Before Watchmen: All Access

This weekend I got an opportunity to visit the exclusive DC Before Watchmen: All Access panel at C2E2 (Chicago Comic Convention). My thoughts on the upcoming series were mixed to say to the least. Without a doubt, Gibbons and Moore brought us a series of comics that cannot be recreated, but DC decided they were going to give it a go anyway. The panel started with some brief introductions, and then Dan Didio asked the audience if anyone was "mildly skeptical" about the upcoming series. A quarter of the people in attendance raised their hands, and he chose one from the audience. It ended up being a guy in his early 20's and he was asked to come to the front where he got to look at a retailer exclusive "green book" full of almost finished pages and samples from the new series. After a short period of time he was asked if his skepticism was put to rest, and "mildly skeptical guy" answered that his skepticism was quelled. That was the answer that Didio wanted to hear. He prefaced the guy's response by saying something to the effect of, "I'm not going to let you go on and on but...". This made me think about what I would have said in the same situation; and also the roots of my own skepticism.

When first hearing about the project, I was initially excited. I feel that Watchmen as a comic, was the best superhero stuff ever written. It's entirely possible that nothing of greater quality in that particular genre will ever be created again. The recent film however, fell into the category of "the book was better", the category that so many films tend to get lumped into, but this one for good reason. "The book was better" might be the understatement of the century here. Synder did some things very well, but you will not find a bigger Watchmen fan out there and even I was bored by the end. I even made it to the midnight showing with Jimmy the Tadpole and another person I choose not to remember. None of us enjoyed the film very much, and the Tadpole and myself were disappointed to say the least. My point is that Moore and Gibbons hit the nail on the head; they created a comic that was as close to perfect as any comic that has ever been created. Nothing in the superhero genre even comes close. To use a film analogy, the main question that came to my mind was: Is Before Watchmen going to be Ghostbusters II or Godfather II? Gibbons did a great job with the art, but the art (the Chinaman) was not the issue here. The strength of the art was in the characters. Both Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan are iconic and instantly recognizable figures in pop culture. That was the strength of the art, the creation of those characters, but the facts are that those characters can be recreated by most second year art students. The writing is where the wheels are going to come off the wagon, if applicable. "Mildly Skeptical Guy" was the moniker that Dan Didio gave that lucky fan, but to be honest, seeing a few panels, pages, or covers would do little to remove my skepticism. Of course I want more Watchmen comics, but only if those comics are as good or better than the original. I never had any doubt that the art would be great. Would Before Watchmen add or detract from Watchmen mythos? The writers' answers were very telling in that regard.

Adam Hughes was asked about his reaction to writing the new Dr. Manhattan series. His answer was not the cookie cutter response that I figured we would get about all of his wildest dreams coming true. To my surprise, he said that his favorite character was Nite Owl, and that he really wanted to write Nite Owl instead of Dr. Manhattan. He added a few more sentences about coping with that professional disappointment, and said that working on the Dr. Manhattan book was a positive experience, but the life lesson learned was that not always getting what you want can turn into a good thing. When Joe Kubert was asked about Nite Owl, his first words were that he was not familiar with the character when he was first given the assignment. They are both undeniably talented, but I couldn't help thinking that Will Dennis (Senior Editor) dropped the ball here. I suppose that a followup question to Dennis would have been apropos, but it was never asked. Putting the writer that was passionate about Nite Owl on the Nite Owl book might have been the best and most obvious move in my opinion, but I think that some issues need to hit the shelves before any determination is made there. Another stand-out for me was when Amanda Conner was asked about her Silk Spectre series. Once again, although I am aware that recording devices do exist, I did not bring one with me that particular day. She was asked about her process regarding the series, and she said something to the effect that she knew it would never be as good as Moore and Gibbons. I'm going to buy these books because of my OCD, but she sold neither the sizzle nor the steak with that answer. I think that the only other thing of note that was said about the series by Conner was that it was a "romance book, but with beatings". Huh, not impressed at all by that one either. Sorry. One thing that did impress me was Len Wein describing Ozymandis as "the spine" of the Watchmen story, and Azzarello following up with: "If Ozymandis is the spine, then Eddie (The Comedian) is the balls." Rest assured comic fans, Rorschach and The Comedian are in good hands with Brian Azzarello.

The panel concluded by releasing some never before seen images from the upcoming series, and they were pretty amazing. But my skepticism was compounded, not assuaged, by listening to the writers, artists, and editors discuss Before Watchmen for an hour. There is a possibility that this could be a great series of books. There is definitely enough talent. And to my surprise they did bring up Alan Moore and the fact that he was not happy about his artistic vision being co-opted by DC. Straczynski shocked me when he admitted to the entire room that Alan Moore got a bad contract. Then he went on to say that every comic creator there at one time signed a bad contract, but he also brought up a great point that had not crossed my mind before. He referenced The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and raised the question: Would Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have condoned Moore's use of the character Sherlock Holmes? I thought that was a great point. Watchmen characters are owned by DC and not in the public domain, but in reality I guess you can equate the upcoming DC series as bad fan fiction at the very least, and as an equally engaging and integral part of the Watchmen universe at it's very best. At this point, I cannot comment or speculate at great length as to my feelings about what we are going to see. The ultimate proof is going to be in the finished product. All of the images released at the con are now on the website, so check out newfrontiersman.org for some teasers. One thing is for certain, the release of this highly anticipated series is right around the corner. When the first issue of Before Watchmen hits comic store shelves, Watchmen,DC, and the world of comics will be permanently changed, for better or worse. Attempting something of this magnitude takes balls, but at the same time this has the potential to seriously diminish one of the most critically acclaimed works in the history of comics. The doomsday clock is now five minutes until June.


By: William R. Davis Jr.