Watchmen 2?
Hang on to your fanboy knickers, there's a rumor that's all of a sudden exploded on comics blogs:
First there was the story that DC Comics Publisher and President Paul Levitz had personally prevented any Watchmen 2 projects, because, despite their differences, he believed that as this would be against Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' wishes, it would cause bery bad feeling in the creative community and would be a creatively bankrupt move.[...]
I understand now that this considered a pet project of Dan DiDio, SVP-Executive Editor. That he is determined to impress new bosses by building on DC's biggest selling comic book of all time with multiple prequel comic miniseries and spinoff ongoing projects.
So what do I think? Read on for a surprisingly detached reaction.
Here's the executive summary as I see it: DC is probably angling for any way to combat Disney's infernal ability to carve out holes in the minds of the young that conform exactly to the shapes of its properties, which now include Marvel's many titles. Marvel has cleaned up at the box office for ten years now and - most recent iterations of Batman aside - DC has basically been out of that game or faltering at it for decades. DC probably feels they need to link their comics and their films in a way that maximizes the sales potential of both if they're going to have a place in the hearts of tomorrow's consumers. They need (he said with a sour look) to synergize. The film Watchmen was not a money-printing device like DC/WB had hoped but it certainly turned a profit and therefore, by the calculus of executives, it has yet to be exhausted as a franchise.
So what do you do? You let Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons say no and then you go looking for creators who are willing to gamble their fanboy street cred - and possible pantsings around the DC offices - on a big, fat check.
Watchmen is probably my favorite comic of all time. I've read it and re-read it. I have a hardcover copy that I bought in the '90s that had, at some point or another in circumstances I'm sure I don't recall, a knife stabbed into it so that there is a gouge in the front flap and a sliver missing from every page of the first third, diminishing as one reads, which is possibly the coolest thing that can be said about any book that I own. I loved the movie for the very reason many people hated it - that it was slavishly devoted to the book, unabashed about being corny and weird - and I am fiercely protective of it. My fanboy hackles go up when someone says they didn't like it. I am totally That Guy about Watchmen, even as I struggle with its shockingly bad politics.
Try as I might, though, I have trouble getting angry about the thought of prequels and sequels and crossovers (oh my!). Disappointed? Oh yes, absolutely, perhaps even saddened. Anger, though, would suggest something like surprise and the moment that a film was under way I knew, in my heart of hearts, that Watchmen was going to be excavated, bored into and hollowed out by the demands of the business that brings me some of my favorite creative works. It's just the way life is. I'll wind up reading the books if they're made. I'll probably wait until they're in trade, but I'll read them, and when I do I'll be grateful that it took this long.
Alan Moore's head will explode but that will just signal that he's still alive and possibly aware of his surroundings.
The important thing to remember about all this, though, is that it's just a rumor. It's a tidy rumor, yes, and one that can easily be made to fit the perceived facts of the companies and properties involved, but it's just a rumor and there's basically only one website as the source. Everyone I've seen discussing this - myself included - is discussing the post on BleedingCool, not some primary source at DC or Warner Bros. Even if they never spend a penny on a Watchmen 2 project, they'll have gotten a bunch of people talking about how much they loved Watchmen. Who wants to bet DC & WB sell a few more copies of the book and the movie in the next few days? Talk is cheap, and it makes very good advertising.
Get Ready For Watchmen 2 [BleedingCool]
Klarion
Posted to Comics, editorial on 4 February 2010
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