Imagine the reaction from Christians if someone commissioned a sequel to the Bible. Now double that, and you’ll have the reaction of comic book fans when DC Comics announced it would publish a prequel series to the classic graphic novel, “Watchmen,” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
It’s difficult to overstate the importance of “Watchmen” to the comic book industry. Not only did it pioneer many storytelling techniques now used frequently in comics, but it garnered high praise from critics outside the comics bubble, proving to many people that graphic novels could be referred to as “art.”
Less important is the fact that “Watchmen” has made a ton of money, but now I get the impression DC Comics would beg to differ. Why else would the company publish the new series of issues known as “Before Watchmen?”
Fans do not approve. More importantly, God — by whom I mean Moore — does not approve. Speaking to the New York Times, the writer called the project “completely shameless” and said it confirms that DC Comics is “dependent on ideas that [he] had 25 years ago.”
Ignoring whatever hypocrisy might have hung over his comments— Moore once wrote a series that brought together Captain Nemo and Dr. Jekyll, old characters who I’m pretty sure he didn’t think up — I have to agree with him. DC’s revival of the classic comic series is a bad idea for several reasons.
Of course, among these reasons is the possibility that the new issues might suck, but that’s actually less of a concern for me than one might think. In fact, if one could temporarily forget the holiness of the legend being handled, they might actually be excited to see the names of accomplished writers like Brian Azzarello and Darwyn Cooke among those working on the project.
So, no, I’m not worried “Before Watchmen” will be poorly written. I’m sure it’ll have a decent plot. My biggest problem is that it will be a prequel.
It goes without saying Moore isn’t on board with this project, and if it was a sequel, that wouldn’t bother me so much either. It’s certainly not unusual in comics for one writer to continue another’s work—that’s how series like Batman and X-Men are still alive today.
But this is different. The characters in “Watchmen” belong to Moore, maybe not legally, but to the extent that he dreamt up their personalities and fine-tuned them to a brilliant degree. Being a prequel, “Before Watchmen” will interpret each one. Moore will have almost no say in his own characters’ back-story.
That’s wrong.
At least DC could have made a sequel. It would have taken Moore’s characters and sent them in a new direction, and it would’ve respected that everything leading up to the events of the original “Watchmen” was Moore’s jurisdiction. That DC Comics would take Moore’s characters, mess with their pasts and risk crippling them is a huge insult to him and fans of his work.
Perhaps worse, the new books being prequels will destroy theories fans had about each character’s beginnings and their ability to speculate about the events leading up to “Watchmen.”
While the new issues will likely be good, it can hardly be said they will match up with fans’ expectations or surpass what could have been if Moore had been involved.
I’m not opposed to DC publishing additional chapters in the “Watchmen” saga. Really, I’m not; I understand this is how comic books work. That being said, what they’ve done by making the new series a prequel is overstepping boundaries.
If anyone wants to know why comic books frequently aren’t considered art, it’s because of unnecessary, money-grabbing business moves like this.
Steven Zoeller is a journalism sophomore.
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bobdobbs 3 months, 1 week ago
Not that it invalidates your point, but there kind of is a "sequel" to the Bible, the Koran. Technically, looking at it as literature the Christian New Testament would be the second part of a "trilogy".
bobdobbs 3 months, 1 week ago
Make that two "sequels", there's also the Book of Mormon. And I suppose parts of the Nag Hammadi Library and the Pistis Sophia could be the "director's cut" and the Talmud the commentary to the first part.