Words in Balloons

The long-feared, long-thought too blasphemous to ever actually happen has finally occurred. A few weeks ago, DC Comics announced the medium-defining comic Watchmen is getting a new line of mini-series this summer. The announcement has sparked debates about several issues, including creators’ rights, the sanctity of artwork and morality. Every comic fan, no matter how casual, seems to have an extreme opinion for or against the prequels, while I find myself firmly in the middle.

The main criticism being levied toward the prequels is that they violate the sanctity of a complete piece of art. People believe Watchmen is a self-contained story and doesn’t need any additions. They say doing so could dilute the original piece of work.

I agree that Watchmen tells a complete story, and I don’t see any need to add to it, but letting an addition to a work ruin your enjoyment of the original is stupid. I can still watch the original Star Wars movies and enjoy them, despite their terrible prequels. Hell, I actually enjoy them more because I see how much better they are than those green-screened versions George Lucas put out.

Adding new stories to an established universe will always encourage people to look at the original. If the Watchmen prequels are bad, Watchmen will look all the better. If they are mediocre, Watchmen remains great. If they are great, then hot damn, we have two great collections of stories about incredible characters. Letting additions ruin your opinion of a great universe only harms your experience.

I agree with the sentiment, though, that writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons were royally screwed in this situation. Don’t get me wrong, what DC is doing is legally sound, but it’s morally bankrupt. Creator rights have always been a touchy issue in comics, with creators such as Jack Kirby routinely being cheated out of royalties and rights to characters they created. Moore and Gibbons signed a misleading contract with DC that said the rights to Watchmen would be returned to them when it was out of print for a year. But it never went out of print, so the rights never reverted back to them.

Despite all the negativity I feel about the royalty issue, I find it hard not to get excited for the prequels because the team of artists DC has assembled is staggering. The list includes Darwyn Cooke writing and drawing the Minutemen, Jae Lee on Ozymandias, Lee Bermejo on Rorschach and the Kubert brothers on Nite Owl. Google these artists, and you will see this is truly a holy shit team. Even if the writing is bad or mediocre, we will at least have more pretty pictures to see.