Who will read the Watchmen prequels?

As I wrote yesterday, DC Comics have announced that, this summer, new stories/content will be coming from the world of The Watchmen. I only gave a brief summary of the upcoming prequels, as I felt a whole article on the story was necessary, so read after the jump for more facts and opinions on this announcement, including what the original creators, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, think of this new content.

Lee Bermejo - Rorschach Cover

First off, I really wanted to show this cover art, as I think it is freakin' amazing!  The repeating pattern of Rorschach in the mask, and then again if you look close enough (*squint*), is such a great image, and already I feel like the decision to bring back The Watchmen was a good idea.

Anyway, as you can see in the above image, the series of prequels are collectively known as Before Watchmen, though the time periods covered in the books are apparently all over the place - some before, some during and potentially some after the main story of the original book.

There will be 35 comics released weekly, starting at some point this summer, which will be split up into seven limited series of varying lengths, and each issue will have a back-up story of two pages of a series called Curse of the Crimson Corsair, which will be written by Watchmen's original editor, Len Wein, with art duties performed by original colourist, John Higgins.

The series are as follows:

• 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

And there will also be an epilogue issue as the 35th to cap the event off and tie all the series

together.

Being new to DC Comics I am familiar with a lot of the above names, but not of very much of their material with the exception of Brian Azzarello, whose 100 Bullets series I think is amazing, so I am really looking forward to what he is going to do with Rorschach and the Comedian.  J. Michael Straczynski also has a pretty good track record, but is known for being relatively inconsistent quality-wise, but with an IP as lucrative as The Watchmen, I'm sure he will be pulling his A-game to ensure he does Dr. Manhattan and Nite Owl justice.

Kudos to Darwyn Cooke for taking on both writing and art-ing duties on Minutemen, while also writing the Silk Spectre series.  I'm sure everyone will do a sterling job on their respective series, knowing just what has come before them and what they have to live up to.

I like that there are but 12 people working on the whole of the event, a tight-knit group was almost certainly the right call when working on something as potentially volatile as new Watchmen stories. Such a small group are more likely to keep a consistent tone, not only within the event, but with the iconic original as well.

J.G. Jones - Comedian Cover

Now to the controversy! Yay!

Watchmen is one of the most famous and beloved comic series/graphic novels of all time, if not the most famous and beloved comic series/graphic novel of all time.  It appears on countless best-seller, best-ever, must-read lists, and weighs down the shelf of pretty much any person who claims to love comic books.  It is deemed by many to be untouchable, and yet it has been rumoured for a long time that something along the lines of this event was going to happen sooner or later, so it was only modest surprise with which comic communities reacted when the 'big reveal' was made yesterday.

Thoughts of the announcement were pretty much polarising,  with seemingly half of people really excited to be getting new Watchmen stories, with the other half yelling "sacrilege!" at the thought of anyone other than the original creators taking the helm of a Watchmen series.

Speaking of whom, the creators themselves had opposing opinions of the upcoming prequels:  Alan Moore has long since abandoned association with DC Comics, and does not wish his blessing on the project, nor does he wish to be associated with it in the slightest; while Dave Gibbons seems reasonably passive to the news saying:

"I appreciate DC's reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work. May these new additions have the success they desire." 

Which, while thousands of times more positive than Moore's reaction and being spun by DC as approval of the event, still doesn't sound overtly optimistic either.  I can understand the ire with which so many people are giving even the idea of the new series, before a single page has been released (bar the stunning covers) - the original book is a complete story, seen as near perfection by thousands of people around the world, why add to something that may diminish the original work?
Plenty of people are using Star Wars as an example of an IP that should have been left alone, but was spoiled by prequels.  But even this argument can be turned around - the quality of the prequels has not affected the way people feel about the original trilogy and, if anything, has possibly made people appreciate just how great those first three films are; this could very well happen to Watchmen.
Personally, I think this is a win-win for Watchmen fans - the new event cannot possibly be 100% spectacular comics, it's just not feasible, but if even some of it is of the quality of the original, doesn't that make it worth it?  And if it is all terrible, the publicity will expose the original novel to thousands of new readers, just as the similarly diversive film did a couple of years ago which can only be seen as a good thing.
In all, these comics will sell like hot cakes no matter what anyone says or does, and I for one will be among those gobbling them all up =)


(Thanks to Comic Book Resources for all the info)