DC on 'Before Watchmen': 'Alan Moore should have read his contract'
Published Apr 23 2012, 20:51 BST | By Hugh Armitage
DC Comics co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee have defended Before Watchmen.Speaking at the Los Angeles Festival of Books, the pair said that they would not have pushed ahead with the controversial miniseries without the proper talent involved.
© DC Comics
© DC Comics
They also said that Alan Moore should have read his Watchmen contract more carefully.
"We would not have gone forward if we didn't think the talent was available to be perfectly honest," DiDio said of the seven limited series. "That's actually one of the things that slowed us down.
"And the talent didn't want to participate unless they felt they had a key story to tell. Darwyn Cooke was one of the first people asked and he turned me down because he didn't know what to do with it. And then a year later he comes back and he knew how to make the story work. Then we're off to the races."
Lee said that the success of Watchmen outside of the usual comics readership made the prequels an irresistible opportunity to expand the publisher's business.
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The pair also addressed Watchmen creator Moore's criticism of the new project.
"This is not a situation where we have taken things from Alan," said Lee. "He signed an agreement and yet he said, 'I didn't read the contract.' I can't force him to read his contract.
"It's not as clear-cut as people want to make it seem... It's not a situation where we're using the characters and Alan's not being compensated. For everything that's been done for Watchmen from the books to the movie, money has gone his way. The right amount that he deserves based on the contract.
"So we have honoured that part of the agreement. It is something that can definitely be debated but to say that there is clearly one side that is right, I will dispute that."
Before Watchmen will launch in June.
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As I understand it, Alan Moore originally wanted to use the Charlton cast of characters but Dc said no, as they wanted to do something themselves and intergrate the two casts! So Watchmen was born! On that basis Before Watchmen was Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Phantom Lady, Question, etc! Sorry off the top of my head can't remember all the names! DC should have let it be! You can't improve on perfection no matter how much you try!
May 9th 2012 at 2:24am
Those who are going to read it will read it, those who are not will not. What's the problem here? I fall into the latter. Watchmen was good, but I can live without a prequel muddying the waters. And it's not because I'm a "Moore disciple" or whatever else people want to call it. It's because I read a good, one off limited series, that doesn't need anymore fleshing out.
And as for the contract argument, none of us have anything to do with that...So comments like "Oh Jim Lee wasn't there when that contact was signed, so he can STFU" are kind of moot. We weren't there. So what do we know about the in's and out's of it?
May 7th 2012 at 12:11pm
Buisness-wise DC are right. Morrally-wise they're on their own. The sad thing is, if they'd stayed on his good side and not taken advantage of him, imagine how many other great comics he'd have written for them (and how much revenue they'd have recieved) ie 'Twilight of the Superheroes'.
April 27th 2012 at 5:22am(+1 like)
Okay, alan Moore adapted Charlton characters, not his own. He didn't read his contract. He refused a credit and payment for the Watchmen movie. Commercially, he is his own worst enemy. He can take a moral highground, but he deprives himself of revenue, nobody is doing that to him.
April 26th 2012 at 6:20pm
I always held Todd and Jim up as great revolutionaries in comics history. When they fought for Kirby in the early 90's I was so Proud of them, they were my version of rebels fighting the good fight. Any time I talk about comics to people I talk about them, because their story is a good one and helped change things for the better in respect to artists and writers. Despite the chromium covers shenanigans.
April 26th 2012 at 9:05am