Tuesday 14 February 2012

Iwas in transit when this news came down:

DC Plans Prequels to Watchmen Series
Brian Azzarello, a comics author who is writing the mini-series for the Watchmen characters Rorschach and the Comedian, said he expected an initial wave of resistance because “a lot of comic readers don’t like new things.”
Some people have no shame.
But Mr. Moore was unconvinced, saying that the endeavor only weakened the argument that comics were an authentic form of literature.
"Everything goes from grand to paltry."- Bacchus

9 Comments:

Blogger  Robert Boyd said...

How about "From Hell: The Early Years--Dr. Gull in Love"? It'd move a lot of units, baby!

14 February 2012 at 13:42:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Loris Z. said...

I wonder if Azzarello really figured out what he said up there :p

14 February 2012 at 14:32:00 GMT-5  
Blogger h.n. said...

Oh, I don't know, '10 minutes before Guernica' or 'pre-Dejeuner sur l'herbe (or better post-: 'when the bobbies turn up') or 'Nude before descending staircase' seem to me all worthwhile endeavours.

Sagas and eddas and the oeuvre of Tolkein seem to be all about exploring the point before, the end was very satisfactoraly dealt with. And I'm in my cups here, so bear with me, but very much like Kingsley's Water babies Epimetheus and Prometheus metaphor, or metonym? One be looking back or forward with equal profit.

Which is what DC is after.

14 February 2012 at 18:08:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Unknown said...

It's like every major company in the comic book industry has done everything they can to chase your friend away. One person even said that it was "...time to make these characters relevant again." To me, that's like saying we need to make Shakespeare relevant again. If Alan Moore as a fisherman, they would have taken his catch, told him to go away, then then starved to death, once the fish were eaten. I mean, God bless them. I love a lot of comics they put out, but the whole thing makes no sense to me. I feel so lucky to live in a time where I can listen to The Beatles and read Alan Moore stories, and if any of them were to do work for me, I'd do anything I could to keep them happy and producing more.

14 February 2012 at 21:41:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Greg G said...

Watchmen 2 Creator Darwyn Cooke

http://watchmen2creatordarwyncooke.tumblr.com/

15 February 2012 at 06:32:00 GMT-5  
Anonymous A.P. Fuchs said...

If course it's an amazing compliment to Alan and Dave to have crafted a universe that makes both reader and creator want to visit it again, even imagine what it's like to "play" there, but Watchmen should be left alone.

It was meant as a stand-alone work. If sequels were a part of the plan, it/they would have been done after the book hit it big, but Alan and Dave never intended it that way.

I read an interview with Moore the other day--can't remember where but it was recent as the Watchmen prequels were brought up--but he simply stated what he's been saying for a few years now and that is, in short, DC is relying on stuff he did 25 years ago as there really hasn't been too many new ideas since in mainstream comics. Apologies to Mr. Moore if I paraphrased him wrong.

Goes to show that artistic merit has sadly been replaced with money. That Lovely Horrible Stuff, eh, Eddie?

On a side note, do you have a release date for the Bacchus Omnibuses?

Thanks. Cheers.

15 February 2012 at 15:51:00 GMT-5  
Anonymous Santiago said...

The most puzzling commentary to me was by Darwyn Cooke:

“I’d consider it a masterpiece if it had been able to have found what I would refer to as a hopeful note. … Again, it’s not hard to understand [where Alan was coming from], and that sort of storytelling does have an allure for young people. [But] I think the older you get, the more you look for hope or positive things.”

I guess that Dr. Manhattan´s reevaluation of the value of a single life against the bulk of selfdestruction that as a species humanity is gearing towards is grim, negative and unhopeful.

Basically the thermodinamic miracle is love.

That, or I got it completely wrong...

16 February 2012 at 00:28:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Faff said...

I'm still trying to get past Azzarello's "people don't like new things". If Marvel or DC would give me a new thing I'd buy it happily. If I want nostalgia I'll buy old stuff and wallow in it, not someones umteenth re-imagining. Funny how so many writers have done the new thing early in their career, (100 bullets) and then spent their time reworking old material, (Nextwave)to make it relevant.

16 February 2012 at 15:52:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Jonathan Stover said...

Firstwave, Peter. Awful, botched Firstwave. Which incidentally appeared to be DC trying to make Doc Savage into Tom Strong in terms of his effects on the technology of his world, but not bothering making the whole thing fun, or funny, or even coherent at points.

17 February 2012 at 08:18:00 GMT-5  

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