Here’s a first look at Darwyn Cooke’s Minutemen prequel that is part of DC Comics controversial Watchmen spin-offs (see “DC Announces Watchmen Prequel”), which earned the ire of Watchmen co-creator Alan Moore (see “Moore Says”).  It certainly is interesting to see these characters getting a typically stylized treatment from Cooke, who is in full New Frontier mode. 

 

DC released Cooke’s panel to New Frontier for an article that is largely an interview with Moore, who continues to rail against the prequels: “My reaction is a certain degree of weary contempt. It’s gone beyond anger.  It’s almost tragically comical. It’s commerce over art.  I am proud of the work I did on Watchmen, but it’s surrounded by such a toxic cloud of memories.”

 

Judging from Cooke’s panel, which DC released to New Frontier, if nothing else, these Watchmen prequels will demonstrate the importance of the artist’s contribution to the creation of a comic book property, by showing how different the original Watchmen would have been had Alan Moore collaborated with someone other than Dave Gibbons.