"Before Watchmen"

No, no, no, no, no. Did I mention that I think this is a terrible idea?

Earlier this week DC announced that they would be issuing a Watchmen prequel; Not just one prequel, but seven in all, each in their own mini-series format.

I'll be the first to admit that when I fall in love with a franchise, I often yearn for more content about the characters and universe in general relating to that franchise. I'll also admit that I love the Watchmen graphic novel and think of it as one of if not the greatest graphic novels ever published.

One of the key reasons for that though, is that we get a taste of the characters backgrounds, then we are thrown into this universe head first, get the story that the great Alan Moore intended us to get and then its over.

There is no more, and it was planned that way from the beginning. Not to mention that doing sequels or prequels as these are should have been done in a timely manner after the original series, which ended in the late 1980's.

I wouldn't have even been totally against this, OK yes I would have, had they done a few of these prior to the release of the film a few years ago, at least then it wouldn't have appeared to be what it blatantly is. A flat out money grab.

I haven't seen who will be working on any of these mini-series, but I do know that it sure as hell won't be Alan Moore since he has had a falling out with DC years ago, and without him, I won't even bother to check these out of the library. This is just a travesty in the making, hopefully the men in charge at DC wake up and see that they are potentially damaging the legacy of some of their best work, and for what? A few dollars, it's not worth it.