A Republic Serial Villain: More Before Watchmen News

A hair late on this news, but DC Comics has announced the release dates for the first four issues of Before Watchmen. Minutemen by Darwyn Cooke, Silk Spectre by Cooke and Amanda Connor, Comedian by Brian Azzarello and J. G. Jones, and Nite Owl by J. Michael Straczynski, Joe Kubert and Andy Kubert will all drop on June 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th respectively… although if DC really wanted to announce that kind of decisive action, they should have gotten Dan DiDio to stand in front of a bank of flat-screens and say, “I released them thirty-five minutes ago.”

The books will be $3.99 a pop, or $4.99 for the digital combo pack if you want your childhood… shall we say affected… on your tablet, phone or computer. You can see the covers to these first four issues after the jump.

The books’ solicitations also include quotes from the respective issues to give you a hint as to what you’re in for between the covers (Although if that Comedian cover is any guide, I’m guessing terror). Let’s play: Guess Who Said What!

• “Little did we know that poor boy would lead to the end of us all.”
• “Oh sweetie, you’re too young to hate. Wait until you’re older and the world gives you a good reason. Trust me, it won’t let you down.”
• “I’m a funny guy…”
• “The hero known to the public only as Nite Owl announced his retirement today.”
• “What they’ve decided now is, ‘So, let’s change it to a regular comic that can run indefinitely and have spin-offs.’ and ‘Let’s make it as unexceptional as possible.’  Like I say, they’re doing this because they haven’t got any other choices left, evidently.”

Jesus, which book is that last quote from? That one sounds depressing, man… oh wait – that’s a quote from Alan Moore’s latest interview about the whole Before Watchmen situation!

And as usual, Alan is mellow and happy:

So, if DC want to soil themselves in public [with Before Watchmen] and kill the reputations of a number of otherwise possibly halfway-decent writers and artists, then I’m certainly not going to stop them.  And, I shall take my fun and my pleasure however it comes.

…It doesn’t seem that there is anybody capable, these days, of coming up with truly original ideas.  That was the point I was making.  Yeah, sure, they’re welcome to recycle my old ideas but they mustn’t expect me not to comment upon how lame that makes them look.

Hey, hey, hey! Alan! Your job is to write dense, interesting comics! Commenting on how lame Before Watchmen looks is our gig! A gig we’ll apparently be embarking on in just 12 short weeks.