Comic Books

> > 1-of-6
BEFORE WATCHMEN: MINUTEMEN #1 (OF 6)

“Little did we know that poor boy would lead to the end of us all.”

Plus: Don’t miss the CRIMSON CORSAIR backup story by writer LEN WEIN and artist JOHN HIGGINS!

Story by Darwyn Cooke & Len Wein
Art by Darwyn Cooke & John Higgins
Cover by Darwyn Cooke, Michael Golden, & Jim Lee

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 14.7%

Reviews

UserAddedSpoilers
zimbryce77706/16/12NoRead Review
Jim Punchfist06/07/12NoRead Review
tomdpimp06/07/12NoRead Review
NOK06/06/12NoRead Review
TurdSandwich06/06/12YesRead Review
akamuu06/05/12NoRead Review
1014
Pulls
Avg Rating: 4.3
 
Users who pulled this comic:
 

Comments

  1. Avatar photo Agent Graves says:
    June 4, 2012 at 1:22 pm

    brb. just getting my popcorn for the comments that are going to be left 😀

  2. Avatar photo adrianrigter says:
    June 4, 2012 at 1:35 pm

    Earth 2 + before watchmen = a s**tstorm of epic proportions:)

    (sitting in my bunker, waiting for the internet to break in half).

    • Avatar photo RolandofGilead says:
      June 4, 2012 at 1:51 pm

      I’m buying both. I was always going to buy this, but now it’s likely I’ll get full value (of some sort) once I have read it and check out some reactions. Look forward to this week’s podcast.

  3. Avatar photo Zeppo says:
    June 4, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    I’m in too minds about picking this up, not because I’m against it’s existence, I’m all for more watchmen stories, I’m just not that much into Cooke’s work

  4. Avatar photo KillTheG1mp says:
    June 4, 2012 at 2:05 pm

    I’m not ashamed to admit that I am super hyped about everything Before Watchmen related! Now bash me all you want, I enjoy comics and that is the true essence of being a fanboy: buy and read what you want and like all you want, why hate something just because it exists is totally weird, it’s not like I encourage fascism or racism, you know! 😉

    • Avatar photo Neeks says:
      June 4, 2012 at 2:07 pm

      Im curious which of the mini series are you intrested in reading out of all of them

    • Avatar photo KillTheG1mp says:
      June 4, 2012 at 2:13 pm

      All of them, honestly! I think it’s a great event and not a travesty. Why “wince” about the mere mention of it instead of embracing it? More Watchmen stories, why not?

      It’s like bashing on the Star Wars Expanded Universe because George Lucas only grabs the royalty checks and is not directly involved or bashing Halo 4 because it’s not being made by Bungie?

    • Avatar photo Neeks says:
      June 4, 2012 at 2:34 pm

      Ya im not calling this a bad thing ethier but then again i truthfully only read the original Watchmen a year ago so maybe its different for some people who were reading this when it originally came out for whatever reason which still isnt an excuse to be tottally against it.

      Anyways so far im planning on grabbing this one, the comedian, Silk Spectre and Rorschach minis as long as they all seem good after the first issue

    • Avatar photo KillTheG1mp says:
      June 4, 2012 at 3:01 pm

      Yeah I understand you hehe! 🙂

      I also only read Watchmen about 4 years ago. Just a bit before the movie came out.

      But you mark a point, for someone who had read the actual mini-series in 1986, it must be weird that Before Watchmen is finally coming out.

  5. Avatar photo Neeks says:
    June 4, 2012 at 2:06 pm

    Is cooke a good writer as well?? Im familiar with seeing a bunch of nice artwork of his but havent really read anything written by him

    • Cedric says:
      June 4, 2012 at 2:09 pm

      Yes. He has written and drawn DC the New frontier and Selina’s Big score; both were very high praised

    • Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick">Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
      June 4, 2012 at 2:09 pm

      @Neeks: He’s one of the best in comics.

    • WookieLoveMachine says:
      June 4, 2012 at 2:15 pm

      Everyone should read Parker………Parker the Hunter, Parker the Outfit…….Common………am I the only one whose read this.

    • Avatar photo Neeks says:
      June 4, 2012 at 2:30 pm

      Thanks Guys i was already planning on picking this up i just wasnt sure if that was the case. Great to know!

    • Avatar photo tripleneck (@tripleneck) says:
      June 4, 2012 at 2:57 pm

      The Parker GN’s are actually adaptations of classic hardboiled novels from the Sixties. So you can’t really say that Cooke wrote those. The actual writer is Richard Stark, a pen-name of Donald Westlake a very famous mystery author.

    • Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick">Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
      June 4, 2012 at 2:59 pm

      @tripleneck: He adapted the stories, which requires writing/storytelling.

    • Avatar photo tripleneck (@tripleneck) says:
      June 4, 2012 at 3:07 pm

      @Conor

      I get your point. I was only pointing out that he did not create the story from scratch. Stark’s name is even in the title of the GN and Cooke’s credit is for adaptation & illustration. No mean feat obviously.

    • WookieLoveMachine says:
      June 4, 2012 at 3:56 pm

      @tripleneck.

      You would have to pretty stupid to not know that The Parker books were adaptations of the fantastic Richrad Stark novels. Since this is a comic page I won’t get into how wonderful these classics are, but thanks for the 2cents
      @csklipatrick

      true, adaptations still require a fair amount of orignal writting.

      These are some of the best adaptations ever brought to print.

      New Frontier is one of my favorite Cooke books, but Parker is in a class of its own. Classic Stark book, or Cooks graphics.

    • Avatar photo USPUNX says:
      June 5, 2012 at 9:32 am

      @tripleneck: Umm…does that mean anyone who has ever done an adaptation or written a super hero comic isn’t actually a writer because they didn’t create the characters from scratch? Interesting viewpoint for a comics reader to have.

    • Avatar photo skydog says:
      June 6, 2012 at 1:46 pm

      @ uspunk: you never miss an opportunity to put words in someones mouth and pin them to the wall, do you?

    • Avatar photo USPUNX says:
      June 6, 2012 at 4:49 pm

      That’s pretty funny coming from you. I guess I could ask you; you never miss an opportunity to jump into a conversation purely to insult someone while adding nothing of value to the discussion do you? @tripleneck is more than welcome to refute my statement if he likes. Whether you believe it or not I am genuinely interested to hear his viewpoint to adaptions. His words: “So you can’t really say that Cooke wrote those.” My comment seems like a pretty straight line from his statement. I just find the implication that someone can’t be said to have written something because it is an adaptation to generally be kind of ridiculous, and particularly coming from a comics reader.

    • Avatar photo tripleneck (@tripleneck) says:
      June 7, 2012 at 1:38 am

      @USPUNX

      All I was trying to say was that Cooke did not write the the stories that are in the Parker GN’s. He adapted them from the original novels by Stark. It pretty clearly says all that on the cover of the Parker GN’s. I didn’t say Cooke wasn’t a writer or that he didn’t do any writing in creating those GN’s. Only that he didn’t write those stories, Stark did. It’s the same thing as a movie adaptation of the Great Gatsby or Huckleberry Finn. Nobody in their right mind is going to claim that they wrote the stories in those movies unless they’re Fitzgerald or Twain. For such movies there’s an Oscar category called ‘Best Adapted Screenplay.’ For the same reasons, Cooke’s credit on the Parker GN covers is Adaptation & Illustration, not Author.

    • Avatar photo USPUNX says:
      June 7, 2012 at 9:02 am

      @tripleneck: Okay, I think the problem turns out to be semantic. It sounds like you were using author and writer interchangeably while I was looking at them as two different things. While Cooke clearly wrote the Stark GN’s he is obviously not the author. You are correct that the Oscars have an adapted screenplay category, but in the credits of those moves, the person who wrote the screen play is credited as “written by.” Whenever a book is adapted to another medium, be it GN or film, certain things will, by necessity of the medium, need to be left out. It is up to the writer to decide what from the original must be included and excluded while staying true to the original characters and story. As a recent article on this site proves, even in ten hours, the Game of Thrones HBO show can’t capture all the subtlety of the source material. It requires a creative mind to make these decisions and still tell an interesting story that stands on its own while also remaining true to the source material. I guess my real problem with your original post comes in when considering things like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or True Blood. The characters in these were created by other people before being used by Moore and HBO, and in the case of True Blood some of the plots come from the books; however, both are wildly different from their source material. Where do these fall? Were they merely adapted simply because some part of them, however small, was created by someone else; or did someone write these? And what about superhero comics? Are they written by a line of new people or merely an ongoing string of adapters? Maybe I’m over analyzing the semantics but I’ve always found language and the way we say things to be interesting.

    • Avatar photo skydog says:
      June 7, 2012 at 3:55 pm

      @USPUNK: You write: “While Cooke clearly wrote the Stark GN’s he is obviously not the author. ” WRONG.
      You should have said: “”While Cook clearly wrote the Parker GN’s….””

      There never was nor will there ever be a “Stark GN” Stark is dead. How could Stark have Authored the GN when he’s dead? Also, for clarity sake, Authored and Wrote ARE synonyms. Perhaps you can explain the diffference if you think not!

      Cook is the author/writer of the Parker GN. Period! If you want to be correct, without using wrote/authored, you could say: The Parker books invented by Stark were reformulated into a GN by Cooke. There is no such thing as “the Stark GN”, as you erroneously state above.

      You brought all this upon yourself by being so picayune. You’re right, you do painfully over analyze everything. ** COMMENT MODERATED **

    • Avatar photo USPUNX says:
      June 7, 2012 at 4:12 pm

      First off you inserted yourself into this, I never “minced words” with you, you picked the fight here. I was trying to have a legitimate conversation with tripleneck. I’m sure you think I’m lying about that but I’m not. I heartily disagreed with his statement and was looking for him to clarify.

      Gee, nice catch on the Stark vs. Parker GN. It was a simple typo but I guess it was somehow worth all the fuss you made. You call me picayune and then spend half your post analyzing what was obviously a typing mistake.

      Quite frankly I don’t give two shits what you think about me. I have never read a single post by that was not completely insulting and condescending to who you were directing it towards. You constantly insert yourself into discussions where you offer only but vitriol and anger while doing nothing to add to the discussion itself. The fact that you think about me the way you do shows a total hypocrisy and utter lack of self awareness on your part. We’re both argumentative and when we see a post or opinion with which we disagree we feel compelled to chime in and attempt to point out the flaws, often in too zealous a manner. Just admit what you are. Honestly we both probably need to tone ourselves down a bit.

  6. Avatar photo Apotheosize says:
    June 4, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    count me in…not all the titles but i will cherry pick

  7. Avatar photo WillupsBrighton says:
    June 4, 2012 at 2:47 pm

    This is the official “the original Watchmen wasn’t that great” thread.

  8. Avatar photo bcoop704 says:
    June 4, 2012 at 2:49 pm

    I’m in. I will try all of the first issues and then decide what (if any) I want to drop from there…

  9. Avatar photo ScorpionMasada says:
    June 4, 2012 at 2:54 pm

    Alan Moore convinced me not to buy any of these.

    Bought the new Parker book instead.

    I hope they all suck (cuz I don’t want to be tempted…at all–no iFanboy picks of the week, please…I already feel weak).

  10. Avatar photo tripleneck (@tripleneck) says:
    June 4, 2012 at 3:02 pm

    I sympathize with Moore’s pain, but I just wanna read some Darwyn Cooke comics and this is what I have in front of me this week. I am very much less likely to buy some of the other BW minis since i don’t really care about their creators or characters in them. If this week’s Darwyn Cooke comic was the Rocketeer, I’d buy that. If it was the Shade, I’d buy that. you get the idea…

  11. Avatar photo sitara119 says:
    June 4, 2012 at 3:19 pm

    i understand why people sympathize with moore, but i still think it’s ridiculous. he wanted to write this for DC and they drew up a contract together and to my knowledge everything agreed upon has been upheld.
    DC did not take advantage of the poor, scary wizard.

    • Avatar photo Keith81658 says:
      June 4, 2012 at 3:33 pm

      I agree.

    • a.j.howard09 says:
      June 4, 2012 at 5:43 pm

      @sitara119 I’m not disagreeing with you but the issue has a bit more nuance than you make it out as. The original contract called for the rights to pass to Moore after a certain amount of time (I think a year) after the books were in-print. This isn’t how contracts were usually handled at the time. Moore probably spent negotiating capital to get this provision. It would be fair to guess that both parties to the contract expected that the rights would eventually pass to Moore. The unforeseen circumstance that prevented this happening is the rise of trade paperbacks and collected editions, which Watchmen played a huge role in. Because of it’s continuing popularity in a variety of collected formats, the book has never been out of print.

      So not only has Moore no creative control over property that he expected to have control over soon after it’s initial run, but these prequels are out of necessity going to lead to DC keeping the original title in print, dimming any faint chances that Moore would regain the rights in his lifetime.

      DC isn’t doing anything wrong, and it’s probably not doing anything unethical. Moore probably could have eventually reached some understanding before this that would grant him the rights, but apparently he’s a bit of a prick. But the fact that he doesn’t have control over this story (something that he negotiated for), because of an industry innovation (collected editions) that his work on this book greatly contributed to does grant him a bit of a license to behave like a prick over the subject.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      June 4, 2012 at 6:09 pm

      a year? i read that moore would get the rights back when the book went out of print. which hasn’t happened yet.

    • a.j.howard09 says:
      June 4, 2012 at 7:03 pm

      Right, I wasn’t sufficiently clear. The rights were supposed to go back year after the book went out of print. But collected editions weren’t what they are now back then, so both sides probably assumed rights would vest back a few at most a few years after the initial print run. Then trades got huge and the book has been in-print for 20+ years. Moore isn’t alone, this happens a lot with copyright law and emerging technology. But DC clearly gained a clear windfall and Moore got kind of screwed out of something he successfully negotiated for, all because of a development that was probably unanticipated by both parties to the contract.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      June 4, 2012 at 8:18 pm

      yeah, but he wasn’t screwed out of anything. things just didn’t go his way. he has the right to feel however he wants about it and talk about it anyway he sees fit. i’m not judging him for that.
      i just think it’s silly for people to boycott the books based on any of all the information you’ve provided. i just want good books. i don’t care who controls it. nor should anyone other than DC or Moore.

    • Avatar photo TurdSandwich says:
      June 4, 2012 at 9:27 pm

      With the contract stating Moore would get the rights after it went out of print, I wonder if he intentionally wrote a story so unlike what was on the stands at the time that it was almost certain to be unpopular, and thus go out of print. I can picture Alan Moore thinking, “I’ll fill the book with whole chapters of prose only, and morally gray characters that no one will relate to or have allegiance with, and an ending that will drive them nuts. Then when I get the rights back, I will create my opus.” The big problem was the public loved it, the book was amazing, and the rest is creator’s rights history. I’m mostly joking, but it does make some sense, otherwise why would he sign a contract that gives him the rights only when it doesn’t sell and goes out of print?

      Sorry for rambling, but my doobie-enhanced mind just wandered a bit. I agree with you Sitara, why miss out on good stories because someone we don’t know got semi-screwed 20+ years ago.

    • Avatar photo KillTheG1mp says:
      June 5, 2012 at 8:29 am

      Yeah, but it’s not like DC ever said Fuck You Moore! He gets royalties from THE best selling graphic novel of all time. Royalties for derived products and they asked him if he wanted to be involved in the making of the movie when they decided to do it… So, it sucks for him that it didn’t turn as was expected, but still, he wrote the comic book bible for fucks sake! 0_o Not a small feat and that should boost your ego!

  12. Avatar photo Elwapo187 says:
    June 4, 2012 at 4:07 pm

    It was a hard choice not to pre order these. But I side with Moore on this one. But that doesn’t mean I think whoever buys it is a wrong. If I may quote a movie that changed my life as a kid Tales from the Crypts “Demon Knight” “If it makes you feel good do it.”

  13. Avatar photo MattDoobie says:
    June 4, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    I love Alan Moore but I’m still buying it all and then I’ll buy the trades too dammit!

  14. Avatar photo CaseyJustice says:
    June 4, 2012 at 5:08 pm

    Yeah, it says Darwyn Cooke on the cover.

    For me, that’s the end of the discussion.

  15. Avatar photo rogerwhitson says:
    June 4, 2012 at 6:11 pm

    I’d say that Watchmen is probably the Ulysses of comics. I read it. I’m glad I did. I probably won’t read it again. It’s almost a rite of passage. You read Ulysses in grad school, but unless you are a Joyce scholar or participate in Bloomsday every year, you probably don’t get back to it. Watchmen, for me, is similar.

    I hope people enjoy Before Watchmen, but I probably won’t get it.

    • Avatar photo vadamowens says:
      June 4, 2012 at 11:07 pm

      Do you mean ‘The Odyssey’? I actually read ‘Ulysses’ in high school.

    • Avatar photo tripleneck (@tripleneck) says:
      June 4, 2012 at 11:29 pm

      Lightweights! I read Ulysses in 3rd Grade.

      And I even did a show and tell style book report about it. 😛

    • Avatar photo vadamowens says:
      June 4, 2012 at 11:34 pm

      I’d like to clarify that this was an honest question. I intend no condescension.

    • Avatar photo Skyfire124 says:
      June 7, 2012 at 6:37 am

      @rogerwhitson The Bloomsday reference caught me off-guard, but I thought I’d check your profile, and sure enough another eastern WA resident!

      I’ve been torn on the Before Watchmen debate, but the expanded universe idea, similar to whats been said for Star Wars,… its got me curious enough that I suspect I”ll give it a try. I missed it this week with my week’s subscription but if there are any remaining at the shop I’ll probably get it next week.

    • Avatar photo JudgeJoyce says:
      June 8, 2012 at 1:21 pm

      I understand what you’re getting at but to compare Watchmen to James Joyce is a bit much.

    • Avatar photo rogerwhitson says:
      June 10, 2012 at 11:30 am

      @JudgeJoyce: I’m comparing Watchmen and Joyce’s Ulysses only in that both are very complicated stories that are interesting in terms of what they do to narrative, but not interesting apart from that (for me). And if there is a “modernist” comic storyline, I’d definitely call Watchmen that.

  16. mathiasriffman says:
    June 4, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    Can’t wait for this!

  17. Avatar photo duders says:
    June 4, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    One does not simply avoid buying Darwyn Cooke comics

    • DamienIII says:
      June 4, 2012 at 7:55 pm

      Watchmen is probably still the greatest comicbook-story I read.

      Now DC puts some of the best creators currently in comics on Before Watchmen.

      Count me in.

  18. flapjaxx says:
    June 4, 2012 at 10:11 pm

    Yeah. Gee. I sure with Darwyn Cooke was doing something original instead of reveling in more nostalgia.

    I might buy this if I see it in a 50-cent bin sometime. But I can’t imagine being bothered enough to invest $24 in this mini-series (or in any of the others).

    I like Cooke’s stuff okay, but as a fan of his the only way I’d buy this is if I’d already read everything else he’s ever done.

    So, yeah, sorry, my estimation of Cooke and all of the other creators has fallen.

    And I’m NOT a huuuge Watchmen fan… but this is just something totally creatively lazy to do.

    • Avatar photo mrmister says:
      June 5, 2012 at 6:34 am

      How is this creatively lazy? He is writing an entirely new story based on previously established characters which is the same exact thing Marvel and DC do EVERY WEEK. Stop. Just stop. Please.

    • Juhl75 says:
      June 6, 2012 at 11:27 pm

      Great point mrmister! Go read your 500th Batman or Wonder Woman comic and stop crying about people doing Watchmen Prequels. WOW! Lame. Great first issue by Cooke too, it will be interesting to learn more about the Minutemen. He made the Mothman very intriguing.

  19. Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
    June 4, 2012 at 11:56 pm

    How is this only fifth in pulls? I think we’ve got a lot of holier-than-thou folks on hand.

    • Avatar photo Agent Graves says:
      June 5, 2012 at 12:58 am

      That’s a bit of a ridiculous (and offensive) thing to say. There are many reasons why a person may decide not to get this. I can understand someone not buying this because they feel Watchmen was a done deal and the whole “before” stuff is unnecessary and therefore they’re just not interested. Maybe some people feel it’s a bit of a gimmick, a quick and easy way for DC to make money and that puts them off. Maybe some people haven’t read Watchmen. Maybe some people didn’t like Watchmen. Maybe some people are waiting for the HCs or trades. And even if someone doesn’t want to buy it out of principle it doesn’t mean they think they’re better than the people who are buying it.

  20. Avatar photo keithfury says:
    June 5, 2012 at 12:13 am

    I didn’t give a shit about the Before Watchmen until I heard Darwin Cooke is involved. I would read a Aliens vs Archie book if Cooke was involved. The man can do no wrong.

  21. Avatar photo mrmister says:
    June 5, 2012 at 6:35 am

    Very excited for this. It will be the only one I get in single issues, but I imagine I’ll be getting 1 or 2 more in trade.

  22. Avatar photo Flash923 says:
    June 5, 2012 at 12:30 pm

    For me it’s been DC and Marvel for most of my life up until the last few years as other publishers like Image and Dynamite have made me aware of thier exsistance. Artists, writers etc, really in my opinion worked for these publishers and there were very few I could tell you whom they were!! I am sorry for Mr. Moore’s luck and the key word seems to be luck or the lack there of in this situation. I have been reading comics for almost 32 plus years and I really could only tell you a few actual people behind the comics versus the characters and what companies they are associated with. I will be reading these all because the Watchmen series was so good back then and I am wondering just what else might have happened in their hay-day!! Morrison whom originally worte the Watchmen would have been cool to use in this however; I see that is not an option so I think it may be hard for others to imagine where he was headed or where he came from with these characters. Thats the real sad part I guess if you wanna look at it, we the fans and readers lose out! It eventually is our money that will make or brake these books so if they are not good then I guess we will soon see and DC and Moore will know right away!

    K

  23. Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
    June 5, 2012 at 3:06 pm

    If there was ever a “wait and see” comic, it’s these minis. Cooke is insanely talented, but it remains to be seen if he can tell a story that’s both incredibly entertaining AND works with Moore’s original story. Both have to work for this to be worth it.

  24. Avatar photo MindTrickdMedia (@mindtrickdmedia) says:
    June 5, 2012 at 4:05 pm

    Looking forward to ALL the Before Watchmen series. Cooke is perfect for this story. I remember back in the day reading Watchmen looking for any back issues about the MinuteMen. I swore there were back issues, but I guess it was ‘MinuteMan’ I though of?

    Anyways, Where DC will succeed in these prequels is getting the perfect teams for each character. JG Jones for Comedian! Bermejo for Rorshach! Kuberts for Night Owl!

    Cooke will bring the glory days of this superhero group in pure nostalgic fashion. Can’t wait to see more about the Moth guy who went crazy, the hooded justice guy, the lesbian couple, and everyone else we’ve grown to love over time.

    • Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
      June 6, 2012 at 12:35 am

      I always though the MinuteMen were damn cool, even though we saw almost nothing of them, other than a few snippets here and there and the great DC Heroes Watchmen sourcebook.

      Mothman the drunk, Dollar Bill the tragically caped hero, etc. Wasn’t one of the guys gay? Wasn’t Hooded Justice a Nazi? Was he a gay Nazi? So much goodness and we only got a little slice.

  25. Avatar photo Cubiclecide says:
    June 5, 2012 at 5:54 pm

    I have a question regarding the importance of Moore gaining the rights to these characters after the book went out of print. What did he plan to do with them? Was his goal to have no further stories be told with these characters? Did he have further ideas that he wished to develop free from DC editors? If its the former, I am almost happy he was not able to retain the characters as I am excited to see what comes from Before Watchmen. If it is the latter then I am sad he was not able to tell Moore (hehe) stories. I dont know if he has ever stated what exaclty he was going to do when he retained the rights and why it was so important for him to get the chracters back from DC.

    • Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
      June 6, 2012 at 12:32 am

      I have wondered this, too. Did he just want to sit on the book and do nothing? Did he want more money? Did he want the book to never be reprinted again? I don’t know exactly what he wanted. Complete ownership of these characters and story (which were based on Charlton characters which were purchased by DC in the first place)?

      I would love to see a happy Alan Moore but I don’t think it’s possible. I feel like no matter what happened he would be disgruntled and angry – like some old angry drunk out on the streets.

      If it was just DC that he was pissed with, that would be one thing. But he always seemed pissed at any and everybody – I guess that’s to be expected of a temperamental genius.

  26. Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
    June 5, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    It’s too bad that we can’t talk to Alan Moore back in 1987. Surely, he could have told us what he was hoping his deal with DC would have been at the time.

    OH WAIT, WE CAN! Look at this 1987 Comics Journal article, in which Moore and Gibbons are interviewed as Watchmen is coming out: http://www.tcj.com/archive-viewer-issue-116/?pid=10411

    “Q: Do you actually own Watchmen?

    MOORE: My understanding is that when Watchmen is finished and DC have not used the characters for a year, they’re ours.

    GIBBONS: They pay us a substantial amount of money…

    MOORE: …to retain the rights. So basically they’re no ours, but if DC is working with the characters IN OUR INTERESTS then they might as well be. On the other hand, if the characters have outlived their natural lifespan and DC doesn’t want to do anything with them, then after a year we’ve got them and we can do what we want with them, which I’m perfectly happy with.

    GIBBONS: What would be horrendous, and DC could legally do it, would be to have Rorschach crossing over with Batman or something like that, but I’ve got enough faith in them that I don’t think that they’d want to do that. I think because of the unique team they couldn’t get anybody else to take it over to do Watchmen II or anything else like that, AND WE’VE CERTAINLY GOT NO PLANS TO DO WATCHMEN II.”

    (Emphasis added by me)

    So there you have it. Yes, everything was done legally, but that’s not really the whole reason why this whole endeavor has such a bad stench. Everyone knows about how Moore felt that the revision clause was meaningless, but as he states here, they signed the deal under the assumption that DC would make decisions regarding the characters with the blessing of its creators. It’s scumbaggy, and repeating verbatim that “DC is legally in the right” doesn’t make it any less scumbaggy. Call me old fashioned, but when a creator makes a character with the assumption that this character is truly theirs and theirs alone, a little courtesy is owed the creator. People can feel about this whole thing however they want, but at least know why we feel that this is lame.

    What I can’t stand, though, are the comments trivializing Moore’s situation. Yeah, he’s getting paid. He’s getting paid for something he painstakingly crafted and poured his heart into. And now his labor of love is being twisted into something he doesn’t want it to, despite being assured that if the rights would never revert back to him, AT LEAST that wouldn’t happen. Yeah, he at least deserves to be pissed and felt taken advantage of.

    • Avatar photo CAM says:
      June 6, 2012 at 3:52 pm

      Well, technically it’s not Watchmen II. It’s before that 😛

    • Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
      June 6, 2012 at 6:17 pm

      Haha I was waiting for the 1st smartass to say that 🙂

      I should mention that I’m not 100% opposed to a few of these minis, since a couple of the teams are dynamite and id read anything by them. It is worth noting where the scumminess comes from, however, to prevent strawmanning.

    • Avatar photo CAM says:
      June 6, 2012 at 8:47 pm

      For me, it’s like…I LOVE these characters, and if Moore got the rights back, what would he do with them?

      Probably? Nothing, right? It’s hard to say.

      And these creative teams are some of the best around right now, arguably.

      So, on one hand I want more “Watchmen” stories, cause they’re cool, in theory.
      On the other it’s “Oh gawd I’ve only got one hand! When did that happen? Where am I?”

      So, yeah, I’m conflicted.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      June 6, 2012 at 9:16 pm

      moore has said that no one wrote a sequal to moby dick(which is false actually), so that leads me to believe that he has no interest in adding anything to the story. for what if it’s horrible, it might tarnish the greatest thing he’s ever written and he seems to have no further interest in the field that has granted him the most notoriety and fame. the only fame, really. without dc=no more watchmen. that would be a waste. cooke did an awesome job on this book. if moore wants nothing more to do with us, then fuck ’em. why be a slave to his whim. he doesn’t give a shit how my boss treats me(i don’t have one) so why should i care how the workplace treats him? i don’t fear his sorcery.

    • Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
      June 7, 2012 at 12:24 pm

      @CAM: I’d say there’s a good chance that Moore wouldn’t do anything with the characters, aside from the occasional short story. I love the characters too and am in a similar conundrum when thinking about this series, but for me, it comes down to what I ultimately want out of comics. Do I want an environment where creators are king, or where characters are king? Moore has proven time and time again that he doesn’t need to go back to the well for great stories, and I know that he’s not the only one who can do this. I ultimately don’t want mainstream comics to become a field where people care more about seeing another Rorschach adventure than seeing the guy who created Rorschach tell a whole new adventure. Sometimes I feel that that’s where the mentality is heading.

      This reminds me of Big O. The first season ended exactly where the manga ended, and it was both phenomenal and popular. So popular, in fact, that the anime creators decided to create a second season of new original material…and it stank and left a huge black eye on the series. To me, the desire to see my favorite characters in new adventures is counter-balanced with the desire to see the story end on a high note before things get sour. It’s why I’m mostly against seeing new Cowboy Bebop material, despite it being one of my favorite serialized media pieces of all time. The series and characters were amazing, and ended perfectly. We got a movie after the series ended, but there’s only so much that you can stretch things before the original story gets muddled.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      June 7, 2012 at 1:11 pm

      i love cowboy bebop. is there new material? are there new episodes in the works?

    • Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
      June 7, 2012 at 1:17 pm

      There’s always rumors, but no, no plans. It’s good though. I’m much happier that we got Samurai Champloo and a finite ending to Bebop than a huge franchise that may or may not have been good. And now there’s another new series that Watanabe is at the helm for, which I’m clamoring for like crazy.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      June 7, 2012 at 1:25 pm

      i can see where you’re coming from. champloo IS amazing. very glad he moved on to create that series.
      anything Watanabe would be great for me. what’s the name of his new project? (jeez, i quite literally have butterflies!)

    • Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
      June 7, 2012 at 1:48 pm

      Kids On The Slope: http://www.crunchyroll.com/kids-on-the-slope

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      June 7, 2012 at 1:55 pm

      awesome! thanks, chris.

    • Avatar photo markavo says:
      June 8, 2012 at 2:18 pm

      Many people’s character have had stories done with them by other authors so why is this even an issue? Wouldn’t anyone that considers Watchmen to be a complete story without anything else being necessary just ignore the other stories as if they didn’t exist?

      For example, I’m a HUGE Ian Flemming fan. I only care or read his work even though there have been about 26 more novel’s written after “The Man With The Golden Gun”. As far as I (and many others like me) am concerned there is “canon” and then there is a collection of other stories that fans of “Bond Stories” can read and enjoy that I don’t ever have to consider part of the stories I know and love.

      It all seems far to pretentious, especially when the guy with the biggest room for complaint, Alan Moore, is getting paid while everyone else is doing the heavy lifting.

    • Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
      June 8, 2012 at 2:24 pm

      Ian Flemming is dead, and can’t contest to those new novels being published. Alan Moore is alive, and is begging readers and DC not to use the characters that he created with the intention that they will be his even while they’re still under DC’s thumb. Same goes for all of the public domain character’s Moore used for his stories like LXG and Lost Girls. Their creators were cold in the ground and weren’t begging Moore not to make them.

  27. Avatar photo mgriffith says:
    June 5, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    I’m trade-waiting some titles in Before Watchmen, but may follow a few issue-by-issue. Depends on how the first issue seems when I hit the stores.

  28. Avatar photo ghostmann says:
    June 5, 2012 at 9:29 pm

    Love Alan Moore to death, but I’m checking this one out.

  29. ptheiss says:
    June 5, 2012 at 11:15 pm

    More stories with the Watchmen characters and a new book by Darwyn Cooke. Let’s do this.

    Moore signed a contract, and DC is holding him to it. Oh, the horror.

  30. Avatar photo DikBallistik says:
    June 6, 2012 at 1:07 am

    If Moore wasn’t angry about this would anybody else be? I, personally am more than happy to read and hopefully enjoy more Watchmen stories. I can’t imagine a world in which Batman died when Bill Finger and Bob Kane stopped telling stories about him.

    • Avatar photo ScorpionMasada says:
      June 6, 2012 at 10:20 am

      If Alan Moore wasn’t against this, I would check out some of the books.

      He is against it.

      I just wish Alan Moore had more of a presence in comics and that the writers and artists who worked on these comics would feel more of a repercussion for working on them.

      He will never work with anyone who works on this “event”.

      Wonder why Grant Morrison didn’t get involved…

    • Avatar photo Roldan says:
      June 6, 2012 at 2:46 pm

      @ScorpionMasada so what about Gibbons and Higgins, they aren’t against it so why should you listen to 1/2 of the creative team?

      Also we all know why Grant doesn’t want to do anything with Watchmen.

      (Because of Pax Americana)

    • Avatar photo ScorpionMasada says:
      June 6, 2012 at 6:07 pm

      Good question that I can only answer with a very subjective response. I read by writer and not by artist. Writers opinions weigh heavier for me.

      I don’t know why Grant isn’t involved.

      Why?

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      June 6, 2012 at 9:56 pm

      slave mentality.

    • Avatar photo ScorpionMasada says:
      June 6, 2012 at 11:26 pm

      I’d rather be enslaved to an idea that has integrity than the obsessive buying impulses of most comic buyers.

      Aren’t you the dude who can’t afford his comics and buy them anyway even though you have a family to provide for?

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      June 7, 2012 at 12:26 am

      right on, but cooke did an awesome job with integrity.
      and no, i’m not that guy.

  31. Avatar photo wangman31888 says:
    June 6, 2012 at 9:57 am

    Anyone live near a store that’s boycotting the books by not stocking them?

    Heard about a few on the internets but wondering if anyone actually was near one and talked to their owners about the reasoning

  32. Avatar photo Zeppo says:
    June 6, 2012 at 3:08 pm

    I really liked this.

  33. Avatar photo keithfury says:
    June 6, 2012 at 9:24 pm

    Damn he did it! Darwin Cooke actually made me give a shit out about the butterfly guy in the Minutemen. This was the perfect way to kick off Before Watchmen.

    • Juhl75 says:
      June 6, 2012 at 10:56 pm

      Couldn’t agree more with what you just said. Brilliant opening issue… never thought I’d care about the Mothman.

  34. Avatar photo CaseyJustice says:
    June 6, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    No wonder they released this one first. Damn… DAMN near perfect.

    But then, it’s Cooke. What else did we expect?

  35. Juhl75 says:
    June 6, 2012 at 10:54 pm

    This was great! Hooded Justice is a terrifying badass and I’m very interested to see more of Byron Lewis’s decent into madness.

    Hey Watchmen snobs…if you don’t like it then don’t read it, read anything about it and just pretend it doesn’t exist. Simple as that.

    I love Watchmen but I know this is going to be done right and am looking forward to enjoying these new issues.

  36. Avatar photo sitara119 says:
    June 7, 2012 at 1:29 am

    “it’s not the end of the world.”
    a lot of moore fanboys should read into that a bit.

  37. Avatar photo player1 says:
    June 7, 2012 at 2:13 am

    When these hit the public library next year, I’ll probably check ’em out.

    I buy very little DC anyway, mostly because I just can’t afford it.

  38. LucasEwalt says:
    June 7, 2012 at 4:30 am

    Darwyn Cooke should just draw everything set between 1948 and 1967. Absolutely everything. This includes Mad Men.

  39. Avatar photo Jr. Wormwood says:
    June 7, 2012 at 6:39 am

    This was pretty incredible. I think the only book I’m looking forward to this much in Before Watchmen is Jae Lee’s story. One of my absolute favorite creators in the industry.

  40. Avatar photo Zeppo says:
    June 7, 2012 at 7:02 am

    I’ve just noticed the first issue of this is:

    “Before Watchmen: Minute Men – Minute of Truth – Chapter 1: Eight Minutes”

    That’s a bit long

  41. Avatar photo TomO says:
    June 7, 2012 at 8:23 am

    After all the hype and controversy, we’re left with a damn good issue.

    At the end of the day, that’s all I wanted for my four bucks.

  42. Avatar photo Neb says:
    June 7, 2012 at 9:56 am

    Diamond screwed my store and did not ship this to them, so I won’t be reading this until next week. It’s off topic completely, but in this market, how can Diamond be so careless with such a huge book for retailers?

    Glad to hear it was good. I’m looking forward to this “event” as a whole and will probably check out most of the minis.

  43. Avatar photo sitara119 says:
    June 7, 2012 at 1:01 pm

    i was disappointed when i first heard the watchmen books were going to be 4 bucks. my first thought was (what has become cliche) “drawing the line at 2.99, my ass”. i didn’t realize they were giving us 28 pages. 28 pages for 4 bucks(3 bucks with my LCS discount)! that’s really awesome given the current climate.
    i mean, i don’t have to worry about money anymore, but i think marvel should take note. this is how you treat your loyal fanbase. the only book they have that’s “worth” 4 bucks is USM. bendis IS amazing on that title.
    good job DC. both on a great new watchmen book and for not asking me to bend over for it.
    🙂
    ps. wish i could type a smiley face with a drop of blood on it. that would be awesome.

    • Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
      June 7, 2012 at 3:12 pm

      I’m very happy they are 28 pages for 4 bucks, too. If they pulled a Marvel on us I would have been pissed. But DC comes through again.

  44. Avatar photo thompsonlive says:
    June 7, 2012 at 7:43 pm

    I did really enjoy this but I think I would rather read all of these once they are finished. Going to trade wait on these but first issue was enough to get me excited for them.

    • Avatar photo Zeppo says:
      June 8, 2012 at 7:29 am

      I am currently trying to make that decision. I think Minute Men will be the only one I’m getting so I might just get the issues.

    • Avatar photo thompsonlive says:
      June 9, 2012 at 2:35 pm

      @zeppo yeah I really just wanted to get this issue just to know if I would even enjoy it when it’s finished, which I did enjoy it quite a bit. Thankfully i’m buying digitally so all I have to do is wait till they are finished….and cheaper and I just finish buying 2 through 6 since I already got issue 1. I’m excited just not excited enough to pay $3.99 an issue for each series, plus these seem like they will read better all at once anyway.

  45. Avatar photo kennyg says:
    June 8, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    I give it a 4/5. Pretty good, even though I’m not a big Cooke fan.

  46. Avatar photo GaviinNansoong says:
    June 9, 2012 at 10:17 am

    Obviously this is the first thing I read out of this weeks pile. First impressions are good, Cooke seems to be playing it safe with this first installment and the narrative did not offer any new insight into our cast, hopefully this will not be the status-quo for this story or the others. Whilst this is not amazing stuff so far it is also not a bad read, the books obvious strength is Cooke’s visuals. The presentation is immaculate (bonus points for the premium stock covers DC) and Cooke’s style is a perfect fit for this particular era. I’m still undecided on the other six books coming out but for me this one has always been a keeper, I just hope to see a few twists and turns in the coming installments, rather than the straight retelling on offer here.

    • Avatar photo GaviinNansoong says:
      June 9, 2012 at 10:29 am

      I suppose mothman was given a bit of an interesting treatment, overall there was a lot of playing it safe with the more established characters.

  47. Avatar photo mgriffith says:
    June 9, 2012 at 4:32 pm

    I paged through it and decided to trade-wait this one. I may well trade-wait the entire line.

  48. dannyj says:
    June 10, 2012 at 1:05 pm

    To each their own. For me personally, Darwyn Cooke’s style is untouchable. The man could create a comic book about the phone book and I would buy it.

    • Avatar photo mgriffith says:
      June 10, 2012 at 3:17 pm

      Cooke is one on my favorite artists, though I wouldn’t want to see him on every title i buy.

      He’s a perfect fit for this title, IMO.

  49. Avatar photo consafo80 (@consafo80) says:
    June 11, 2012 at 8:08 am

    I’m tempted to pick up Brian Azzarello and Len Wein’s books but reading the comments I’m tempted to pick up this after hearing how good Darwyn Cooke is.

Leave a Comment