There's eyes behind the mirrors in empty places:
For those few who are unfamiliar with the comic Watchmen was created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Moore was coming off a celebrated run on Swamp Thing and DC was looking for a new project for the writer to work on. Originally Moore was going to take the newly purchased Charlton Comic Heroes and create a new world for the characters. Somewhere along the line the decision was made that, maybe, the Charlton Heroes (Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Question, etc.) wasn't exactly right for this story. Perhaps when someone at DC realized what Moore was planning and than realized how much money was tied up in the Charlton characters.
So Moore and Gibbons created new characters for their story. So Captain Atom became Dr. Manhattan. Blue Beetle became Nite Owl. And Question became Rorschach.
To say Watchmen was a success is an understatement. It became the benchmark for the genre. After the twelve issues were published the series was collected in a single volume.
And that's when things became interesting. The contracts between DC and the creators were not the standard ones between talent and corporate for that time. I have no idea of the details but from what has been reported the rights to Watchmen were to revert to Moore and Gibbons once the book went out of print. I would imagine that the two creators thought this a fairly decent deal since up to that time no comic book collection had stayed in constant publication.
Until Watchmen. The series has stayed in print continuously since its initial publication. And Moore and Gibbons have only been able to stand to the side and watch what DC decides to do with their work.
DC decided to do a movie of the comic. It's not exactly a secret that Moore was not a fan of the movie version of his work. What was somewhat surprising is that there were no movie versions of the comic, no spin-offs or prequels or one of the usual thousand and one comics you see when a movie is coming out. It seems that even though DC wasn't going to let control of the comic out of their hands, the publisher of the company at that time, Paul Levitz was inclined to let the comic speak for itself and was willing to honor Moore and Gibbons' vision and not add to it with additional comics.
I been in a jail when all my mail showed That a man can't give his address out to bad company:
Things have changed in the last few months. As we've mentioned before Mr. Levitz is no longer in charge of DC. And word is that those in charge now are more than eager to add pages to the world of Watchmen. Dan Didio has supposedly been talking about new projects for the Watchmen universe. Now this was back when Didio was just the editor of the company, now he is a co-publisher. But that could be a new wrinkle. He's the co-publisher, as is there is another publisher. And that publisher is Jim Lee.
Jim Lee owned Wildstorm Studios, the company that managed to lure Alan Moore back into writing super hero comics some years back with the creation of the ABC Comics line. Lee was even instrumental in keeping Moore working on his ABC Comics after Wildstorm was sold to DC, when Moore had publicly stated he would never work with DC Comics again. So we have Lee on one side, obviously once willing to side with Moore and Didio on the other side wanting to publish more comics based on Moore's creations when it's pretty evident that Moore won't be happy about. Which side will he be on this time? Will it be enough to cause a rift between the two newly minted co-publishers or would one side be willing to lay their feelings to the side?
Publication of new comics based on Watchmen also bring up questions of the morality of such an act. DC owns the title and the characters, but Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created it for the story they told and intended it to end there. Would a writer or artist be willing to take on such a job knowing the history? Well, there's always someone out there willing to write or draw something if they get paid, regardless of if it's right or wrong. And we're not saying that such writers or artists would be wrong.
Isn't Spider-man and Batman still going after the original creators left the comic? Moore and Gibbons knew the history of the industry, they knew what they were signing, they weren't kids, so why is DC the bad guys here? Moore and Gibbons believed that the comic would be published by DC for a few years and than once it went out of print would revert to them, at the time that was probably a pretty good bet, so it could be said that DC led them on.
As you can see a good point could be made from either side. I think one reason no one has wanted to add to the Watchmen canon so far is because of how highly regarded the comic is held. For goodness sake, it was named one of the 100 best NOVELS of all time by TIME magazine. Not graphic novels, but novels, you know those things that don't have pictures to tell their story. Who wants to take a chance to screw with that?
And as a writer or artist who wants to be known as the guy or girl that messed with Moore and Gibbons' creation. You know, no matter how good it is, it isn't going to be Watchmen. Plus you're going to be known as anti-creator, not much more than a hack, willing to take a job even though you know you shouldn't. I'm not saying that's true. Heck, if I was offered the job would I be willing to turn it down? (As if there's even the slightest chance that will happen.) I'd have to say I seriously doubt it, so believe me I'm not casting any dispersions on anyone here.
Even though this isn't a creator owned comic, in the minds and thoughts of a lot of people it's often forgotten that the comic is owned by DC Entertainment. Any artist or writer taking the job of continuing the adventures of the characters from Watchmen are going to be viewed as opposing Alan Moore's wishes. Normally this wouldn't be that big a deal, most creators aren't that worried about what other creators think about such things, but this is Alan Moore we're talking about. Moore is held in his own special place as far as most creators are concerned.
It would probably help if DC gets Dave Gibbons involved with the project. But what does Mr. Gibbons think of the idea of continuing the Watchmen's legacy? I don't remember him being opposed to the movie and he has continued to work in mainstream comics, so he may have no problems with the concept.
So if DC does decide to go ahead with this it will be interesting to see who is willing to give it a try.
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