Now unless you’ve been living in the French Legionnaires for the past week you are aware via the internet (a series of tubes) that the Watchmen Prequel comic books have been green lit. We’ll soon have the adventures of Baby Rorschach, Nite Owl, and Silk Spectre from a variety of creators, none of whom are Dave Gibsons or Alan Moore.

There are only three aspects I want to focus on:

1) THE NUMBERS

This purely financial maneuver by DC, the comics company with the new, boring logo, may lead to some good books. With eight new titles, statistics make it hard for them all to be crap.

I’m very surprised that they had the wherewithal to re-team Brian Azzarello with Lee Bermejo from their fun graphic novel Joker onto a Rorschach book. Azzarello writes engaging crime comics full of losers, tough guys, and snappy banter…and he is the ONLY writer capable of making Rorschach, or his other title The Comedian, worth reading.

I’m THRILLED Adam Hughes will return to sequential art in Dr. Manhattan. I’m less than thrilled that J. M. Straczynski will be penning many of these new titles. Darwyn Cooke was the right guy for a Minutemen book…but let’s look at what they’ve done.

Get the team behind the grittiest crime comics to work on your gritty crime comic. Get the best post-modern, yet nostalgic, team book writer to write your nostalgic post-modern team book. Hire a big name to handle the rest and dole out art to whomever you can. I’m not saying go outside of your comfort zone, DC, I’m just asking you to show your cards a little less.

This is “Moneyball” for comics, a game DC has been playing for some time. They’ll have some hits, they’ll have some creative misses. They’ll make money…but will they burn bridges?

2) THE QUESTIONS

WHERE is Dave Gibbons? YES Alan Moore wouldn’t cross the street to piss on these books if they were on fire, but Dave has proven he is a reliable company man and a proud papa of his comic book children. He still works and has proven he’s happy to take the check…so where is he?

NO books from Dave, and no covers from Dave either? Is this Dave’s choice or DC’s?

Another question is WHAT stories are they going to bother telling? There are no loose ends from Watchmen, no threads left to follow. If the Star Wars prequels taught us ANYTHING it’s that you can’t shed more light on a subject already perfectly clear…you just wash out the contours.

Also: WHO I ask you wants a prequel to the pirate comics from Watchmen. I love pirates and I love Watchmen but even I have no real interest in Crimson Corsair, the prequel to the Tales of the Black Freighter framing sequence.

3) WATCHMEN 2, RATED R, 2014?

Every choice made by DC on this topic is clearly commercial, and publishing is one of the least profitable aspects of any modern comic book company.

The race is on…WILL DC saturate it’s own market with uninspired, watered down products before they finish filming the inevitable prequel? Does anybody want that movie? Does it matter?

Statistics are fun, and let’s try some: The original Watchmen is the Citizen Kane of comics with almost 100% approval and critical acclaim. I’m going to buy 27% of these new Watchmen books, maybe even 50%. You’ll buy some too.

BUT, if you’re willing to take a chance on eight new titles, doesn’t it make statistical sense to get 100 Bullets,  Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier, Joker, Marvel’s The Twelve, Alan Moore’s Top Ten, and Promethea, Adam Hughes’ Ghost, or any of the other proven titles from creators you’re willing to take the gamble on?

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More musings from Unkiedev, Earth’s own sidekick, can be read at unkiedev.blogspot.com

Avatar publishing has been at the top of their gruesome game with releases like Crossed, Garth Ennis’ take on the zombie genre, and Alan Moore’s Cthulhu-rape masterpiece, Neonomicon.  If that’s not enough to get your blood pumping, this weeks’ Caligula #1 by little Davey Lapham will surely do it.  It’s all the messed up good fun expected from the man who brought you my favorite comic of all time, Stray Bullets.

Also, the highly anticipated return of Godzilla to our beloved comic shelves has been realized this week by our good friends, IDW publishing.  With Eric Powell’s name attached to this book we just know its gonna be good. Just look at that beautiful gatefold cover he did for the first issue.  Grab a copy of  Godzilla #1 while you still can, I know this baby is gonna go fast.

Those two hot numbers, a new issue of Walking Dead and Kick-Ass 2 #2– what more could a Matt D ask for?

Mars rover Spirit’s tracks on its way to “Columbia Hills” in 2004

• Video: The movie may be a steaming pile of poop, but The making of Tron Legacy (or how to make Jeff Bridges 28 years younger) compiles and dissects some of the few things the filmmakers got right.

• Over the Top: Jason Aaron vs. Alan Moore

• Comic Book Resources has an exclusive preview of Daredevil Reborn #1

• Orson Scott Card has suffered a mild stroke and will not make any public appearances for the forseeable future, but is still working.  Regardless of your your opinion on his worldview, you’ve got to respect talented folk who take a lickin and keep on tickin’.

Umbrella Academy vol 02: Dallas TP

Prison Pit- Yaaaaaaaaaay!  New Johnny Ryan comics!  This time we’re served an original graphic novel from the Angry Youth Comix maestro, a hyper violent and darkly comical tale of intergalactic bloodbath as protagonist CF is thrust into the Prison Pit.  Powered by Johnny’s brilliant sense of humor (more heaping handfuls of gross blech than you can imagine, more offensive imagery than socially acceptable), this book is billed as a mishmash of influences- WWE, video games, Gary Panter’s Jimbo, and the Berserk manga.  I like to think of it as R. Crumb draws Tim Vigil’s Faust, minus the draftsmanship.  Recommended.

Buffy Season 8 Volume 5-  So I guess I’ll be seeing legions upon legions of Buffy fans this week in Forbidden Planet.  Okay then.  See ya then.

25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom- Alan Moore, he of  Lost Girls fame, contributes to this book examining centuries of smut, pornography, and filth.  Terrific.  While definitely not for all tastes, nor ages for that matter, the book posits that “the success and vibrancy of a society relates to its permissiveness in sexual matters,”and examines human history in that context.  Says Moore, “Sexually progressive cultures gave us literature, philosophy, civilization and the rest, while sexually restrictive cultures gave us the Dark Ages and the Holocaust.” It’s a pretty interesting tome, Especially if you like da nasty.

John McClane sketch from artist Stephen Thompson’s blog.

Die Hard #1- What? Come on, okay?  Die Hard’s my favorite Christmas movie and even I, on occasion, should be allowed to let go of snobbery and pretension long enough to enjoy big dumb fun.  Which brings us to this here comic book, chronicling  John McClane’s rookie tour with the NYPD in 1976.  Written by Howard Chaykin, a veteran of tough, grizzled action/crime stories, with art by Stephen Thopmson (Moonstone’s Buckaroo Banzai, Presidential Material: John McCain).

Sleeper Season Two TP-  Stop reading if you’ve heard my spiel about Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ masterpiece.  Okay, now that they’re gone, you simply MUST read Sleeper.  It contains zero moral value, and that’s fantastic. Secret agent Holden Carver is under deep, deep cover in THE underground criminal organization what’s got their hands in everything with seemingly no way out.  Why would he want to get out anyway, when evil’s so damn sexy?  It’s an amazingly well-executed story and if you have enjoyed these creators’ other series Criminal and Incognito you’ll more than dig this.

Absolute Promethea Vol. 01- One of our favorite Alan Moore books gets the gussied-up Absolute treatment from DC/Wildstorm.  There are precious few other things you can drop a hundred bucks on.  Anyone got a hundred bucks I can borrow?

Bad Dog #3- You may want to wait for the trade on this title due to its erratic schedule, but if you’re stalwart enough to jump on board or you’ve been following it all along you’ll know that Joe Kelly’s romp is one irreverent delight after another.  Best comic featuring a Werewolf bounty hunter ever.

And that’s just the tip of the bookshelf.  Have a good Wednesday, folks.

More from that Mania.com, interview where I last excerpted a bit Mr. Moore’s thoughts on the Marvelman situation.  This time, the legendary author takes DC to cause on their epic miniseries, Blackest Night.

To say the least, he’s quite cranky.  He frequently goes on tirades blaming readers, writers, artists and publishers for what he sees as an industry circling the drain. I don’t mean to paraphrase, but the amount of venom is rather astounding and honestly, quite sad for me to recount.  He even seriously doubts that the industry will be here in five years.

The final straw however was:

I think the lights are going out all over the comics industry. A lot of this is the fault of the publishers, a lot of it is the fault of the artists and writers, and I think, as you say, some of it is the fault of the readers.

The genesis of the interview was how Moore talks about Blackest Night as having been ripped wholesale from a story he did in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2, which is reprinted in DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore. The story predicted the end of the Green Lantern Corps, and well, its not a ripoff if you continue from that story, and actually expand on the eight pages.

If you’re going to call it a ripoff of a story you did, than you can probably say that about a lot of stories in comics as the stories told today came from somewhere before.  I mean, V For Vendetta had roots in 1984 and, well, not to be a jerk or anything but League of Extraordinary Gentlemen very clearly came from the works of other authors.

I’ll shut up, but Ethan van Sciver had something to say about Moore’s comments.

Source: Alan Moore Talks Blackest Night [Bleeding Cool].

The question I’ve been wanting to know with regards to  Marvelman has been answered, but with some not so great news.  Marvel will be reprinting the original Marvelman adventures written by Moore, but in completely shocking (shocking!) news he wants his name removed from the copy.

In this interview with Mania, Moore explains why he wants his name removed not just because of his troubles with Marvel, but because he wants the money to go to very old Marvelman creator Mick Anglo. I can appreciate that, and as Captain Hook would say: Good form. What’s actually constantly entertaining about this entire situation is that Marvel originally sued to have Marvelman’s name changed to Miracleman, while Moore was working on the title. Which caused Moore to vow to never work with the publisher.  He reiterates his stance in the interview:

After being initially informed by Neil’s lawyer, I had to think about it for a couple of days. I decided that while I’m very happy for this book to get published—because that means money will finally go to Marvelman’s creator, Mick Anglo, and to his wife. Mick is very, very old, and his wife, I believe, is suffering from Alzheimer’s. The actual Marvelman story is such a grim and ugly one that I would probably rather that the work was published without my name on it, and that all of the money went to Mick. The decision about my name was largely based upon my history with Marvel—my desire to really have nothing to do with them, and my increasing desire to have nothing to do with the American comics industry. I mean, they’re probably are enough books out there with my name on them to keep the comics industry afloat for a little bit longer. I left a message to that effect with Neil. I’ve since heard back from the lawyer upon another issue, and he said that he was certain that would be the case—that Marvel would accede to my request. That looks like the way it will be emerging. And, Neil will be able to finish his Marvelman story because he has a completely different relationship with Marvel than I have with them—or rather, don’t have. The main thing is that I will feel happy to know that Mick Anglo is finally getting the recompense he so richly deserves. And, I will have distanced myself from a lot of the deceit and ugliness that surrounded the relaunching of Marvelman as a character.

I think it would be good for everyone if we just forget that Mr. Moore just said that there are enough books out there with his name on them to keep the industry going for a little while longer. Yeah.

Regardless, its a really great interview on how Moore got to be involved with the project in his nascent years coming up in comics.  Considering his work on the character was seen as a launching pad for modern comic luminaries like Mark Buckingham, Alan Davis and Neil Gaiman (above, pictured with Moore).

Regardless of that statement, Moore goes on to justify his reasoning for taking his name off the project as really not at all about his hatred for the super-ironic Marvelman/Miracleman merry-go-round but to give Mick Anglo money he feels he’s owed.  Its worth a click to get the whole  story behind Moore’s involvement with the project, and his clear-eyed direction on the controversy. I just can’t wait for these volumes to come out.