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Topic: Alan Moore and the Rights to Watchmen (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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John Popa
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Posted: 22 July 2010 at 3:30pm | IP Logged | 1  

As much as its easy to say I'd dismiss non-Moore Watchmen stuff outright, I do think if there were strong creators involved that curiosity would probably get to me.

I'd be more likely to shake my fists in rage if they were doing more Promethea or V For Vendetta. 

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Robert Cosgrove
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Posted: 22 July 2010 at 3:59pm | IP Logged | 2  

Well, the original will always be there for those who liked it.  Just as the original is always there for Sherlock Holmes, or books made into movies, and so forth.  I enjoyed, for example, Kirby's The Demon, hated what DC made of it, liked JB's version, and expect I'll probably dislike the next revival, but I've still got Kirby.  The more "classic" the characters, the more likely someone else will take a shot at them, sooner rather than later.  Moore & Gibbons succeeded in creating what is generally regarded in the comics world as a "classic,"  but there is a down side to that as well.  "With great success goes great exploitation," as Stan Lee might have observed.  Giving the creators "first shot" at the revival is more courtesy than a lot of creators have received.  
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Peter Martin
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Posted: 22 July 2010 at 4:57pm | IP Logged | 3  

Robert, I agree with everything you just wrote.

One of my favourite films is Jaws. All the sequels are crap (well, apart from no. 4 which is super-crap), but does that make the first film any less of a great film? Maybe to the wider public perception I guess, but the original work is still there for you to enjoy.

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Andrew Hess
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Posted: 22 July 2010 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | 4  

Morrison doing a "Watchmen-esque murder mystery" is insane.

It's been done.

Do something else.

ANYthing else.

Wanna do something akin to Watchmen? Make it NOT a murder mystery.

Wanna do a super-hero murder mystery? Have it NOT be dark and moody.

There's no way I would buy that, especially seeing it'll be an "event," presumably thru multiple titles. Which means I won't be getting any DC comics that year.
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Robert Walsh
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Posted: 22 July 2010 at 7:34pm | IP Logged | 5  

Well, the original will always be there for those who liked it.  Just as the original is always there for Sherlock Holmes, or books made into movies, and so forth.  I enjoyed, for example, Kirby's The Demon, hated what DC made of it, liked JB's version, and expect I'll probably dislike the next revival, but I've still got Kirby.  The more "classic" the characters, the more likely someone else will take a shot at them, sooner rather than later.  Moore & Gibbons succeeded in creating what is generally regarded in the comics world as a "classic,"  but there is a down side to that as well.  "With great success goes great exploitation," as Stan Lee might have observed.  Giving the creators "first shot" at the revival is more courtesy than a lot of creators have received. 

* * * * *

In this particular case, it wouldn't be a revival. There was only ever the one story and that story is 100% finished. What is there to revive?

The James Bond franchise is currently dead. If they never make another Bond movie, then the two Craig movies would stand as a pretty good way to go out... but if in 10 years, they get the band back together again and start making more movies, I don't have any problem with it. Bond has long been about the character more than the individual stories. Just as most of the examples you've sited.

But Watchmen... it's like writing a sequel to Gone With The Wind (enter 1991's Scarlett). There's no reason and it comes across as a shameless money grab, which is probably all it was. The same can be said of Godfather III, which came about because Coppola needed money and he was coming of a big-budget failure. Self-contained stories suddenly got needless sequels, not because someone came up with a great idea that had to be told, but because someone wanted money.

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Doug Campbell
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Posted: 22 July 2010 at 7:44pm | IP Logged | 6  

If one wanted to get back at Moore for all the deconstructionist stuff he's done featuring other people's characters over the years, it might take the form of doing an old-school style, non-deconstructionist Watchmen story.

Y'know, with a Nite-Owl who isn't an impotent neurotic, a Silk Spectre who isn't a self-centered slut, an Ozymandias who isn't a Bond villian, a Comedian dedicated to truth and justice, a Dr. Manhattan who gives a crap about the human race, and a, well, a sane Rorschach. 

On second thought, I might actually read that, just to see what it would be like.  Would it read like the original Charleton stuff, or would it have a completely different flavor?

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Stephen Churay
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Posted: 22 July 2010 at 7:46pm | IP Logged | 7  

I don't care if somebody else or Moore wrote it. Watchmen was very much of the eighties. When I reread it about a year ago for the first time in about ten years,I was underwhelmed.
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Thom Price
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Posted: 22 July 2010 at 8:32pm | IP Logged | 8  

I've never even read the original, and my interest in doing so is around a -10.  Subtract about 50 points of interest off that, and that's about how likely I am to read a sequel.
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Rich Rice
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Posted: 22 July 2010 at 9:49pm | IP Logged | 9  

Why would anyone revive Battlestar Galactica?

A 'story' may be over but the Universe contained within that story is not. The million dollar question will be: Is it a good story? And if the answer is 'Yes', then you have something. -Now the odds of this being a good story are probably worse than the odds of the Cavs winning a NBA Championship in the coming year. Don't bet the farm.

Of course, the BEST way to approach quality would have been for DC to simply let someone or several someones do a treatment on the book. And then with an actual book in hand, beg the question "Is it good?" And if finding the answer to be "Yes." publish the darned thing. Get the PR guys in gear and promote a finished product of which you're already proud.

Otherwise, all we have here is speculation.

---And who's to know if the next one in the nest will glitter for them so?

Would I be interested? I'd have to see it on the shelf... I'd know in less than a minute.


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Ben Smith
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Posted: 22 July 2010 at 11:45pm | IP Logged | 10  

I think the expectations for any kind of prequel or sequel would be so overwhelming that it would be hard for any creative team to match.  The only possible way for it to interest me is if Dave Gibbons was involved.  Beyond that, it's a blatant cash grab.  Which, hey, DC is a business.  I don't know why comic books are held to a higher artistic integrity than movies or TV.  Did the world really need 2 Fast 2 Furious?  No, but money talks unfortunately.   

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Victor Rodgers
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Posted: 23 July 2010 at 12:37am | IP Logged | 11  

I think the ending to Watchmenopened up a lot of posibilities because a new world was created. Ozymandias just a step away from being exposed.
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Knut Robert Knutsen
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Posted: 23 July 2010 at 1:17am | IP Logged | 12  

Wasn't there a clause in the original contract saying that rights to Watchmen would revert to Moore and Gibbons if the book was left out of print for 10 years? (which it of course hasn't been).

That might be part of the explanation for it being "off-limits". If the rights to the original went to Moore and Gibbons, a sequel by anyone else might become a rights nightmare. Would DC own it or wouldn't they?

As it now seems unlikely that Watchmen will ever go out of print during its copyright period, those concerns are gone. Along with concerns about upsetting Moore and him not working for them anymore.

Gibbons seems like he's perfectly OK with the idea of doing a sequel.

 (Just read the 2000AD "Thrill-Power Overload" book, and it seems like a recurring theme: The artists want to continue working on a succesful work-for-hire series, but editors nix it because they don't want to offend Alan Moore. Who doesn't want to write for them anyway.)

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