Before Watchmen

[stevemcqueen]

http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2012/02/01/dc-entertainment-officially-announces-%E2%80%9Cbefore-watchmen%E2%80%9D/

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Thoughts?

[ericheartsu]

if it's not by alan moore, i don't want to read it.

[jhulud]

if it's not by alan moore, i don't want to read it.

QFT

[Guest]

Could be interesting, but, like others, i'm skeptical about no Alan Moore.

[Guest]

Jesus christ. Way to ruin something good.

[jerseydave77]

“It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee.

Yeah - keep them relevant by allowing the original intentions of the characters creators to speak for themselves you money-hungry cash-grabbing whores. Of all the properties to bastardize I would think DC would have the good sense to leave their best seller of all-time alone. I hope they choke on the rancid milk that inevitably comes as they suck off the teet of this cash cow. I'm pretty furious about this one.

[stevemcqueen]

Exactly, Watchmen is such a self-contained novel, we don't need to delve into the backstories of the characters anymore, especially when the writing is inferior.

Moore said something like, "I don't remember there being many prequels to Moby Dick." That's a bold statement, but the intention is right on.

[kriss]

I'm not all that behind this by any means, but the list of creators they have on each title is impressive - it's not like they're putting Judd Winnick or Tony Daniel or someone more mediocre on these - that's a small sliver of light atleast.

[motorbike]

Of all the properties to bastardize I would think DC would have the good sense to leave their best seller of all-time alone.

this is why there is more watchmen on the way. honestly, im kind of excited about the minutemen, nite owl, and ozymandias minis. dont really care for the others. i will probably buy the trades when they come out.

[jerseydave77]

I get that it's a marketable property. Dark Knight Returns sequel was as well but they had the sense to wait around for Miller to be interested.

It was intended as a limited series. Let it be. Some of the writers on board are great but this just feels so damn filthy.

[kriss]

^ That DKR sequel was seriously one of the most abysmal things DC ever released and for them, that's seriously saying something. Darwyn Cook and Brian Azzerello are both amongst the best going in mainstream comics at the moment so I'd like to think that if they're on board, they've got decent stories to tell. Can anyone think of anything bad these two in particular have done in between the likes of A New Frontier, 100 Bullets, Joker, etc?

[jurrobear]

Watchmen is an amazing book but I don't enjoy it as much as I did when I was younger. Alan Moore created these characters for DC because they decided to do a story based on the Charlton properties that they had recently acquired, but due to Moore's pitch, they asked him to create doppelgangers of them and release it in its on timeline. Moore created them for DC, the same way Finger and Kane create Batman for Detective Comics and so on and so on. DC can do whatever the fuck they want with these characters and we, the readers have the right to buy it or not. They have a great list of creators on these titles and its your choice to read them.

I saw Terminator: Salvation but I still believe that nothing really happened after T2 in the timeline.

[jerseydave77]

Am I the only person who felt that 100 Bullets was amazing for about 90-95 issues but that he painted himself into a hole that muddied the ending? Not as bad a Lost or anything like that but I just felt so unsatisfied after all those years.

Julio - I get what you're saying but I find the difference is that Kane created Batman to be a continuing serial - he knew it would live on without him. Moore never complained when Swamp Thing continued on without him but with a limited run series built with a definitive beginning middle and end - it strikes me that it should be at the originators discretion as to whether or not that storyline is re-opened.

[dynamitekid]

if it's not by alan moore, i don't want to read it.

[kurtz]

I would buy all of these based on the writers and artists alone! I rarely buy comics these days because of the characters. Don't care if Alan Moore approves or not.

[kriss]

Am I the only person who felt that 100 Bullets was amazing for about 90-95 issues but that he painted himself into a hole that muddied the ending? Not as bad a Lost or anything like that but I just felt so unsatisfied after all those years.

Julio - I get what you're saying but I find the difference is that Kane created Batman to be a continuing serial - he knew it would live on without him. Moore never complained when Swamp Thing continued on without him but with a limited run series built with a definitive beginning middle and end - it strikes me that it should be at the originators discretion as to whether or not that storyline is re-opened.

I felt the same way that you do about 100 Bullets when I finished Y: The Last Man the first time.

The thing with Moore and Swamp Thing though is that Len Wein created Swampy first - when it was running, Moore took it over because it was a failing title (personally, I love the issues leading up to Moore's takeover on the run of volume 2).

He has been known for dramatic antics in terms of past properties he's worked on - when Geoff Johns was writing the Blackest Night saga in the Green Lantern books a few years back, Moore all but said he was being ripped off since Johns was using a min series Moore had written around the turn of the 80's where he introduced the Nekron character into the GL mythos (who became the main villain in BN).

When stuck between choosing Rorschach or The Question though, I'll always take Vic Sage and Renee Montoya.

[croft]

I say "fuck all that" right now, but I'm sure I will end up reading 'em anyway.

[jerseydave77]

Kriss - I've never read The Question Give me the best collection to start with.

[kurtz]

[kriss]

Kriss - I've never read The Question Give me the best collection to start with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_(comics)

The original Question - the Charlton character Rorschach was very liberally based off of - had a late 80's solo series that only lasted for 36 issues - all of them can be found in 6 separate trades.

In terms of personality, Vic Sage is a conspiracy buff and considerably more investigative than Rorschach - he's also far less violent. After he passes on, he hands his mantle to Renee Montoya, a former Gotham City cop (if you haven't read Gotham Central - go find the trades NOW! Seriously, THE best book DC has ever done in terms of titles featuring Batman side characters - Bats himself only makes scattered appearances and only in a frame or two here and there).

[jurrobear]

The Question is an amazing character that doesn't get enough love. Aside from his old Charlton comics, they did a GREAT job with him in the "Justice League Unlimited" cartoon.

Also, "Gotham City Central" was the best recent Batman book till Grant Morrison started his run.

Well done.

[flood]

im kinda surprised they haven't milked sandman by this point

[jurrobear]

im kinda surprised they haven't milked sandman by this point

Paul Cornell used "Death" in his Lex Luthor run a couple of months ago but he asked Neil for his approval.

[silentgods]

Alan Moore or get the fuck out.

[xxmartinxx]

im kinda surprised they haven't milked sandman by this point

Apparently you had missed these:

Death: The High Cost of Living (1993): A three-issue, Gaiman-penned limited series starring Morpheus’ older sister Death. Takes place roughly nine months after A Game of You.[18]

Sandman Mystery Theatre (1993–1999): A 70-issue series written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle featuring the Golden Age Sandman Wesley Dodds in a film-noir like setting. The character, who appeared three times in Gaiman's series, was revived due to the popularity of Gaiman's series. The two Sandmen met in Sandman Midnight Theatre (1995), and Dream made a few cameos in Mystery Theatre.

The Children's Crusade (1993–1994): A seven-part Vertigo crossover starring Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine, the Dead Boy Detectives, which ran through the annuals of the then-Vertigo titles Black Orchid, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol, and Arcana: The Books of Magic.

Sandman Midnight Theatre (1995): Wesley Dodds, the Golden Age Sandman, meets Lord Morpheus of the Endless, the Modern Age Sandman. It was published between issues #71 and #72 (but took place during the span of issue #1), the latter of which showed Dodds out of costume.

Death: The Time of Your Life (1996): Another three-issue, Gaiman-penned Death limited series, also featuring supporting characters from A Game of You. This one takes place after the end of the series.

The Sandman: Book of Dreams (1996): An original anthology of prose short stories co-edited with Ed Kramer, featuring the world of The Sandman in some way. It contains work from some notable contributors, among them Caitlin R. Kiernan, Tad Williams, Gene Wolfe, Tori Amos, and Colin Greenland. Publisher DC Comics imposed restrictive copyright terms on contributing authors, causing a few to withdraw their stories.[citation needed]

Mythos: The Final Tour (1996): A three-issue mini-series featuring Pain, written by John Ney Rieber and illustrated by Gary Amaro and Peter Gross, Peter Snejbjerg, and Teddy Kristiansen.

The Dreaming (1996–2001): A monthly series set in Morpheus’s realm, but revolving around the supporting characters with little interaction from the Endless and focused largely on Cain and Abel, who have been DC stalwarts since the late 1960s. It was written and illustrated by a variety of writers and artists; Caitlin R. Kiernan wrote the largest number of scripts for the series.

Vertigo: Winter's Edge (1997–1999): An annual one-shot issue featuring short stories from multiple Vertigo series, including short stories featuring Desire (twice) and Death by Gaiman with Bolton, Jones, and Zulli respectively.

The Girl Who Would Be Death (1998-1999): A four-issue mini-series about a girl who challenges death, written by Caitlín R. Kiernan and illustrated by Dean Ormston with Sean Phillips. Death speaks in the series, but is never seen. The title character is the lover of a recurring character in The Dreaming.

The Sandman Presents (1999–2004): A collection of limited series by various authors and illustrators featuring secondary characters from The Sandman.

Lucifer (1999, 3 issues)

Love Street (1999, 3 issues, featuring John Constantine)

Petrefax (2000, 4 issues)

Merv Pumpkinhead, Agent of Dream (2000, 1 issue)

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dreams...But Were Afraid to Ask (2001, 1 issue)

Dead Boy Detectives (2001, 4 issues)

The Corinthian: Death in Venice (2001–2002, 3 issues)

The Thessaliad (2002, 4 issues)

The Furies (2002, 2 issues)

Bast (2003, 3 issues)

Thessaly: Witch for Hire (2004, 4 issues)

Marquee Moon (written in 1997, published online[19] in 2007)

Taller Tales (2003): A reprint trade paperback collecting most of Bill Willingham's Sandman work including Merv Pumpkinhead, The Thessaliad, and his contribution to Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dreams....

Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold (1997) by Alisa Kwitney and Kent Williams.

The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (1999): A prose novella that incorporates a so-called Japanese folk tale into the Sandman mythos, written by Gaiman and featuring illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano. It is not actually based on any existing Japanese folklore, but rather incorporates elements of Chinese and Japanese folklore and mythology into a new "myth". It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Related Book in 2000. Neil Gaiman announced at Comic-Con 2007 that P. Craig Russell will adapt the story into comics form.[20]

The Sandman Companion by Hy Bender (2000): A non-fiction work providing extra information about the series. Its first section discusses the ten Sandman collections sequentially, analyzing their meaning, explaining some of Gaiman's myriad references and sometimes providing information on the writing of the comics. It also features a lengthy interview about the series with Gaiman himself.

The Little Endless Storybook (2001): A one-shot comic/story book which depicts the Endless as toddlers and follows Delirium's dog Barnabas as he attempts to find the missing Delirium, written and illustrated by Jill Thompson.

Lucifer (2001–2006): A monthly series written by Mike Carey continuing the story of Lucifer following the events of the series. Evolved into a highly successful series paralleling the 75-issue structure of The Sandman.

The Sandman: Endless Nights (2003): A graphic novel with one story for each of the Endless. They are set throughout history, but two take place after the final events of the monthly series. It was written by Gaiman and featured a different illustrator for each story. This collection is notable as it is the first hardcover graphic novel ever to appear on the New York Times Hardcover Best Seller list.

Death: At Death’s Door (2003): A manga-style graphic novel, written and illustrated by Jill Thompson, showcasing Death’s activities during Season of Mists.

The Dead Boy Detectives (2005): A sequel to Death: At Death's Door, also by Jill Thompson, featuring the two young ghosts from Season of Mists. (The title was previously used for a The Sandman Presents limited series about the same characters by Ed Brubaker.)

The Brave and the Bold: The Lords of Luck and The Brave and the Bold: The Book of Destiny (2007–2008): Written by Mark Waid, various DC superheroes try to recapture Destiny's book. Destiny himself makes only minor appearances in the stories (specifically, in issues #4 and #12); although, obviously, he is (behind the scenes) the driving force of the stories. The Lords of Luck collects the first six issues of the series, and The Book of Destiny collects issues #7–12.

The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (2008–2009): A series of 4 comics based on the novel of the same name. Adapted by P. Craig Russell.

House of Mystery (2008–2011)

Delirium's Party (2011)