Why Before Watchmen? Why continue to malign a masterpiece that already has somewhat been through the ringer? (Watchmen the movie anyone?) Unless you were living under a rock, that was under another rock, next to ….well you know what I mean, DC officially announced yesterday that they would be releasing a series of books called Before Watchmen. Seems the new creative/executive teams up at DC Entertainment are really trying to leave their mark. As any good corporation should do, their #1 goal is to make money for the share holders, that’s it… lock stock and barrel. With that said, all bets are off on this and any other projects we think untouchable. It’s sort of a bold move on DC’s part. When I first heard DC was contemplating doing some sort of sequel or continuation of The Watchmen, I thought to myself, oh man, this is going to suck, and Alan Moore’s going to have a baby!!! We all know his reaction to any adaptations, movies, continuations of any sorts of his work. Although, I don’t fault the guy on most of his “rants”, there is a dichotomy here with Alan Moore. I was recently watching the extra’s DVD for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Don Murphy the producer of that film and Moore’s other adapted work “From Hell”, stated that he was on the phone with Moore discussing Hell when he asked him what else he was working on? Now Moore, knowing Murphy was a movie producer, proceeded to tell him he was working on what would later become The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book. He faxed him over the very same treatment he had sold to Wildstorm and Murphy took that and ran with it to 20th Century Fox, where he got the green light for the film adaptation. So, I’m sometimes baffled at Moore’s objection to the films, when he is soliciting the very people he disdains. With that said, I can understand his dislike of the movie making process. He has stated time and time again about his works that they do not translate well to film. His comics are made to be, well…comics!

Now, back to my thoughts on Before Watchmen. Half of me thinks, wow they are going to mess this thing up so bad, there won’t be any coming back from it (Dark Knight Returns 2 anyone). Then again, the other half of me says “wait a minute here, seems they got some really good creative teams, especially Darwin Cooke doing The Minute Men. If there was ever any part of this project he would perfect for, it would be that book. His art style and story telling lends itself perfectly for the period piece that is The Minute Men. Not to mention Brian Azzarello on Rorschach. That works for me. Being that the storylines are going to be prequels, that has some interest as there are back stories yet to be told. We should remember that these characters were originally based on the old Charlton characters, and as those characters had in depth back stories, so should The Watchmen. My problem would be if DC tries to incorporate these characters into the DC Universe proper…as that would not be cool. The Watchmen live in their alternate timeline of the 80’s quite comfortably, thank you very much. Releasing something like Before Watchmen does lend it self to many other opportunities to expand and take advantage of this property. Just imagine, a series of DC/Warner Home Video animated movies based on these comic books? Those would sell through the roof. (Pending these stories are well written). Also all the online advantages and introduction of the characters to this “new demo” DC Entertainment has ushered in with the new 52 comics line. DC is never going to get Alan Moore’s blessing on anything Watchmen, ever! Not that DC Comics cares. Can they pull this off? And if they do, what will be next? The Dark Knight Returns 3? Oh, perish the thought! The jury will be out this summer. Then we will all be the judge of it. Who Watches The Watchmen? Apparently DC Entertainment brass does.