tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post762415624301930968..comments2024-03-22T19:07:21.790+00:00Comments on The Wertzone: New WATCHMEN comics on their wayAdam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-36457684112432235202012-02-06T00:52:02.575+00:002012-02-06T00:52:02.575+00:00Sure, this will probably be artistically awful - t...Sure, this will probably be artistically awful - though commercially succesful, as all the people shouting about it now will be lining up to buy the stuff anyway, as usually happens.<br /><br />But that's not the point.<br /><br />If you don't think you'll like them, don't read them. <b>Watchmen will not be affected in any way by the creation of new stories with the "same" characters</b>. No one is proposing destroying all copies of the original and replacing them with a new version written by Madonna. Morrison says that Watchmen is perfect in construction. Well, it'll carry on being perfect.Some books should "stand on their own for all time" - they can do on your bookshelf. Besides, were the people who say this now saying the same thing when Ursula Le Guin wrote a sequel to the Aeneid? When Brian Friel wrote a sequel to two of Chekov's plays? When Updike wrote a prequel to Hamlet, or when Tom Stoppard wrote a play set in the wings of Hamlet? "Paradise Lost" is another example of a derivative work set within the same world as a work that, at the time, was far more succesful. "Wide Sargasso Sea" has a similar acclaim to "Watchmen", but is "only" a prequel to Jane Eyre. Most of Shakespeare and the whole of classical literature could likewise be lambasted as derivative, and as 'spoiling' the older work it was based on.<br /><br />As for the question of whether there can be any narrative reason for these stories: of course there can be. First, a prequel can always cause a re-examination of the original work. Second, and most important, the fact that a book features a character called, say, "Ozymandias" does not mean it can't have a good plot. There's nothing about the prequel idea that means that these stories won't be good. If there is a narrative reason for each story, in its own right, then it shouldn't matter that in some literary classification of the universe another story, Watchmen, is "set after" these new stories. Each work should be judged on its own merits, for what it is. And I don't care about what Moore thinks about it, and don't see why anyone should. If he gets upset, that's a shame, but he hasn't staked out a kingdom in our language that he's the sovereign of. Frankly, I think modern attitudes toward copyright are TOO restrictive, not too permissive (and that's what that part of the argument is really about, even if it is mostly copyRIGHT only, and with no reference to legal enforcement).<br /><br />Of course, the odds are these stories won't be good, because they probably wouldn't have been good whatever they were about, and because anything that makes it easier to sell a book makes it easier for the author to take it easy. But that pragmatic consideration is entirely different from the strange moral-ontological fury that the Internet seems to want to be seen to be expressing.wastrelhttp://vacuouswastrel.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-82551946949624604902012-02-04T17:30:59.961+00:002012-02-04T17:30:59.961+00:00I can only imagine what neolithic man would have t...I can only imagine what neolithic man would have to say about this. "Ugh, this no be good."Nearly Headless Nednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-55060877167890933302012-02-04T01:26:34.945+00:002012-02-04T01:26:34.945+00:00The thing is that none of the writing will ring tr...The thing is that none of the writing will ring true and all the new information cannot reflect what Alan Moore would have thought. There are enough creative writers and artists to come up with something original.Mauricenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-41552050335574995922012-02-03T00:54:18.919+00:002012-02-03T00:54:18.919+00:00Just in case anyone had any doubt that businesses ...Just in case anyone had any doubt that businesses in the entertainment field will do ANYTHING to turn a buck in this era of retreaded ideas ad infintum.<br /><br />I've gotten to the point that the word 'prequels' automatically turns me off- no matter the property. But, on the Watchmen-<br /><br />I was actually collecting comics way back when Watchmen came out and it was truly a unique experience- It didn't take long after reading the first issue to realize that we were witnessing comic history and the anticipation each month for the next issue was insane.<br /><br />Call me a purist, but some art needs to stand on its own for all time- no prequels, no sequels- just the work as it is. I believe Watchmen is one such work.<br /><br />After all- we know how those Star Wars prequels and Jaws sequels turned, don't we?Russnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-67454031587883855162012-02-03T00:38:56.406+00:002012-02-03T00:38:56.406+00:00and the intarnet asplode.and the intarnet asplode.alabravanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-89466794814896145762012-02-02T23:48:19.547+00:002012-02-02T23:48:19.547+00:00Acclaimed comic writer Grant Morrison, who was rum...Acclaimed comic writer Grant Morrison, who was rumored to work on the project, had this to say on the subject:<br /><br />No, they asked me to do that, and I said, “Why would you want a sequel to Watchmen?” [Laughs] No, I mean, c’mon. Watchmen is actually perfect in its construction. I mean, not necessarily in other areas, obviously, but as a story it’s complete, it’s utterly circular, and there’s absolutely no need for anything else in it.<br /><br /><br />I very much agree.Kevinnoreply@blogger.com