• After reading more posts in detail, I see I forgot Lost Girls, that someone else mentioned.

• So it's OK to write new stories involving the real-literature League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, or for Morrison to kill off Kirby's New Gods to replace them with his own, but the Watchmen are too precious a national treasure for any other creator to do anything with?  Hell, Moore didn't even create them from scratch. They're based on those old Charlton "Action Heroes."  I say go ahead and write new stories for these characters.  It's part of comics tradition.  I can't wait.  

• Ok seriously...you guys copy and pasted the writer artist line-up from USA Today (same wording) and STILL got it wrong?!!!   Wow. SPECIAL. Adam Hughes is the artist on Dr. Manhattan.

• WAY TO BE A WHINY BITCH ABOUT EVERYTHING OP

• In other news, I started scripting the "99 Bullets: And a Bitch Ain't One" prequel one-shot. Azzarello approves! Also: Dan Didio will look up and say "Buy These!" and I'll look down and whisper "Fuck no!".

• this is a total boner of the bad kind.

• scabs

• Azzarello is one of my favorite writers in the whole business, so even though I kind of disapprove I also have to say I'm somewhat curious. Certainly a good call for those two characters. I wouldn't find this so distasteful if the copyright laws were different, and I guess Moore would feel the same way (then again, who knows about Moore). If copyrights were much sorter and Watchmen was public domain already, well, this could be pretty cool. A very well written fanfic can be pretty cool, or so I've heard... It just feels stupid when they try to claim that it's "official" in some meaningful way. Moore himself has made some pretty cool comics featuring characters invented by other artists. Culture has always worked like this; back in the days people wrote about gods and borrowed freely from local legends, so stories could use well recognized archetypes for certain roles (of course all adaptations weren't of equal quality). So maybe if we had different laws, Batman would be a "true myth" and they would tell stories of his adventures to my children in day care? I'm pretty certain that's exactly how it would work! I know this copyright laws & intellectual property get some nerds pretty heated up, but I feel it's very relevant in situations like this.

• The Watchmen Prequel: The Quest for More Money

• I want to hate this so much but I have to tip my hat at DC for putting their a-team on this. It makes me want to give this a shot. Let's all be grateful that DC is at the very least trying to make this successful because we all know DC could have easily handed this off to Geoff Johns or god forbid, Eric Wallace.

• Don't give the FFF writers any ideas.

• Sad but true. Or at least, anyone who produces art to feed a corporate greed machine (I own a Small Press but every dollar I make goes right back into the business so that I can continue to publish). I would like to believe that Azzarello and Cooke still have artistic integrity but that DC has compromising photos of them. And what happens if some of these actually turn out to be... good? I mean, that is possible. I still don't agree with them, or even want them in existence, especially if Moore doesn't (the film is another matter entirely) - but can DC really afford to produce these if they are terrible? They have to know that this could potentially undo all of the steam they built with the new 52.

• I may throw you into space for that. Yes season 1 had some bad stuff in it, but it lead to great things. 

• Not really Alan Moore has stated he couldn't give two shits about what they decide to do with Watchmen. So he will just ignore them.

• Christ people it is just fiction! I'm enjoying the collective hissy fit the internet is having over this. I'm actually excited for this because some really talented people working on the project. Who really love the original and want to do their best. Oh and i can still watch the star wars originals without thinking of the prequels. I have seen batman go through some weird stuff though (All star anyone?) in comics but that doesn't damage the original. That is like saying, "i can't enjoy The Dark Knight because the film Batman and Robin exists", it is just stupid.

• Oh your poor bitchy baby.

• New readers 25 years ago, maybe.  Now new readers can find out anything they want (and do) on the internet. 

• Hasn't Rob mentioned he worked for Wizard? One of the worst things to ever happen to comics.  They repeatedly sabotaged the market for their own financial gain and voted Wolverine the greatest comicbook character of all time. So when anyone who says they ever worked for Wizard opens their mouth about comics get ready for some shit.  

• I am sure he goes before he leaves but he is out for a good chunk of the night. You can't tell me he doesn't have a big gulp every now and then. Staduim pal makes sense though.

• If by Terrible, you mean one of the Most Successful non Star Trek Sci Fi shows.

• I never thought this was a good idea but dammit they had to get Darwyn Cooke involved.

• But-but Joker was crying! And then he raped some lady and then chopped some people up! It's deep I tell you, DEEP!

• not really, because b5 just sucks, and you can watch a way superior series, ds9. Thank you, i'll be under a bridge all week.

• I would say money.  I don't think people who care all that much about integrity work for marvel or dc. ( or any endevor that turns art into money)

• On the other hand, he wrote one of the most terrible shows ever, Babylon 5.

• is it really that bad? it doesnt have to be someone capturing moores thunder to just be stories about the characters. We have had 70 years of batman in a myriad of forms. can we not have half a dozen comics about night owl?

• Yes and largely no. See when a NEW reader comes on the scene they don't know enough yet to ignore this and that part. Many of them see an entire series as an ENTIRE SERIES. Many of these readers end up getting burned out on comics when they come to the crossroad (this story never took place, retcon fever, timeslips, returns from the dead, prequels...etc). The medium as a whole ends up with this idea being pushed forward that comics are nices pieces of art with any true value. Which in turn ruins great works like WM.

• Alan Moore is going to put a Warlock's curse on all parties involved in the complete bastardization and commercialization of a great piece of art.

• Two words: Fan fiction. More than two words: Watchmen is a complete work. Nothing else should be treated as canon - even if it were by the same creator(s) *coughdksacough*. It may be nice or horrible, but there's no need to love or hate it, it's just some guys fooling around. And some other guys trying to make a buck through worse and worse decisions, but we've already established that.

• sure it's not like there's a shortage of other reasons why Smith's Batman stories were awful.

• not just news, fox news!

• you know...calling them graphic novels doesn't actually make you seem less nerdy. especially when you have a public facebook page packed full of Wonder Woman stuff linked. but hey. you have fun with your Wonder Woman GRAPHIC NOVELS.

• This just in: Alan Moore has made his comment on this. "When this is released, at comic shops across the country, the fandom will look up and shout 'Save us.' And I'll whisper...no."

• While this is horrible idea, you have to admit JMS has a point that Moore can't really be ranting about the whole "someone else using my characters" thing after using just about every single part of British literature for "Leauge."

• Maybe the spirits of Frank L. Baum, Lewis Carroll and J.M. Barrie are doing this as payback for what Moore did to their characters in "Lost Girls."

• Watchmen is the most overrated graphic novel EVER!!!

• We've seen pretty much Superman's whole life.  Are there zero good stories left to be told?  When did those stories end?  How about Batman?  Have there been no good Batman stories in the last decade because they were all covered in the 60 years previous?  You think there's no chance that somewhere in Rorschach's past there's a good story that wasn't covered in the original maxi series?

• Hughes chimes in with his own excitement re: drawing part of it: http://www.justsayah.com/blog/11/Adam_on_BEFORE_WATCHMEN/

• Wait, really?  Most people's first exposure to Hannibal Lecter was in Silence of the Lambs.  For nearly everyone Red Dragon was a prequel to Silence of the Lambs.  So maybe Hannibal Rising just wasn't very good, instead of there being a problem with exploring the past?

• Truth.  A good story is a good story.  If it comes from an indy guy, great.  If it comes from DC or Mavel, great.  If it uses the characters from a classic, medium-defining work, great.  All these series have to do is be entertaining enough to be worth the price I paid for them.  They don't have to be the same revolutionary tomes the original has become.  They don't even have to be the best thing released this year.  They just have to be somewhat entertaining. And yes, when someone has a track record of writing compelling, interesting stories, I tend to follow their work because I like compelling, interesting stories.  I guess that makes me a side of beef.  On the other hand, I'm not sure how we know the motivation of these writers.  Maybe it's kind of an honor to be allowed to write a set of characters that have been off limits for more than a quarter of a century?  Maybe they think they have an interesting story?  It sure must be great to have a window to the future!

• But what if these turn out to be good books?  That's a pretty solid group of creators for it to turn out to be total shit.  I'm not about to turn down a good story even if it doesn't turn out to be the medium defining work that the original was.   If these are merely entertaining stories, then that will be good enough. As for their value.  I lived through the 90s.  I stopped trying to make comics an investment decades ago.

• and this is all going to be just in time to distract everyone from the fact that by then DC's general sales will have slipped down to almost exactly what they were like pre-DCnU

• I would have no problem with this if they actually had some good (writing) talent attached. I know I know. everyone still thinks JMS and Azzarello are amazing comic revolutionaries and can't wait to see their respective stories of Dr. Manhattan standing around talking about the "deep" ironic similarities between gods and men and Comedian standing around making painfully bad wordplays about what a badass he is between rape scenes, but I'll pass, thanks. (and modern day Len Wein? that's just laughable.)

• wow someone else exists who doesn't think Azzarello is the greatest thing ever. amazing.

• yeah ripping off Lord of the Rings to slap together He-Man plots or Citizen Kane and countless other movies/novels to slap together his Ghostbusters plots sums up his talent pretty well.

• Batman always prepares ahead of time. He'd make tinkles before getting in the Batmobile. Plus, I'm sure he wears a stadium pal.

• I think it's time to organize a mass boycott of DC until they return the Watchman rights to Alan Moore.  Who's with me? 

• Other people are clever so I don't have to be: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/02/01/watchmen-prequel-reactions/  http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=13655 

• Oh God. Not J. Michael Straczynski. What was the last thing good he did. As far as I`m concerned, none  of this exists.

• Truth be told, I'm half-considering buying the Silk Spectre book just because Darwyn Cooke said his biggest concern was telling a story that developed Laurie into a character who was something besides Nite Owl's girlfriend or Dr. Manhattan's girlfriend.

• What gets me is J. Michael Straczynski calling the arguments against using the Watchmen characters in other stories "deeply flawed".  I'll bet his tune would change if Warner Brothers decided they wanted to do a Babylon 5 prequel series without his involvement!

• DC making a bad decision? Seriously? That never happens! 

• What role in this TR comic book will there be for us lurkers?

• Paging Dr. Abraxas, Dr. Abraxas to the Topless Robot comments, please.

• These books will be to Watchmen what Hamlet: Vampire Slayer was to Hamlet.

• I see that the DC conspenicy continues unabated. Here's hoping we're privy to but a passing glimpse of Rorschach's filthy ginger bush.

• •Dr. Manhattan by Straczynski and artist Adam Hughes

• That's nothing to do with the prequels though.

• No I think you just watched them too much.

• I personally hope it's really good so that everyone badmouthing it before they even read it will be forced to suck back humble pie through a tube. It's not a bad idea, it's going to make DC a LOT of money and they were going to do it sooner or later anyway. The only unknown is the quality of the books.  Jesus, remember everyone bitching about how Bucky Barnes was supposed to stay dead? When revivals are done right, they can deliver incredible results.

• Here here har har!

• And when your day is kind of weird/and you wish that you weren't there/just close your eyes as make believe, and you can be anywhere!

• That's cute. Never said I was going to buy it. I'm sorry I'm not the independent thinker you are by agreeing with 90 % of the people who casually read comics that have no idea who the creators are yet feel the need gnash their teeth and clutch their pearls over this. But then again I'm not the guy clucking his tongue about selling to the masses and whose pockets are getting lined on a pop culture website.

• Strikes me as sad that all of the "prequels" will add up to more than double the amount of comics shipped originally. Look, let's just be thankful that the Watchmen characters weren't sucked into the "New 52". We could be seeing the adventures of the Comedian by Rob Liefled right now.

• Love the Milhouse reference. Milhouse: Watchmen babies? Am I a meme now? Please? I can bez in ur base bein a meme plz?

• Fake Ghost Busters was 80s too. Granted, it was a spinoff of a 70s show with the guy from F Troop. The kids like F Troop, right? Because this is still the 1950s, right? Kennedy's election and subsequent assassination, Satan laughing with delight at Altamont, Vietnam, Kent State, and Watergate never happened, right? We don't have to be cynical. Right? Right? (The only reason I can think of for hiring a guy who did F Troop for a kids' show.) Both Filmation Ghost Busters shows lasted less than a year, as non-He-Man Filmation shows are wont to.

• Also, I took one look at that "eating his sister" line and suddenly felt very, very dirty. Is that sick? I think, yeah, I think that's sick. XD

• Thank you. I'll have to add more to your point by addressing the issue of prequels. In a continuity, prequel is a baaaaaad fucking idea. Why? Because the past was better BEFORE we saw it happen, and that you, the viewer, gets the best experience out of a story when you are placed in a state between knowing and wanting to know. Hannibal Lecter was awesome because you think you know him and his past in Red Dragon. But in Hannibal Rising, your expectation gets shattered because, as it turns out, he was just a stupid brat who got tricked into eating his sister. Cracked got better explanations on the matter. Sure, it pertains Hollywood, but I think it still applies: http://www.cracked.com/article_18813_5-reasons-hollywood-needs-to-stop-making-prequels.html

• So, you want to see a giant naked blue baby? Interesting...

• DC Hired those names to sell cattle like yourself. You are buying the names that are doing this to collect a check. 

• but smasshy, there's only so much room in those pannels! i mean, if you want it to scale, how damn big do those comic books have to be????

• LIES! I showed Star Wars to a group of people (Original Trilogy thanks to VHS) and all through the whole thing it was "Hey! I thought this was supposed to be this way" and so on. By the end, all expecting a good time were arguing.  You can tarnish the original.

• I think I will buy smaller titles on the day these come out and support original work and not grave robbing.

• It would be wonderful if this flopped. If everyone just refused to buy a copy. To let DC know that we are not cattle. To show the industry we want good stuff, not obvious attempts to cash in and poop on good books. Just read it at the comic shop and leave it. This is not needed. DC just is mad that they can't exploit these characters like they do the others, but have now found a away to do so. If you support creator's rights and are against companies exploited them, don't buy this.P.S. you all know that this will be worthless in your collection 10 years from now. You won't be able to give them away. Comic shops everywhere are bracing themselves for people trying to sell them back.

• And if you're going to expand the Watchmen universe, this is a pretty good selection of creators to do it.

• Count me among the "you'll always have the originals".  I like Episodes IV-VI as much as I ever did.  They're still just as fun and entertaining, even though the prequels weren't good.  I think the idea that something you love is ruined by some new take on it is rather silly.  The Taming of the Shrew and Othelo are still great, even if 10 Things I Hate About You and O are mediocre at best.

• I'd say I'd give you about a week after the Watchmen Babies premiers before you change your tune.

• You know what I'm REALLY afraid of? DC rebooting Watchmen and setting it in the DCnU. I mean, they're doing it with Vertigo and Wildstorm. What's to keep them from doing it with Watchmen? Them doing the prequel series means that they're not content to just leave it alone. We'll be seeing more Watchmen in the near future. They could meet Batman or Superman in a Brave and the Bold style crossover gone horribly wrong. Or maybe they'll become a bonafide Justice League style team, facing some horrible Joker ripoff. Hell, they might become a JLA offshoot, in, like, "Watch City" or some shit. Complete with some jokes about the 70s and 80s with a nixon parody. And Starfire will bang Dr. Manhattan.  May Garfield help us all.

• IDGAF, I'm excited.  Azzarello is great and the idea of him writing the Rorschach and the Comedian gives me happy tingles.  Also, I'm a total Minutemen fangirl so I will take anything they want to throw at me.  I love reading WM fanfiction, so I'm basically going to view these as slightly fancier fanfic. Edit: The only thing I'm annoyed about is that Captain Metropolis isn't getting a title. Even though he was fairly pathetic, he was a Crimebuster too! Can't I have a couple of issues of a bitter old gay complaining about kids today and angsting over his dead boyfriend in between drug busts? DC needs to fill this gap in the market. :-P

• Wow Rob calm down. The only reason you can't look at year one or star wars the same again is because of irrational thinking. It's not sacred text. Especially since its a deconstruction of superhero mythos told using thinly disguised versions of famous characters. I actually think that the creative teams are solid and, at least, worthy of given a shot. Or at the very least ignored instead of NERD-BLASTED sight unseen.

• Agreed, that's the only prequel that would make sense.

• I'm okay with this, really. Then again, I never read Watchmen until after I saw the movie, and I kinda wanted to read more about the characters.

• First off how do you know he hadn't been holding it for some time? I mean shit doesn't always happen according to a superheoes schedule. Depends on the depiction of Batman. Batman has had several versions of him through out history. He has as much camp in his canon as anything. If your a comics fan you have probably already (unless your a little dense) come to terms with the fact that no matter what anyone says is canon doesn't mean much because the next writer( or editorial staff ) will ultimately get a wild hair up their ass as to what they want to keep and what to throw away. Yeah you can bitch but the idea that it is this unholy thing is pretty nonsense. Especially for a dick and fart joke. Whiiiiiiich.. Brings me to the fact that it was Kevin Smith writing it. I mean seriously? What the hell do you expect? They guy made his career about dick and fart jokes with a side order of nerdom. Considering what all he COULD have done he was pretty damn respectful. Not every piece of writing is going to be gold. Take the good with the bad and just be glad when the bad doesn't engulf the entire property and turn it to shit. Folks getting worked up about this come across as the type that point out to someone they forgot to zip up their fly and then 10 years later still talk shit about it.

• It's really not a big deal, but you know how nerds get- it was never meant as a "pants drenching torrent of piss", but rather as per KS himself: "Batman at this point in Year One is still a bit inexperienced and that by underestimating the strength of the explosion, the intense heat of the explosives made him have a small bladder spasm. I never explicitly said that Batman peed his pants, because he didn't: it was more like a few drips." Furthermore, I finally got curious if this had any basis in reality - since I'm fresh out of Batmen, I spoke to my two brothers in law and their father are all firefighters who have all confirmed (when asked about this comic and the scenario pertaining to it) that yes, when explosions or backdrafts or intense heat flares to close, it's not exactly common but certainly far from unheard of for bladder spasms to occur. Can we really not just put this thing to bed and stop getting so personally offended by it? You'd think, judging by the global nerd reaction to the subject that Smith had Batman be the eager center of a FFF approved bukkake-scat circle. In reality, he was confiding to a new hero that EVEN BATMAN is human- that HE was new and inexperienced once, and started out a long god damn way from where he is today. It so wasn't the "pee-pee dick fart" joke that people seem to think it is. But seriously. Let's all stop being rectum-pained about this - get some topical cream. It'll clear up. It's done. It's over. There are only TOO many continuities and artists that do batman runs, to stress over this ad nauseum. Read Smith's or don't read Smith's but for the love of god stop telling US about it!

• I don't know why they're bothering with the miniseries - this is obviously a play for the bookstore market more than anything else, since that's where Watchmen has lived and thrived for the last 10 - 15 years. The thing is - most of these creators are top-notch (JMS comes and goes with me). The *idea* may be bad, but the product is going to be good.

• You really only need half a gram of frozen mouse blood, or a really fresh egg. You know he only stays on one side of the octagram to be polite, right?

• I guarantee all of you that the broader world of these characters that exists in your imagination (thanks to the seeds planted by Moore and Gibbons) is better than anything that will be in these prequels. Avoid them if you value that.

• The difference is there here you have no HOPE it'll be good, so you don't have to read it.

• Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo doing a Rorschach story has a shit ton of potential, I can't lie.

• Should have done the minute men instead.

• you ruined my week with that story

• The JMS Real Ghostbusters episodes are some of the highest rated episodes for any cartoons to ever be made at that time. Which was actually a good show to begin with especially the first season. B5 is by far one of the great Sci-Fi soap operas (way better than DS9). Only BSG Re-imagined has been able to duplicate that quality, IMO.

• I disagree. This weekend, I watched the original trilogy again with my 4 year old. It was his first time. He seemed to like them, although he's probably a little young. I found myself kind of bored and disillusioned while watching. I was the biggest of fans, watching each film countless times. The special editions didn't even jade me. I saw them multiple times in theaters and loved them. No, I think it was the prequels, which I didn't actually hate, that decreased the sense of wonder. I could blame aging, but other things from my youth still excite me. Disappointing Star Wars prequels and bad Star Trek TV shows and an even worse reboot have ruined my 2 favorite franchises from my childhood. Fuck George Lucas.

• There is a part of me that is morbidly curious about these. There is some serious talent involved - it makes me wonder how DC was able to convince all of these people that this was a good idea yet our initial gut instinct is to murder in the name of Alan Moore?

• Um shockingly enough DC is basically doing it in Captain Atom right now (whom Dr Manhattan is based off originally). Heck 2 issues ago he turned a squad of fighter jets into feathers and it made sense.  Captain Atom is actually one of the few New 52 titles that's actually interesting and worth a read. Course I am biased since I been a fan since his 'birth' in '86 Crisis, but was totally ticked about his handling with him from Armageddon 2001up to Identity Crisis. So it can be done... and heck it's JMS writting so it can't be that bad.

• In the inevitable nude scenes I demand for my penis to be drawn to scale!

• Brian Azzarello's Joker was one of the worst attempts at 'grim n gritty' of all time, so that does not bode well for the Rorschach story. I'd imagine it'll be reminiscent of all the worst scenes from the movie, where the personalities and realism of the characters was sacrificed for the sake of being as violent and 'cool' as possible. Also, we already know everything about Rorscach already. In the book we literally follow his life from childhood to death. What else could there possibly be to say about him? The only characters who might have some stories left to tell are Silk Spectre II (her growing up under her mother's care might be interesting) and Ozymandias, whose past we know the least about. Just a dumb fucking idea goddammit to fuck.

• Who cares? If it doesn´t work they´ll reboot them anyway. Hell, in five years they´ll reboot them anyway.

• This will be a big hit for DC regardless of what people think... These titles will spark enough controversy to interest enough people to buy them... they're going to fly off the shelves. The teams on these books are top notch and if done properly they will actually be good and I'm certainly going to give them a shot before I claim blasphemy... Which everyone should be doing... If I get more of these awesome characters and they're done right, there's no reason for me to bitch & moan about it... I have to wonder how many people criticizing this have read the original Watchmen vs. only seeing the movie... Also, Rob... please stop bringing up Kevin Smith's Batman wetting himself... Yes, it's awful and dumb but no one takes that panel seriously.

• As someone who appreciates Batman on a much deeper level than you (yes, all of you) I can tell you there are three things wrong with What Kevin Did. Let's look at the actual image: http://www.neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/batman-wet-pants-e1280511072432.jpeg  Batman probably would have been nervous and scared at that moment, and yes, the fire was probably pretty hot, but why would that have made him piss himself? Nobody else there pissed themselves. Loeb didn't piss himself, and he was the one who had just had his house blown up and invaded by a violent madman. It's not like Bats was so utterly terrified of confronting the mobsters that he just lost control. He managed to deliver his lines and do everything else successfully so why the fuck would he piss himself? He's not some incompetent child. He's the Goddamn Batman. And wouldn't somebody have noticed that the guy standing on the dinner table had just urinated? It's just... so dumb. Purely from a logical point of view it doesn't make sense that he would have pissed himself at that moment. That is not how things work.   Secondly, even if he HAD pissed himself once twenty years ago, Batman would not tell anybody. And he wouldn't let anybody laugh at him. And he wouldn't use the term 'bladder spasm' to desribe it and he wouldn't admit it with his hand behind his head and that embarassed look on his face like he's trying to come up with an excuse for not doing his homework. HE'S BATMAN WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU MAKE BATMAN DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT KEVIN WHY   Finally, there was no good reason at all for including this little idea. It's not a twist that adds anything to the original story. It attempts to make a joke out of a classic scene in the hero's history, and the hero himself. It's not a funny joke, unless you're a six year old child or a complete jackass. It was a supremely stupid thing to do, and it's there now. It's canon. You can't say it didn't happen because then you might as well say that none of it happened. Kevin Smith did a very stupid thing for no reason and there's no erasing it.   That's the big deal about that.  

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