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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Press Releases and Film News  |  Watchmen Prequels Coming this Summer « previous next »
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« on: February 01, 2012, 09:18:28 AM »

There's been this rumor floating around about a series of new comics continuing the Watchmen series and as of today, it is now official.  Coming this summer, 7 miniseries will hit stores as prequels to the 80's comic.

The Titles:
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2012/02/01/dc-entertainment-officially-announces-%e2%80%9cbefore-watchmen%e2%80%9d/

Interviews with the Writers:
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2012/02/01/everyone%e2%80%99s-talkin%e2%80%99-about-%e2%80%9cbefore-watchmen%e2%80%9d/

This is only to be big and I figure I let you all in on this news event.  To be perfectly honest, I really didn't like the original comic by Alan Moore when I read it.  It felt overhyped and underwhelming.  However, a couple of this prequel titles got me interested and I maybe buying some of them.

So what do you think?
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« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2012, 10:20:40 AM »

This probably isn't good. Watchmen was, regardless of your opinion on it, very well crafted as a narrative. Almost every panel had some subtext to it that was often conveyed not just by dialogue, but by things like character postures, expressions, props, things in the background, etc, rather than existing simply to move the plot forward. It's still unique in the superhero genre for treating its subject matter seriously rather than making yet another power fantasy.* I think a big part of the reason why it worked was because it examined how the types of personalities who might be drawn to putting on a cape and fighting crime might actually interact, including the fact that a superhero group would likely fall apart due to ideological differences and major personality clashes (you'd probably have to be pretty full of yourself to put on a costume and make a big name for yourself to fight crime rather than to, say, become a cop).

This...probably won't be as thought-out and may need to be ignored as canon so that it won't undermine the original. But I don't know, maybe they actually will do a good job and add something new to the story. I'm just hoping that they at least stay true to the characters, since so much of who they are was revealed through subtlety that can be easy to miss if you're just reading the surface of the comic.
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« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2012, 12:40:07 PM »

This probably isn't good. Watchmen was, regardless of your opinion on it, very well crafted as a narrative. Almost every panel had some subtext to it that was often conveyed not just by dialogue, but by things like character postures, expressions, props, things in the background, etc, rather than existing simply to move the plot forward. It's still unique in the superhero genre for treating its subject matter seriously rather than making yet another power fantasy.* I think a big part of the reason why it worked was because it examined how the types of personalities who might be drawn to putting on a cape and fighting crime might actually interact, including the fact that a superhero group would likely fall apart due to ideological differences and major personality clashes (you'd probably have to be pretty full of yourself to put on a costume and make a big name for yourself to fight crime rather than to, say, become a cop).

Your probably right, but I never felt that drawn into it or even notice the subtext.  The characters mostly left me cold and frankly didn't care much to what happened to them.  I didn't care about Dr. Manhattan or his story; Ozymandias I hated, especially considering how much he felt like a Gary Stu at some points; when I found out more about the Comedian, I was completely happy he was murdered and I never changed my mind about it; I never felt Silk Spector II was ever fully fleshed out enough to care for; and with Nite Owl II, I barely remember he was even in it.  The only people I sort of liked were Rorschach (not all that much mind you) and the first Nite Owl, but he was killed off in a very unsatisfying way that really did nothing for this plot. 

I liked the mystery element to it, but once it was over, there was nothing left for me.  I wasn't really interested in the politics happening or growing tensions between the US and Soviet Union (Maybe if I was alive during that time, it would mean more to me?).  The Tales of the Black Freighter felt strangely weird and outplace in the main story, even if I do have a bit of understanding for why it is there.  Finally, the biggest problems for me with this comic is that I felt unsatsified with it, especially with the ending, and to me, it was largely forgettable.  I had to look up a couple of things just to remind myself what happened in this comic.

It's not that I don't like a complex or well written story with lots of subtext and several levels to it.  I love The Unwritten, 20th Century Boys, Monster, Sweet Tooth, and to sum extent, Phoenix.  Watchmen just does nothing for me and feels empty, like Neil Gaiman's Sandman or Blade Runner for instance. 

On the plus side, it didn't leave me angry after reading it like the MW.  That was like watching an engaging movie with deep and interesting ideas, but suddenly, a lot of the time, someone puts in scenes from The Human Centipede, Saw, and a gay porno flick to try to make a point about something.  It's shock value and overall pointlessness overrides anything of substance the piece could have.

Back to these Watchmen prequels, like I said before, some of them sound interesting to me.  Brian Azzarello and Darwyn Cooke could be just the right writers to me to make me actually care about these characters and story.
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« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2012, 11:04:04 PM »

Watchmen was a complete storyline.  Prequels are pointless in regards to the actual storyline. 

There's room for more ideas in the "realistically, what would happen if superheroes were real" sub-genre (I quite liked Super), but setting it in the Watchmen universe just makes me think it's a lazy cash-in.  So yeah, not too interested.
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« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2012, 04:19:47 PM »

I never thought Watchmen was all that great.  It had some decent moments, but it was far too slow and filled with characters I just couldn't care abut.  I never got the point of all that pirate stuff either. 

Still,there's a few problems with prequels. All prequels.

You already know how it's going to end.

Half the time they contradict something the original story said. 

They tend to flesh out things that we never needed fleshed out to begin with (did we need to know how Wolverine got his jacket?  Or that Darth Vader was a whiny teen?  Or that Micheal Myers was raised in an abusive white trash household?" 

Give than any good story has characters change and grow, a prequel starts you off with a version of a character you don't really want anyway, and you have to wait until the end of the story to get the one that the original story started with 9and had to have change and grow)

Most importantly, the backstory you've created in your mind is always better than the backstory they give you anyway. 
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« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2012, 10:20:32 PM »

And Watchmen included everybody's backstory, at least as much as we needed to see. Adding more just seems redundant, and totally beside the point.

But when has anyone ever made a successful action movie and decided to just let it be and move on? It's certainly not the norm where superhero movies are concerned, even though Watchmen is really a different kind of story.
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« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2012, 08:16:28 AM »


This one has been circling for years.  I can imagine Alan Moore isn't happy about it, but then again he's never happy with anything these days.


Frankly I fail to see the point, unless it stars the guy who dresses like a butterfly/moth.  That may be funny.

It'll probably be meh like the Doom Patrol reboot.
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« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2012, 12:12:45 PM »

Frankly I fail to see the point, unless it stars the guy who dresses like a butterfly/moth.  That may be funny.

The prequels are a bunch of series, each one focusing on a different different.  For the guy you are talking about, I think he would be in the Minutemen series.  Could explain more about why he actually went crazy.
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« Reply #8 on: February 04, 2012, 01:25:58 PM »

Watchmen was a complete storyline.  Prequels are pointless in regards to the actual storyline. 

There's room for more ideas in the "realistically, what would happen if superheroes were real" sub-genre (I quite liked Super), but setting it in the Watchmen universe just makes me think it's a lazy cash-in.  So yeah, not too interested.

 Thumbup

Spot freakin' on.
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