Watchmen 2. Again.

A couple of weeks ago I put up a post about the rumours flying around the net about a Watchmen sequel or prequel or series of prequels that DC are apparently planning to announce and produce sometime next year.

Following that post, I set up a Google Alert for a couple of keywords around the subject and the links have flooded in.

Comics Alliance threw together a bunch of things they'd heard on Twitter with people mostly chiming in about how ridiculous the whole concept was - well, all except Rob Liefeld who's all for it if Dave Gibbons approves!

Topless Robot cover it as well while over at MTV Geek, Alex Zalben is positively salivating at the thought of some continuation / exploration of the Watchmen characters:

"So if we imagine that we’re not getting different events, so much as Silver Age set stories of the original Watchmen characters, why wouldn’t that be great – in the right hands, of course? We LOVE the characters in Watchmen, that’s why the book has had such a lasting and continuing aspect. Why not spend a bit more time with them on the comic book page?"

And he's not the only one. TheOptimist over at Comic Vine has put together a post where they not only say they're up for a Watchmen prequel but also a sequel as a "fully developed 12 issue mini-series detailing an entirely new saga featuring all the characters brought together once more for a new challenge." TheOptimist also challenges that issue of Alan Moore not being involved in any way and how that would affect fans' opinions:

"I'd first like to address the issue of Alan Moore. While perhaps I misread the tone of those times I encounter his commentary on the modern comics community, Alan Moore is one of those creators that I find to have the most negative attitude on the whole business. While his rationale may be supported by personal opinion and even some passionate evidence, his attitudes mirror that of a basher and a troll. Certainly this allowable, however, my appreciation for Alan's past work does not make him immune to my standard reaction to such dismissive and rude behavior, which is typically to respectfully disagree and then distance myself from that commentator in search of people looking for a more creative approach. If Alan hates the community so much, he should use his apparently omnipotent powers as the God of all things to do something about it."

Is it me or does that last sarcastic sentence not really tie up with their approach of "respectfully disagree"? TheOptimist then offers up ideas of what can be done with the characters; they're all as horrible as the ideas I threw off the top of my head in my original post.


All of the rumours and stories about the sequel / prequel have one source: Bleeding Cool which later went on to say they knew who was writing, show-running and illustrating some of the mini-series with Darwyn Cooke's name prominent among the creators they mentioned.

Amidst all the repeated and regurgitated stories that Bleeding Cool generated, a couple of items surfaced in my Google Alerts that weren't simply parroting the original story.

First, Anthony DiChiara at the examiner.com wrote that the rumours were nothing more than that and that he'd

"got the news directly from DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio, who informed me in an email that DC had no plans for a sequel to the comic book."

Annoyingly, the word "sequel" is in that quote, but not the word "prequel." I hate to be picky but it's the sort of thing that counts when trying to debunk something.

Similarly, CBR posted a short note about Darwyn Cooke being asked flat out if he was working on Watchmen 2:

"Cooke responded, succinctly, “Ah, get out, man. That’s like three years old.” 

Now if DC Comics was planning Watchmen 2, the publisher would not want the sure-fire hit to be announced as a throwaway line during an interview for an unrelated series, so Cooke easily could have been smoking out CBR News with a red herring. 

And his answer did lean toward the question being “old” news and not “no” news, so DC Comics may very well be prepping a sequel to the groundbreaking maxi-series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It just doesn’t appear that Cooke will be playing a role."

And again, that's not a categoric denial, simply dodging the question.

I think I made it clear in my original post - I don't want a Watchmen sequel / prequel or anything else, thank you very much.

What I would like is confirmation one way or the other, though it seems that may be some time coming.