Alan Moore calls Before Watchmen "desperate" and "tragically comical"

Today in a long interview posted on Fastcocreate.com Watchmen creator Alan Moore further elaborated on his opinions of DC Comics' announced Before Watchmen project, a series of miniseries prequels focusing on the origins of the characters from the original graphic novel series. He elaborates on several of his comments that were given by him following last month's announcement. Says Moore:

“My reaction [to the prequels] is a certain degree of weary contempt,” says Moore. “It’s gone beyond anger. It’s almost tragically comical. It’s commerce over art. I’m proud of the work I did on Watchmen, but it’s surrounded by such a toxic cloud of memories. I wish I didn’t have to go through them. I don’t even have a copy of the book in the house.”

There has been a long and very public feud between Moore and DC Comics in regards to Watchmen and most of his other published work for that company. According to Moore this new project is just further proof of their disagreements and a reminder of the 'bad' contract he signed with DC to publish Watchmen.

“It seems a bit desperate to go after a book famous for its artistic integrity. It’s a finite series. Watchmen was said to actually provide an alternative to the superhero story as an endless soap opera. To turn that into just another superhero comic that goes on forever demonstrates exactly why I feel the way I do about the comics industry. It’s mostly about franchises. Comic shops these days barely sell comics. It’s mostly spin-offs and toys."

Moore even hints at taking his opinions to the next level with what would in all cases be one of the most high profile comic book creator's rights lawsuit of all time.

“I thought about it for a while--I could perhaps sue, although I suspect DC would be very comfortable with that. They have a whole battery of lawyers who could continue to fight this case for decades. And it’s not like I’m after money. It’s always been about the dignity and integrity of the work. I just want them not to do something. There’s no point in wasting resources for decades, when effectively, if there’s a legal case, I’d be prohibited from speaking about it, which DC is more worried about.”

Moore goes on in the interview discussing the current state of affairs in comic publishing, the tactics DC has used to previously gain his approval for the Before Watchmen project and more.

To read the full interview with Alan Moore please click THIS LINK. 

The Minutemen by Darwyn Cooke