For a medium that deals largely with the fantastic, mainstream superhero comics have often been hidebound by a number of "rules".
For years, certain tenets at both Marvel and DC seemed etched in stone. Captain America's young sidekick, Bucky, was killed in the closing days of the second world war and "only Bucky stays dead" was almost a mantra at Marvel. Superman, that great exemplar of truth, justice and the American Way, doesn't kill. Ever. And the X-Men's Wolverine always had his origin shrouded in mystery, so much so that it was taken as read that it was a story that would never be told.
But Bucky came back, as the Winter Soldier (and now looks like he's being killed again), Superman caused much philosophical debate when he did, in fact, kill an invading Parademon (raising the question of whether Superman's "life is sacrosanct" pledge only applies to humans) and Wolverine's origin was indeed revealed … Hugh Jackman would have been a few quid lighter of pocket had it not.
As those old sacred cows have all been turned into beefburgers, it's the turn of the absolutely unthinkable to happen in comics: a new series featuring the characters from the groundbreaking 1986 series Watchmen – and not written by Alan Moore.
Watchmen – Moore's and artist Dave Gibbons' vision of an alternate America populated by deeply-flawed superheroes as the world edges towards nuclear destruction – has always been a thing out there on its own. Moore even refused to have his name on Zack Snyder's big-screen adaptation. Despite most comic-book characters passing through the hands of creative teams faster than a pass-the-parcel game at a children's party, the Watchmen – Nite-Owl, the Comedian, Silk Spectre, Rorschach, Ozymandias – have been Moore's and Gibbons' alone.
Until now.
The news that DC comics – which owns the characters – is planning a series of Watchmen "prequels" was broken by Rich Johnston at his regular gossip-and-news column on the website bleedingcool.com.
Back in October, Johnston wrote: "I was told before New York Comic Con that it might be back on and that DC were drawing up a wishlist of creators for a series of Watchmen prequel comics."
Johnston followed up with several more revelations, attaching names to the project including Andy Kubert, Darwyn Cooke, John Higgins and even original artist Dave Gibbons. He says the prequels are likely to be in the form of mini-series focusing on the individual characters, before the events of Moore's Watchmen. DC Comics has, as yet, not commented on Johnston's stories.
But the fan community certainly has. For a while, "Watchmen 2" was a highly trending topic on Twitter in both the US and the UK, and the thought of a Watchmen prequel has divided readers.
On bleedingcool.com's forums, each of Johnston's posts has been greeted with a slew of comments typified by responses from "I honestly think the negative press, outrage and etc. would outweigh the potential sales" to "Well Darwyn Cooke is awesome, so I can't see why this shouldn't be".
Alan Moore, certainly, still enjoys the kind of god-like worship that would have a huge number of comics fans coming out for "Team Moore" should the bearded one decide to take on DC over the rumours. Despite not having a very weighty body of work in recent years, Moore still commands attention when he speaks out – witness the coverage of his recent riposte to fellow comics creator Frank Miller's outburst against the Occupy Wall Street protesters.
But whether that would affect sales of any proposed Watchmen prequels remains to be seen - and is doubtful. Comics fans might have long memories and be fiercely loyal, but could further adventures of the Watchmen – whether genius or car-crash – be ignored?
