The other day I read through this amusing story of how comic writer Chip Zdarsky was approached to write new additional materials for Alan Moore's Watchmen series of graphic novels and how he intentionally screwed it all up. It's a farce, of course, but it's amusing and shows how revered the series is.

Turns out, much to my surprise, DC Comics actually has planned a massive new series of prequels, sequels and mini-series based around the world created from Alan Moore's vision called Before Watchmen. Moore is not involved.

WIRED has an interview with Len Wein; original editor for Watchmen and now editor for Before Watchmen, defending the new series but I don't think there is any level of rationale that will settle the nerd ire around this one. It's easily the equivalent of Episode I - III for the comic book world, minus any level of actual anticipation.

I'm letting my nerd light shine a little heavily on this one but I am a huge fan of the original series - revisiting the world it created 25 years later just feels like a cash grab. I guess nothing is sacred but it'd be nice if something as visionary and impactful as Watchmen could just be left alone to exist as visionary and impactful; not just the jumping off point for a potential mediocre empire of books. That being said, I'm likely going to buy a few out of morbid curiosity...