DC has released a new promotional image for Before Watchmen, which features all of the major characters together.
The series will comprise 35 issues – nearly three times as many issues as the original novel – across 7 books.
6 of the books will follow individual heroes from the character driven story-world, while one is slated to cover the team as a whole. The line is expected to end with a single final issue which terminates all seven books in single-issue denouement.
There will be one issue released each week, with two-pages of a back-up dubbed Curse of the Crimson Corsair, paralleling the pirate story which backed-up the original Watchmen book.
The teams working on these books are a veritable who’s who of the comic book world, including John Higgins, from the art team of the original book, who will be producing the art for the final book, Before Watchmen: Epilogue.
The book list is thus:
- 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
Personally, I’m looking forward to this series of books, as the Watchmen world is one of the most fascinating and compelling in all of comics, and to learn more about it will be fun, if nothing else. A lot of fans will likely cry foul – and, of course, some already have – at the despoilment of their classic canon, but I always take the view that, if I don’t like the new take on it, I can always ignore it in my own personal version of the story world.
Alan Moore is a bit upset at the development of the books, but he’s a crotchety old man, so I have no trouble ignoring him also.
The first issue of Before Watchmen remains on track to hit comic store shelves this summer.
