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by **LOLtron** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:28 pm

C2E2: Soothing Prequel Butthurt at the DC All Access: Before Watchmen Panel

DC Comicsdid their best to put a positive spin on the Watchmen prequels at their All Access panel at C2E2 today.

DC Comics held it's All Access: Before Watchmen panel today at C2E2, and they had a mission - defuse the fan outrage and anger that has been expressed on the net since the prequels were first announced. To accomplish this mighty task, the company brought out fan-favorite creators like Brian Azzarello, Lee Bermejo, Amanda Conner, Adam Hughes, Len Wein, and J. Michael Straczynski. On the not so favorite front was the great Satan of disgruntled fanboys, Dan Didio, and some other DC brass and editors including Bob Wayne, Mark Chiarello and Will Dennis.

After a brief introduction, the panel kicked off with Bob Wayne bringing a fan onstage. The fan, falling on the somewhat less than happy side about Before Watchmen, was shown some of the artwork for the comics and forced to approve in a spectacle worthy of an old-timey snake oil sales presentation. Embraced by the holy spirit, the converted fan proclaimed the artwork beautiful and his skepticism put to rest.

The panel continued to focus on the artwork, carefully avoiding the actual criticisms about the books, which never revolved around the expectation of sub par creative talent. Jae Lee's work on Ozymandias was referred to as "fine art." Adam Hughes, breaking the tone a little bit, seemed to express slight disappointment at being tasked with drawing Dr. Manhattan instead of his favorite, Nite Owl. "It wasn't a dream come true, but it is becoming really interesting," Hughes said, obvious code for "I'm slightly uncomfortable drawing massive blue penises."

J. Michael Straczynski, on the other hand, never one to shy away from controversy, was happy to blast disgruntled creator and bearded lunatic Alan Moore, pointing out Moore's own use of public domain characters to tell stories that might have offended the original creators and mixing his metaphors when he accused the warlock of standing on a "slippery slope when he uses the moral high ground." JMS went on to justify DC's exploitation of the sacred Watchmen by bringing up instances where DC has screwed other creators in even worse ways, such as Superman creators Segal and Shuster.

With the attacks out of the way, we were treated to some information on the tone of the books. According to Amanda Conner, Silk Spectre will be like a "romance comic with beatings," which this reporter must admit is likely faithful to the tone of the original story. On the other hand, Lee Bermejo promised the Rorschach comic would be like a 70s grindhouse movie, and would apparently feature porn. Running accross all the prequels will be a pirate themed backup feature called Crimson Corsair, written by Len Wein, which is sure to pack the same relevant metaphorical punch as Tales of the Black Freighter.

There was, of course, a question and answer session at the panel, but it was mostly controversy free. We did learn some tidbits of info, such as a confirmed appearance of Richard Nixon and of the aforementioned Dr. Manhattan's penis, which Adam Hughes needed to be drunk to illustrate. We were even teased with the possibility of seeing the Silk Spectre Tijuana Bible, because less is never more in the nuDCU.

Stay tuned to the Outhouse in the coming weeks for Alan Moore's eventual reply and pages and pages of fanboy bickering.

C2E2 is one of the biggest Comic Book Industry events of the year, and the largest midwest comic convention. Follow all the latest news right here on The Outhouse, and head on over to our forums to call each other names over it.

Source: CBR
Written or Contributed by: Jude Terror

http://www.theouthousers.com/index.php/news/convention-news/19047-c2e2-soothing-prequel-butthurt-at-the-dc-all-access-before-watchmen-panel.html/

by **S.F. Jude Terror** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:01 pm

None of you newtons wanna talk about Watchmen?

by **Amoebas** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:34 pm

S.F. Jude Terror wrote:None of you newtons wanna talk about Watchmen?

I'll bite...

Great creators (JG Jones excluded) and great characters = books soon to be in my collection.

by **avengingtitan** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:02 pm

So JMS's reason for it being ok is to say "Hey we've done worse to people"? WTF?

by **GHERU** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:08 pm

if I hear great things I'll get these in trade
other than that, I really don't care

by **avengingtitan** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:10 pm

GHERU wrote:if I hear great things I'll get these in trade
other than that, I really don't care

even then I dont think I'd read it. I'm not a fan of the original watchmen so this just is uninteresting to me.

by **GHERU** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:15 pm

avengingtitan wrote:even then I dont think I'd read it. I'm not a fan of the original watchmen so this just is uninteresting to me.

fair enough
despite ll the disappointments, I still try and give Azzarello the benefit of the doubt

by **avengingtitan** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:23 pm

GHERU wrote:fair enough
despite ll the disappointments, I still try and give Azzarello the benefit of the doubt

I dont. I've never been that big a fan of his. He's great in a creator owned stuff but his Batman was average and his Superman was fucking terrible. I'm sure it'll be interesting but meh I'm out.

by **sdsichero** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:54 pm

I like some of the artists involved but not that interested.

by **S.F. Jude Terror** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:18 am

avengingtitan wrote:So JMS's reason for it being ok is to say "Hey we've done worse to people"? WTF?

It was that everyone's signed a bad contract, some worse, so Moore should move on, I guess.

by **avengingtitan** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:22 am

S.F. Jude Terror wrote:It was that everyone's signed a bad contract, some worse, so Moore should move on, I guess.

I guess but thats not how it sounds.

by **guitarsmashley** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:45 am

yeah this thing is going to sell gangbusters the way a 4 car pile up needs to be seen or jude going to bob's big boy you just can't not wait for it to explode in on itself.

by **nietoperz** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 3:39 am

The issue for me, I guess, is that these are stories that didn't need telling. I have no problem with the properties being re-used and think that Moore protests too much and argues from place of intellectual dishonesty (also, people often seem to think that being a genius and/or great writer gives one some kind of automatic moral high ground, which is not the case), but I do think that this is little more than a transparent cash grab, no matter the calibre of the creators attached.

Nobody was crying out for prequels to the original story. This is all pretty pointless. But then the pseudo-moral hysteria about use of Moore's concepts is even more pointless still, though of course it's exactly what DC was hoping for in order to drive up sales.

by **Punchy** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 6:15 am

I think we should start a campaign to try and get Moore and Gibbons' new projects (League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century Part 3 and The Secret Service) to sell more than Before Watchmen. Demonstrate that what's important about Watchmen and made it a classic is not the characters but the creators.

by **Zero** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 6:23 am

Punchy wrote:I think we should start a campaign to try and get Moore and Gibbons' new projects (League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century Part 3 and The Secret Service) to sell more than Before Watchmen. Demonstrate that what's important about Watchmen and made it a classic is not the characters but the creators.

Yeah but based on recent work the creators involved in the BW clustercuss are all (JMS aside) more impressive than LOEG 3 and The SS. I'm not saying that this is going to be a modern classic but DC haven't exactly shoved Tony Daniel and Phillip Tan on these things.