Just when you thought DC would calm down after the backlash of their drastic logo change earlier this month, they’re here to alter more of your childhood favorites by bringing us a series of prequels to Alan Moore’s epic Watchmen series from decades ago with their Before Watchmen line of books.

Catchy name, right? That’s about the caliber of originality you can expect to see with these books, with the major saving grace being the talent that DC has gathered for the event. Here’s what they had to say.

Stepping up to the challenge is a group of the comic book industry’s most iconoclastic writers and artists – including Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS), Lee Bermejo (JOKER), Amanda Conner (POWER GIRL), Darwyn Cooke (JUSTICE LEAGUE: NEW FRONTIER), John Higgins (WATCHMEN), Adam Hughes (CATWOMAN), J.G. Jones (FINAL CRISIS), Andy Kubert (FLASHPOINT), Joe Kubert (SGT. ROCK), Jae Lee (BATMAN: JEKYLL AND HYDE), J. Michael Straczynski (SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE) and Len Wein (SWAMP THING).

BEFORE WATCHMEN includes:

• RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo
• MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke
• COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones
• DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes
• NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert
• OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee
• SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner

Continue Reading →

The Internet was abuzz last week with reports of a possible Watchmen sequel.  There was some suggestion that in the wake of DC President Paul Levitz stepping down Senior VP Dan DiDio was championing a sequel to the “unfilmable” film directed by Zak Snyder. Further, speculation had DiDio planning multiple spin-off projects based on one of DC’s most profitable comic book runs.

Adding to the confusion, and controversy, was the somewhat untimely use of art by comic book authority Wizard magazine. A portion of the picture depicted Batman laying some smack down on resident Watchmen psychopath Rorschach.

Let me say at this point I loved Watchmen. In fact, I loved it so much I never want a sequel to be made.  Thankfully, it seems, that will never happen…at least from what we’re hearing now.

Deadline.com looked into the Watchmen 2 rumor and a well placed insider stated: “There is no truth to anything related to a movie sequel. Not a chance by a long shot. With regards to the comics, well, I guess anything is possible. I’ll keep my opinion to myself as to whether it’s a smart idea to do so.”

Continue Reading →

For those of you who don’t know who Grant Morrison is you’re likely to be made aware of him soon.  The groundbreaking comic book writer behind such legendary runs on X-Men, Animal Man, and Doom Patrol is getting his own biopic, and the director of that movie, Patrick Meaney, is profiled over at Wired.

In the profile, Meaney says Morrison is about to become one of those creators that will receive mainstream recognition that only creators such as Alan Moore and Frank Miller have enjoyed.

“Most ‘civilians’ that I talk to about the project still don’t know who Grant Morrison is,” Meaney said in the interview, “but Moore is definitely a name they recognize, as is Frank Miller. I feel like we could soon be seeing a bunch of Morrison film projects in the not-too-distant future.”

Currently in-development is Morrison’s work WE3, which is a favorite among many of us Morrison fans. The story involves pets enhanced with cybernetic weaponry to become assassins who rebel against their programming and their creators. The project is currently being handled by Kung Fu Panda director John Stevenson.

Morrison’s sensibilities lends well to the screen, however, his ideas are far left of Richard Kelly-weird so I’m not sure how well they are likely to be received by the bigwigs in Hollywood, or by audience members for that matter.  But I applaud any would-be producer in developing an idea of Morrison’s, it shows a willingness to take chances and I appreciate that. But if WE3 gets a true to form adaptation for the screen, I would suspect many parent’s groups raising holy hell over it.

Continue Reading →

There is quite a bit of good stuff coming out this week, most especially is the collected edition of one of my favorite current series. Dark Horse has the collected trade of Umbrella Academy Dallas. This Eisner Award winning book written by My Chemical Romance front-man Gerard Way, and drawn by Casanova‘s own Gabriel Ba is a gem of a series.

No matter what you may think of Way’s music, his comic writing is top notch. And if you’ve read Casanova then I shouldn’t have to convince you in regards to Mr. Ba.

From DC, we have the Absolute Promethea edition, its 100 bucks, but the least I can do is turn you on to the real Comics Curmodgeon’s (Alan Moore) ground breaking work with the awesome J.H. Williams III.  We also have the Sleeper Season 2 trade paperback, which if you like Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal and Incognito series for Marvel’s Icon, this is their first meeting. Trust me, you want this.

From Marvel, we have the constantly awesome Secret Warriors, and the Shang Chi Master of Kung Fu one shot. From Boom! Studios we have Die Hard #1. I just have to check this out, as this continues the adventures of John McClane in comic book form.

Could be forgettable, could not be, but at least you’ve got to give Boom credit for trying new things like this and Philip K. Dick’s Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep. As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so leave us a comment and let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s comics.

For a more complete list of what comes out this week, check out the one at Midtown Comics.