DC Comics announces prequel series to ‘Watchmen’

DC Comics’ 1986-1987 limited series Watchmen, written by Alan Moore with art by David Gibbons, is one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of all time and one that features unique characters who have never appeared anywhere else. However, that is all about to change. DC Entertainment, which publishes DC Comics now, announced Wednesday that it will start a series of prequel stories called Before Watchmen.

According to The Associated Press, DC Entertainment co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee released a statement saying that it is their “responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant.” DiDo and Lee added, “After 25 years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original.”

Moore will not participate. He has tried to disassociate himself from DC and the comic industry as a whole. The New York Times reports that he did issue a response to the announcement, calling it, “completely shameless.” He also told the Times that he believes the prequel series will only serve to hurt comics’ future as a literary art form. “As far as I know...there weren’t that many prequels or sequels to Moby-Dick,” Moore said.

Gibbons will also not be taking part, but said, “I appreciate DC’s reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work,” according to the AP.

As The Los Angeles Times notes, the series will be written by some of today’s most popular talents, including J. Michael Straczynski, Brian Azzarello and Darwyn Cooke. Cooke will work on a six-issue series called Minutemen. There will also be additional four-issue series centered on several of the original characters, including Rorschach by Azzarello and Lee Bermejo; Dr. Manhattan by Straczynski and Adam Hughes; Nite Owl by Straczynski, Adam and Andy Kubert; and Ozymandias by Len Wein and Jae Lee. Cooke, who is perhaps best known for The New Frontier, will also work with Amanda Conner on Silk Spectre.

Watchmen is also among the best-selling graphic novels of all time, so it seems like a no-brainer that DC would want to revisit the characters. However, one hit to the Watchmen series was Zack Snyder’s 2009 film adaptation, which cost $130 million to make and grossed just $185 million worldwide, notes the Times.