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DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
I ssaw Kevin Smith twwittered a blurb from bleeding cool that DC plans to publish a prequel to the series.
from bleeding cool..... "We’ve had his name mentioned to us before, regarding this project. There is circumstantial evidence to support it. Well, today Bleeding Cool had it confirmed. Not officially of course, don’t be ridiculous. But we’ve been informed quite conclusively from a reliable source at DC Comics that Andy Kubert is drawing one of the four Watchmen prequel miniseries we’ve heard so much about. Taking one of the principle characters from the series and telling a pre-Watchmen tale. But I understand he may not be the only Kubert getting involved with this." |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Were the Simpsons right?! Are we getting Watchman Babies?!
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
It's been in the planning phase for a while now. It's the second hush-huh, non-disclosure project DC had going (the first being the New 52).
I guess after DC offered the Watchmen rights to Moore and he rejected it, they decided to go for broke. |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
I totally missed the story when it happened. How do you just say no to the rights to Watchman? That has to be a nice chunk of change.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by madcougar
(Post 11027342)
I totally missed the story when it happened. How do you just say no to the rights to Watchman? That has to be a nice chunk of change.
A pretty in-depth article on this: http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/12/01...on-watchmen-2/ |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Well la di da Mr. Moore! I wish I could just say now to trash bags full of cash! It must be nice to be British and ethics and morals!
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
I'll take "Things that are going to suck" for $200, Alex!
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
This is probably going to turn out very badly. DC knows this but also knows the Watchmen name alone will make it a best seller.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
So Moore owns the rights to The Watchmen, and they will revert to him fully when the graphic novel goes out of print? But until then, WB can do whatever they want with the property? Strange contract.
It makes sense to me that Moore turned down the deal. Why would he want to plow over ground that he left behind 25 years ago? It's not likely to get his creative juices flowing. Also, artistic works often turn out badly when the artist revisits something he did as a young man, because he's not the same person anymore. |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by Nick Danger
(Post 11029404)
So Moore owns the rights to The Watchmen, and they will revert to him fully when the graphic novel goes out of print? But until then, WB can do whatever they want with the property? Strange contract.
It makes sense to me that Moore turned down the deal. Why would he want to plow over ground that he left behind 25 years ago? It's not likely to get his creative juices flowing. Also, artistic works often turn out badly when the artist revisits something he did as a young man, because he's not the same person anymore. |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by Nick Danger
(Post 11029404)
So Moore owns the rights to The Watchmen, and they will revert to him fully when the graphic novel goes out of print? But until then, WB can do whatever they want with the property? Strange contract.
At the time, the mid-1980s, it was virtually unheard of for companies like Marvel and DC to keep things in print perpetually. There were very few paperback collections available at that time, and if you wanted to read old stories it meant you had to hunt down back issues. Ironically, it was Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and Dark Knight Returns that started the TPB revolution. |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by Nick Danger
(Post 11029404)
So Moore owns the rights to The Watchmen, and they will revert to him fully when the graphic novel goes out of print? But until then, WB can do whatever they want with the property? Strange contract.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchme..._and_reception Disagreements about the ownership of the story ultimately led Alan Moore to sever ties with DC Comics. Not wanting to work under a work for hire arrangement, Moore and Gibbons had a reversion clause in their contract for Watchmen. Speaking at the 1985 San Diego Comic-Con, Moore said "The way it works, if I understand it, is that DC owns it for the time they're publishing it, and then it reverts to Dave and me, so we can make all the money from the Slurpee cups." For Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons received eight percent of the series' earnings. Moore explained in 1986 that his understanding was that when "DC have not used the characters for a year, they're ours." Both Moore and Gibbons said DC paid them "a substantial amount of money" to retain the rights. Moore added, "So basically they're not ours, but if DC is working with the characters in our interests then they might as well be. On the other hand, if the characters have outlived their natural life span and DC doesn't want to do anything with them, then after a year we've got them and we can do what we want with them, which I'm perfectly happy with." Moore said he left DC in 1989 due to the language in his contracts for Watchmen and his V for Vendetta series with artist David Lloyd. Moore felt the reversion clauses were ultimately meaningless, because DC did not intend to let the publications go out of print. He told The New York Times in 2006, "I said, 'Fair enough,' [...] 'You have managed to successfully swindle me, and so I will never work for you again.'" |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
So does Moore get a percentage of every TPB sold? If so, he's still making a small fortune to this day!
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
It's virtually the same deal DC had with William Moulton Marston for Wonder Woman. As long as DC continued to produce a Wonder Woman comic, they could keep the rights to the character. If the comic stopped, Marston's heirs would regain control of the character. It surprised me to learn that that deal lasted into the 1980s and DC had to produce a mini-series (The Legend of Wonder Woman) in the gap between Wonder Woman Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 or they would have lost her before the reboot.
DC eventually bought the character outright. |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
It was that weird contract with Marston that kept Wonder Woman being published for many years when sales justified its cancellation. Wonder Woman has always worked better outside of comics in terms of popularity, as much as DC has tried to foist upon the readership in recent years that she is the equal of Superman and Batman.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
There is historical justification in making Wonder Woman the equal of Superman and Batman. Ron Goulart once wrote that Wonder Woman sold a million plus copies every month back at her peak, and that she was the best-selling superhero of all.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by Nick Danger
(Post 11031512)
There is historical justification in making Wonder Woman the equal of Superman and Batman. Ron Goulart once wrote that Wonder Woman sold a million plus copies every month back at her peak, and that she was the best-selling superhero of all.
I had no idea that DC bought the rights back, because I had always thought that WW was published through thick and thin because of that contract even when it sold dismally (and I don't think it was that long ago that it was selling dismally). But Busiek himself said that they bought the rights outright, so there you go. I had thought that back when DC Direct cancelled their Watchman figure offerings for the 15th anniversary, that they did so because Moore still held some right of refusal, but maybe that was just them trying to mend fences. You'd think by now they'd have learned after their sequels to things like the Dark Night Returns and Kingdom Come that you don't go to the well again after such a long hiatus, but hey, maybe they can do something new with quali... hahaha, sorry, couldn't finish that thought with a straight face. If they had the concept of Elseworlds or Hypertime or whatever way back when, I wonder how different it would have been with the actual Charlton characters. |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Watchmen 2 Art:
Part 1: Night Owl Night Owl by Andy & Joe Kubert http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...x/cc8d056c.jpg Part 2: The Comedian Comedian by JG Jones. http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...x/d545a2c8.jpg |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Rumors circulating that Amanda Conner is working on a Silk Spectre mini.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Who is Amanda Connor?
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by whotony
(Post 11055703)
Who is Amanda Connor?
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by Dragon Tattoo
(Post 11055767)
The best Power Girl artist.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Looks like J. Michael Straczynski is involved, so I guess this will never come out -- at least, the end will never come out.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by JasonF
(Post 11056181)
Looks like J. Michael Straczynski is involved, so I guess this will never come out -- at least, the end will never come out.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
and if you don't like it, it's because you're stupid, unsophisticated, and didn't comprehend how great it was.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by The Valeyard
(Post 11055034)
Watchmen 2 Art:
Part 1: Night Owl Night Owl by Andy & Joe Kubert http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...x/cc8d056c.jpg Part 2: The Comedian Comedian by JG Jones. http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...x/d545a2c8.jpg |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by Superboy
(Post 11057926)
Nice to see the difference between nepotism and talent in the comic industry.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
I'm a big fan of Andy's although I do not like when he's inked by Joe. Joe's inks are just too heavy.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Not impressed. It looks like something by another of those comic book artists who never drew from life, and so never learned how the pieces fit together. And Laurie has gone from busty to top heavy.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
This summer, DC Entertainment will publish all-new stories expanding on the acclaimed WATCHMEN universe. As highly anticipated as they are controversial, the seven inter-connected prequel mini-series will build on the foundation of the original WATCHMEN, the bestselling graphic novel of all time. BEFORE WATCHMEN will be the collective banner for all seven titles, from DC Comics. “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. “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.” Stepping up to the challenge is a group of the comic book industry’s most iconoclastic writers and artists – including Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS), Lee Bermejo (JOKER), Amanda Conner (POWER GIRL), Darwyn Cooke (JUSTICE LEAGUE: NEW FRONTIER), John Higgins (WATCHMEN), Adam Hughes (CATWOMAN), J.G. Jones (FINAL CRISIS), Andy Kubert (FLASHPOINT), Joe Kubert (SGT. ROCK), Jae Lee (BATMAN: JEKYLL AND HYDE), J. Michael Straczynski (SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE) and Len Wein (SWAMP THING). BEFORE WATCHMEN includes: RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner Each week, a new issue will be released, and will feature a two-page back-up story called CURSE OF THE CRIMSON CORSAIR, written by original series editor Len Wein and with art by original series colorist John Higgins. There will also be a single issue, BEFORE WATCHMEN: EPILOGUE, featuring the work of various writers and artists, and a CRIMSON CORSAIR story by Wein and Higgins. “The original series of WATCHMEN is the complete story that Alan Moore and I wanted to tell. 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,” said Dave Gibbons, WATCHMEN co-creator and original series artist. “Comic books are perhaps the largest and longest running form of collaborative fiction,” said DiDio and Lee. “Collaborative storytelling is what keeps these fictional universes current and relevant.” http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/files/2...3-666x1024.jpg |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
written by original series editor Len Wein and with art by original series colorist John Higgins |
Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
You gotta have some balls working on this, I'll give them that.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Wow. They went all in, didn't they?
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
I'm disappointed by this news, but I also know that I won't be able to stop myself from buying them and reading them...just like I bought the Watchmen video game fully knowing that it would be awful.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by Timber
(Post 11098510)
They're really hyping up 2 people that essentially had no creative input in the orginal?
(And even though I'm a fan of Wein, I still have no interest in this or any other Watchmen prequel). |
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
Originally Posted by Gdrlv
(Post 11098678)
I'm disappointed by this news, but I also know that I won't be able to stop myself from buying them and reading them...just like I bought the Watchmen video game fully knowing that it would be awful.
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Re: DC to publish Watchmen prequel?
I'm interested. Always felt the story suffered from the characters not having a real history.
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