Now that the news of a Watchmen prequel has broken, i’ve seen arguments and counterarguments regarding DC’s decision to create new stories in the Watchmen universe. Most of the arguments for the decision, are mostly towards the “DC has the right to make money off their characters”, and the counter arguments are “Yes they do, but it’s a dick move towards Alan Moore.” Alan Moore, has also made the argument, that one shouldn’t try to make a sequel to Moby Dick, while he himself has made a whole career out of using other people’s characters.
I feel like most of these arguments miss the larger picture. In a way, i think even Alan Moore misses the larger picture. Disregarding the fact, of self-declaring your work as comparable to classic literature, which i find to be a bit arrogant, there is nothing ethically wrong to repurposing classic art to make modern art. In fact, the entire concept of works falling into the public domain, is to encourage the creation of and revitalize our cultural understanding through new arts, music, and literature. My disagreement with both sides of the pro and anti-Watchmen prequel groups, is that as a society, we are losing our ability to enjoy and accept anything new.
Alan Moore, when stating we shouldn’t make prequels or sequels to Moby Dick, i think really means, we shouldn’t make shameless attempts to capitalize on a classic without adding sufficiently to the source material to allow it to stand on it’s own. In a Forbes article, they cite how the Watchmen characters themselves were based on Charlton comics properties. But that comparison ignores the vast separation that was created between the two, when Watchmen was written and drawn and became such a pillar of the comics literacy. Dr.Manhattan does not stand next to Captain Atom as an equal. This is not denigrating to Captain Atom, his character has continued in a wholly different form in the DC universe. Dr.Manhattan could not exist without the creation of Captain Atom, but Captain Atom could not exist without the creation of countless other heroes, and the concept of the hero could not exist unless each generation repurposed their previous generation’s stories.
What is a sad state of affairs now, is our providers of art and story are multimillion dollar companies are strip mining our own current cultural landscape. We are not creating something new from the past, but are now living in a sort of soylent green of pop culture. And sadder still, that Artists/Writers/Creators will defend the business decisions of a company over ethical decisions or artistic decisions. Business is business, and its mercenary nature will eventually consume itself allowing other businesses to thrive off its carcass and continue. There’s a reason Captain Marvel is now Shazam, and it’s pretty sad. Do i defend DC for making a dumb decision to rename one of their heroes, that most likely only a few people even care is named Captain Marvel, for the sake of making it easier for WB to make a license farm of DC? No, i don’t defend them, i don’thave to.There are making millions of dollars off their properties, they don’t need me as a creator to rise to their defense. As a creator myself, its up to me to retain my ethical and artistic values, and that is the crux of the argument. If i defend DC, i am saying that my future generations culture can be sold off right now, and it most definitely has a price. If i defend Alan Moore, i’m being intellectually dishonest by pretending to think that Alan Moore is a singular genius creating his works in a vacuum. Neither are correct.
We have come so far as a culture, created the internet to connect almost all of the world’s knowledge to everyone on the planet, and have hit a wall. We are overwhelmed by our past, by our accomplishments, by thecollectivegenius of all our generations, that we look at ourselves and sit limp-dicked with a computer screen before us. Not even capable of seeing the nuanced distinction that one cannot debate facing in different directions. One can’t defend business, when the other person is talking artistic vision. One can’t cry out for Justice, when the other is crying out for Profits. Both sides have their needs. But the corporate machine will need too much, until it needs too much. But your children will need you, and your stories, and a world where Watchmen 2, or Watchmen .5 or the “MEN WHO WATCHED” exists in such a form to be unrecognizable to Alan Moore, to be unrecognizable to Charlton Comics.
I would love there to be a Watchmen 2, but i would love for it to change who i am, how i think, how i love and hate, the same way as Watchmen did for me. The same way Moby Dick did for others, and the same way a star in the sky did for a lonely group of cavemen millenia ago.
