Alan Moore -The Legend, The Myth pt 2 of 2

(for the first part of this article, click this link)

Opinion (conclusion)

Constantine movie poster

When Alan Moore began voicing his views on the Watchmen movie, comic books fans like myself were divided. Fans buy into the characters and heroes in comic books. They become our escape. And like Moore, some of us don't want to see the comic books become 'harmed' by those who want to cash in on these characters being 'cheapened' by film versions - despite how loyal (or not) the directors are to the comic books themselves, or not. By that I mean that their representation in other forms may take away their value to us. And sometimes their adaptation isn't as loyal to the comic books. Constantine is an excellent example of when something can go so wrong. I am not saying that the movie itself was bad, I loved it, but that it cheapened its comparitive-value to the comic series. Over the past two and a half years, as I began to think of comic books as a creator/writer/illustrator, and not just a fan or collector, I started to see the holes in what Alan Moore as a legendary creator/writer had been pointing out about his creations being portrayed in other mediums. 


A lot of fans and industry people have been asking over the years, 'Should Moore be allowed to expect others to treat his creations, including Watchmen, preciously when he hasn't shown the same in regards to others in his writings? 

Hellblazer #41 Garth Ennis -writer, Will Simpson -artist  

To answer that question we all need to take a step back and look at all the documents, interviews and articles of other creators in the Comic Industry who have had similar treatment. I believe that Moore as creator of the series has every right to voice his disapproval. Because at the end of the day he has put his heart and soul into the work (Have a look at this article about Superman's creators: Siegel & Shuster). Alan has had a hard time over the past decade or so with his creations cheapened by the industry, according to him, (paraphrasing here), via movies and now a series of comics based on his characters and written by others in the industry. Which all makes me wonder if they have any respect for Moore, else they would have kept their hands off Watchmen altogether, given how adamant he's has been against it. After all, these are some of the same folk, who not so long ago were siding with Jack Kirby against Marvel Comics over his treatment. 

But, its comes down to working in the industry. At the en of the day you have a boss who tells you to do what they want done and feelings and respect aren't taken into consideration. Of course most of us fans agree with DC by buying up large quantities of them. Because if we wanted to send a message on how we felt about DC and Alan Moore getting his rights to Watchmen back, all we would have had to do was not buy Before Watchmen. But like the creative teams behind Before Watchmen, we are caught in a Catch-22 scenario.

"Before Watchmen: The Minutemen", Darwyn Cooke (writer/artist)

Now, since the Before Watchmen books are making big money for DC and we as fans and collectors are enforcing DC's continual blatant disregard for Moore's Watchmen, I think DC should at least at this time consider handing over the rights to Watchmen back to Moore. Its the decent think to do, since they have been milking this cash cow for decades and will obviously be be doing the same for Before Watchmen in the decades to come.

All that said, I think these stories that have writers, artists and others that are some of the most talented in the industry, have a lot to live up to when it comes to the original material. Watchmen is, and most likely forever will be the #1 selling graphic novel in the world. 

From 'Watchmen' by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

I started writing this article with a "who cares what Alan Moore thinks" attitude, but after reading various articles and interviews I have come to the conclusion that Moore deserves to have the rights back to his works and that he should be treated with respect in regards to Watchmen and anything he may have parodied or written should not come into the argument. And I am sure everyone in the industry would feel the same if they stepped back for a moment. That being said I have the Before Watchmen series on order, after all I am a comic collector, seller and a comic fan. 

Here's hoping that DC lets Moore get back the rights to the Watchmen. 

(ARU), Aruneshwar has a Bachelors Degree in Digital Media -Digital Film-making. He took a semester of Multimedia earlier last year which kind of set him up for comictrade.co.nz, a New Zealand  online comic store. On the creative side, Aru is writing and illustrating a graphic novel about the 30yrs of Institutionalised Slavery of Indians in Fiji from 1885 -1915. He is a prolific script writer and writes in all comicbook genres which include several graphic novels for his own company,Rising Sun Comics. Aru also uploads a digital comic series on Facebook called, Zero as well as completing his first crime-noir graphic novel, The Circle. He is also trying to finishing off coloring and lettering a superhero comic book mini-series he co-created with Mike Burbeck called, Incredi-Girl.