But is there reason to expect that something good, or at least interesting, might come out of DC’s desire to fiddle with perfection?

But what can’t be argued is the level of talent that DC has brought to bear on these series in order to bring them to life. From acclaimed writers like Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), J. Michael Straczynski (Thor, Rising Stars) and Darwyn Cooke (Justice League: New Frontier); to accomplished artists like Amanda Conner (Power Girl), Adam Hughes (Ghost), J.G. Jones (Wanted, Final Crisis), Andy Kubert (Ultimate X-Men, Flashpoint), Jae Lee (Stephen King's The Dark Tower), and. Lee Bermejo (Joker). There are even comic industry legends like Len Wein (Co-creator of Swamp Thing and The Human Target), and Joe Kubert (Sgt. Rock, Tarzan) involved as well as one artist with a connection to original book: John Higgins (colourist on the original Watchmen).

When Before Watchmen, as the project is known, premieres this summer, it will be broken down into several miniseries with each one focusing on a key cast member(s) of the original story in the days and years before Watchmen took place. The include Rorschach by Azzarello and Bermejo; Minutemen by Cooke; Comedian by Azzarello and Jones; Dr. Manhattan by Straczynski and Hughes; Nite Owl by Straczynski and the Kuberts; Ozymandias by Wein and Lee; and Silk Spectre Cooke and Conner. As well each issue will have a two-page back up story called a new issue will be released, and will feature a two-page back-up story called The Curse of the Crimson Corsair, by Wein and John Higgins, the inclusion of which is analogous to the original Watchmen’s sub-narrative Tales of the Black Freighter.

So why mess with a good thing, a graphic novel so praised, so lauded, that it hasn’t been out of print ever in the 25 years its been released, and why do it now? “It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee in a press release. “After twenty five years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original.”

But what of the original writer and artist of Watchmen, were do they stand on what maybe their most well known work being revisited without them? “The original series of Watchmen is the complete story that Alan Moore and I wanted to tell,” said Dave Gibbons, Watchmen co-creator and original series artist. “However, I appreciate DC’s reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work. May these new additions have the success they desire.”

It should come as a surprise to no one that Moore wanted nothing to do with Before Watchmen, his issues with DC Comics go back 20 years. But when a producer behind the adaptation of Moore’s V for Vendetta implied that the film had his blessing, despite Moore’s staunch refusal to have anything to do with the film versions of his work, the writer severed whatever lingering ties, no matter how tenuous, he had with the publisher and its parent company, Time Warner.

“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,” Moore told The New York Times last week after the announcement of Before Watchmen. Moore added that though he’s against the series of prequels, he will not pursue any kind of legal action, not wanting to face, in his words, “infinite battery of lawyers.”

“I don’t want the money,” Moore adds. “What I want is for this to not happen.”

Although its hard to think that anyone was expecting Moore to offer his blessing to the project, the new batch of Watchmen creators are nonetheless defensive about not just Moore’s reaction, but to that of fandom in general. J. Michael Straczynski, for one, thinks that Alan Moore “loses a little of the moral high ground to say, ‘I can write characters created by Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle and Frank Baum, but it’s wrong for anyone else to write my characters.”

Canadian writer and artist Darwyn Cooke had a, perhaps, more analytical approach as to why chronicling the further adventures of the characters from Watchmen is a good idea, referencing the character of Silk Spectre as an example. “[W]e never get to see her being self-sufficient and dealing with herself and dealing with her own problems,” says Cooke. “She’s there for a man.”

One thing’s for sure, if there’s one group of people in the comic world that won’t be complaining about the Watchmen prequel series, it will be comic book retailers.

"This is beneficial all the way," said Joe Field, president of the ComicsPRO retailer organization and owner of Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff in Concord, CA. "Sure, we'll have the occasional heated discussion whether this is a pure money grab on the part of DC/Warner Brothers or whether it makes a lot of creative sense. But make no mistake — this is creating more excitement in comics, and that is a very good thing

Even the cynical know that on the first Wednesday the books come out, no one who calls themselves a comic book fan will want to be caught without these new titles. "I think there will be plenty of nay-saying before it comes out, and people will buy the issues anyway," said Adam Casey, manager of Ssalesfish Comics in Winston-Salem, NC. "Comic fans have proven themselves to be a pretty reliable, if not truthful, lot. Every week of the Spider-Man Brand New Day relaunch, or the New 52, someone was complaining about what they were buying, but still chose to buy it."

Written by :

Adam