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Topic: WSJ: Worst Comic Ever (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Kip Lewis
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Joined: 01 March 2011
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 7:06am | IP Logged | 1  



http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB10001424052702303610504577418120266945742.html?
mod=googlenews_wsj


OK, now the Wall Street Journal is saying it.
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Peter Martin
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Joined: 17 March 2008
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 7:35am | IP Logged | 2  

'The first issues of "Before Watchmen" will be published next month.'

Urrggh.
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John Byrne
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Joined: 11 May 2005
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 7:46am | IP Logged | 3  

Why "Urrgh"? Maybe they'll be GOOD!

Sure, low odds, right? But you never know. And there is some serious talent attached. (Tho not ME. I was offered a cover, but declined.)

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Dave Kopperman
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 8:09am | IP Logged | 4  

I count Alan Moore in my top three favorite writers, but I see no problem whatsoever with DC trying to actually make money on a property they own - they're a corporation, and will behave as corporations will.  

Moore certainly has valid reasons for being pissy about it from a business standpoint, but considering that all of his objections to other creators having a go at these characters are couched in creative concerns - especially terms of originality and moral ownership, his ground there isn't even shaky - it's non-existant.
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Kevin Brown
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 8:11am | IP Logged | 5  

One quote to focus on:

 WSJ wrote:
Marvel and DC probably wouldn't have wanted anything new anyway. Judging by "Before Watchmen" and "Avengers vs. X-Men," their notions of new ideas involve sequels to comics that came out when New York Mets announcer Keith Hernandez was a perennial MVP candidate.

It's not a "comics thing" in regards to sequels or prequels coming out years after the original(s), movies and tv have been doing it for years.  And the idea of a sequel or prequel to Watchmen is not new.  Alan Moore initially was going to do more before after the 12-issue series ended, but he changed his mind.

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Robert Bradley
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 9:08am | IP Logged | 6  

And let's not forget - two of Moore's most popular series is based on literary characters he didn't create.  WATCHMEN is a thinly-disguised version of the old Charlton characters, and THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN isn't even disguised.

I probably won't read it, but once the Watchmen characters became DC property he lost control of what direction they go with them.

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John Byrne
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 9:18am | IP Logged | 7  

And let's not forget - two of Moore's most popular series is based on literary characters he didn't create. WATCHMEN is a thinly-disguised version of the old Charlton characters, and THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN isn't even disguised.

••

I've raised the question before, without seeing a satisfactory answer: has Moore actually created anything that was entirely his own? Not being snarky here, I promise. (After all, I make no claims to being Captain Originality!)

Most often, when I ask this, people come back with V FOR VENDETTA, which forces me to tell them to go look up Guy Fawkes and read 1984.

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Wallace Sellars
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 9:28am | IP Logged | 8  

I am tempted to take a look at two of the books based on the involvement
of Amanda Conner and Darwyn Cooke.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 10:13am | IP Logged | 9  

I find it very telling that the writer of the article has to "stack the deck" by referring to J. Michael Straczynski as a "former HE-MAN writer". I suppose if I HAD agreed to be involved in this, I would have been identified as the former WHEELIE AND THE CHOPPER BUNCH artist.
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Dwayne Gassmann
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 10:15am | IP Logged | 10  

Just glancing at the article, the credits the author uses for JMS don't
make me want to even bother with the rest.

Why do companies keep going back to the same formulas? Because
that is what the fans want and there is less cost risk. Kind of like
every other entertainment company.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 10:30am | IP Logged | 11  

Why do companies keep going back to the same formulas? Because that is what the fans want and there is less cost risk. Kind of like every other entertainment company.

••

If there is a fault to be laid at DC's collective feet in this, it is that they have spent far too much of the past few years recycling. When I returned to that company to the DOOM PATROL and THE DEMON (themselves recycled titles), there was much excitement about upcoming projects, yet each and every one was described with either an old DC project name ("This will be OUR CRISIS!") or old Marvel project names ("This will be OUR Kree/Skrull War! This will be OUR SECRET WARS.)

No reason in the world that they should do a prequel, or a sequel, or a between-the-panels revisit to WATCHMEN -- except that it's got a kind of SPACEBALLS feel to it. Bit late in the game!

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Jason Mark Hickok
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Posted: 28 May 2012 at 10:30am | IP Logged | 12  

I will say one thing about the WATCHMEN prequels is that a lot of the creators are people I really like. There is hope that they will be good. I also do not hold WATCHMEN in the regards as others so if I buy these I will have an open mind.
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