tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post4135112589245135063..comments2024-03-21T19:12:11.065-07:00Comments on Every Day Is Like Wednesday: DC DC DC DC DC DC DC DC DC DC DC DC DCCalebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-75625784042284737962013-09-16T13:27:22.727-07:002013-09-16T13:27:22.727-07:00(Personally, I think it would be awesome if everyo...(Personally, I think it would be awesome if everyone who collects a check for working on someone else's creation like Superman or whichever character donated a SIGNIFICANT amount of that money to a charity that takes care of older creators, though).Calebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-58207927166697701712013-09-16T13:25:52.359-07:002013-09-16T13:25:52.359-07:00Now, see, I just can't wrap my head around thi...<i>Now, see, I just can't wrap my head around this. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created Watchmen as employees of DC. You might as well be upset at everyone who has written Superman material since Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster were kicked off of Superman - they were also poorly treated by the company and their work has been systematically manhandled by people after them in ways that they didn't originally intend.</i><br /><br />Well, I think it's rather unfortunate if anyone justifies it (like JMS did) by saying something along the lines of, "Hey, they screwed Siegel and Shuster, too! Everyone gets screwed!" <br /><br />I think the main differences are that a) it was the 1930s vs. 2012 and I would HOPE everyone's learned a lot in 70 years and b) Watchmen was created as a singular work, a story, not a character to be exploited in an ongoing fashion. Calebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-80987835207221509792013-09-16T05:10:47.146-07:002013-09-16T05:10:47.146-07:00(I was never so angry with the creators involved a...<i> (I was never so angry with the creators involved as a group that I would ever be able to swear off all of their work forever, but I think it was and remains A-OK to call them names and harshly judge them for their willingness to work on the project exploit the characters and story—or "IP"—of Watchmen over the objections of the its co-creator. It wasn't cool and it wasn't polite and it wasn't ethical.</i><br /><br />Now, see, I just can't wrap my head around this. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created Watchmen as employees of DC. You might as well be upset at everyone who has written Superman material since Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster were kicked off of Superman - they were also poorly treated by the company and their work has been systematically manhandled by people after them in ways that they didn't originally intend.<br /><br />I reserve my ire for the folks at DC Entertainment, who were idiots in the 80s with how they treated their creators and continue to be idiots today. Seriously - they yanked Alan Moore around on licensing and tie-in money when, had they just played straight with him instead of dicking around they could have had a ton of work from Alan Moore that was both profitable and creatively interesting. They were moron beancounters then and they continue to be moron beancounters.<br /><br />That said - I personally think it's acceptable to call the creators names because doing a Watchmen book is just a horrible, horrible idea. If you think it's a good idea as a creator to crank out a derivative Watchmen story, you're an idiot. You are going to be compared to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and <i>it won't be favorably</i> no matter who you are. The ego you have to have to think you're going to be able to make your final result look like anything other than "Watchmen fanfic" in comparison to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons when they were at the top of their respective games while doing something <i>derivative</i> of them is just ... I don't know, delusional? It's a bad idea from a creative standpoint. And being critical of them from that standpoint is, I think, much more defensible than just them choosing to work on something corporate-owned where the creator was treated horribly in the first place. <br /><br />Also - the Before Watchmen books are universally terrible. I checked them out of the library recently to see if perhaps they might have done something with them and they didn't. Some of them are gorgeous to look at if you just flip through the books, but the stories are all just uninspired and the artwork, while beautiful in spots, doesn't come close to the mastery of storytelling that Gibbons had when he and Moore created Watchmen. To be honest many of them came off as "Watchmen fanfic". It's a total waste of effort for these creators, most of whom have done much better work in other places. But they probably earned a lot of money and goodwill from DC by doing it despite the fan outrage, so there's that.Jerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10060430253113856206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-9503852541604939072013-09-14T06:39:19.070-07:002013-09-14T06:39:19.070-07:00A few users at Comic vine also pointed out that DC...A few users at Comic vine also pointed out that DC hates marriage, these days. I was relieved, because it means that at least Didio`s not homophobic, above all things. Aki Alaraatikkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11432612143247843259noreply@blogger.com