Post 1, Before Watchmen

Hi everyone and welcome to the first of many posts on The Fortress of Geekitude!

Weekly, I will be commentating on the comic book world and its happenings. So kick back, enjoy my wit, and pick up a comic!

On to my post this week, DC Comics has decided to release a set of Watchmen prequel books titled Before Watchmen this summer.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the title, Watchmen is one of the most lauded and revered books in all of comicdom. When writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons put this title together in 1985/86, it threw the comic book world for a spin. Prior to the release of Watchmen, comics tended to stick to a structure that appealed to younger readers, avoiding any grey areas.
While they still consisted of the heroes we still know and love today, not much was done to touch on the psychological personal struggles those superheroes must have surely gone through. Watchmen changed all of that. Thanks to a great story that was influenced by the public’s tension over the Cold War, Moore and Gibbons showed that superheroes as just as fucked up as the rest of us. Nite Owl, Rorschach, Ozymandias, The Comedian, Silk Spectre, and Dr. Manhattan were taken by Moore and Gibbons and deconstructed down to their individual essences, and comic fans loved it. This book showed that the medium wasn’t just for kids and that it could be used to convey a deep and dark story for adults. Watchmen set a precedent for deeper and darker stories, and really opened the door for other creators to follow in its footsteps.

Fast forward 26 years later, and Watchmen is still loved just as much. Hell, you could even say it is a sacred cow to some fans, which is why so many folks are up in arms about DC’s decision to publish prequel books for each of the main characters and the Minutemen. Way too many people are bitching that the story has already been told; that Alan Moore’s creation should be left alone (I won’t even go into how Alan Moore actually “tweaked” characters from Charlton Comics to create Watchmen, that’s a post for another day); that Watchmen holds an untouchable spot since
it changed the industry so much. I have to go against all the naysayers on this one.

I think it is a great idea. I feel in love with the characters in Watchmen. Since each character was torn down brick by brick in front my very eyes while I was reading it, I developed a great sense of connection to them. What came with that connection was a desire to learn more about what made them tick; what did they achieve that allowed to them to even earn the title of “superhero”. There are a few snippets here and there in the original series that alludes to the background of the characters, with a few like the Comedian’s back story receiving a lot of attention. I want more than that though. I want to see Rorschach and Nite Owl taking down organized crime. I want to see more of the Comedian’s black bag exploits for the US government.

Expanding on a created universe is never a bad thing. When anyone writes a piece of fiction that is well received and as loved as Watchmen, people are naturally going to want more. I think that shows how successful a work is when people clamor for more, and Watchmen has been successful in spades.

So naysayers get off of your high horse and enjoy these stories for what they: an expansion on characters that you love enough to bitch about them getting prequel stories. Even if the prequels end up being a letdown, it will not change a thing in the copy of Watchmen sitting on your bookshelf.