Just because something was successful 25 years ago, doesn’t mean that it needs to be remade or revisited. Are you listening to me, George Lucas? Sometimes something comes along that is so well done that it needs to be left as it is so that future generations can appreciate it for what it was.
George Lucas managed to tarnish the Star Wars legacy by releasing prequel films that many consider to be mediocre at best, atrocious at worst. In addition, he’s made his original films shadows of their former selves. Now, DC Comics is tempting fate and releasing prequel stories to what many consider to be one of the best books of all time, Watchmen. (Yes, I said books. Watchmen is so good that it was the only graphic novel to appear on Time‘s 2005 “All-TIME 100 Greatest Novels” list.)
For those who haven’t heard, this morning, DC Comics officially announced what many knew was coming when they shouted to the world that Before Watchmen was going to be unleashed upon us this summer. You can read their words here, but let me sum it up for you.
“We want money. Watchmen is an important piece of comic book, and literary, history but since we want money, we’re going to crap on that history and reboot it similar to what we did last year with our entire company. Suck on that Alan Moore, you crazy old warlock.”
Moore’s response?
“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 also said,
“I don’t want money. What I want is for this not to happen.”
Anyways, here is what Beyond Watchmen has in store for us this summer:
- 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
Now, it seems to me, that everybody but the boss-men at DC thinks this is a bad idea. Honestly though, how can they not do this? Sure, there hasn’t really been a huge demand for Watchmen prequels, and fans of the original are screaming out on horror, knowing that there is really nothing that can be added to what Alan Moore did in 1986, yet you know these are going to sell a lot of copies. As much as I don’t think that this is necessary and should probably not happen, I know that I won’t be able to say no when they start showing up in comic book stores. I just hope that these don’t completely destroy my affinity for the original Watchmen book the way that George Lucas and has killed the Star Wars nerd in me with his constant tinkering of the original saga.
