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How do you write Watchmen comics without Alan Moore? Darwyn Cooke fill
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Apr 9, 2012, 6:11:38 PM4/9/12
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How do you write Watchmen comics without Alan Moore? Darwyn Cooke fills
us in
Come June, DC Comics will release Before Watchmen, a series of comic
book prequels to author Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons' classic
superhero deconstruction Watchmen.
The thing is, neither Moore nor Gibbons are involved with this project,
and Moore just happens to be outspokenly against it . This leaves
some of the comic industry's biggest heavyweights, such as Eisner
Award-winning writer/illustrator Darwyn Cooke, to tackle Before
Watchmen's scripts and art.
Cooke â€" who's gained substantial acclaim for such retro-tinged
reads as DC: The New Frontier and his graphic novel adaptations of
Richard Stark's Parker novels â€" will be on creative chores for two
Before Watchmen miniseries. He's writing and drawing the backstory of
the flamboyant World War II-era superheroes the Minutemen and scripting
the early adventures of the martial artist vigilante Silk Spectre.
io9 spoke with Cooke about crafting a project many comic fans thought
would never, ever happen. Also, check out an exclusive first look at
artist Amanda Conner's ( Power Girl, The Pro) psychedelic cover for
Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #2.
How and when did you decide to work on Before Watchmen?
Darwyn Cooke: I can remember being approached a few years back by [DC
Comics Co-Publisher] Dan DiDio. My initial response was "absolutely
not." The reason for that was simple â€" I consider Watchmen a
magnificent book, and I just didn't see doing anything that could live
up to it, especially after all of this time. Dan did his best at that
point to get me on board. He let me know he wanted me to handle the
Minutemen, but I just couldn't see it, so I passed.
When you do this stuff for a living, ideas come through your head day in
and day out. It was close to a year later, I suppose, the idea for the
Minutemen fell into my head. I sat down, plotted a treatment, and it
really got me excited. There was something there I could bring to the
party, but it didn't contradict anything Alan and David had done. It fit
perfectly into the scenario they had set up for these characters, so I
contacted Dan and told him, "Count me in."
And how did you end up writing Silk Spectre?
That was a slightly different process. I was fairly certain that my only
involvement would be with the Minutemen. Dan was very happy with where
that was heading and wanted me to look into taking on the other
characters. I really didn't want to do that. I thought I had enough on
my plate. He mentioned Nite Owl and Silk Spectre to me. When you're
dealing with a piece of work as brilliant as Watchmen, you're looking
for areas where the story wasn't focused on.
I started to think about how most of what we see of [Laurie Juspeczyk,
Silk Spectre's civilian identity] is a reflection through the eyes of
the men she's with. I started thinking about how neat it would be to
look at Laurie just as a person. And coming up against the limitations
of my abilities, I realized I couldn't pull that off myself
convincingly.
I went to Dan with my idea and I said, "I'm prepared to write this, but
only if Amanda Conner will draw it." I made Amanda a condition of [this
project] â€" that bounced it back into Dan's court, and luckily
Amanda was enthusiastic about it. She's doing the work of her life on
this book.
Your Minutemen art we've seen so far definitely evokes that 1940s-1960s
aesthetic of your other work. Could you talk about some of the design
cues that informed Minutemen?
The Minutemen's story takes place in the past. I've had a certain
amount of experience with stories like that. It's very important to be
as authentic as possible to the era in order to immerse the reader. The
world we live in has definitely crossed a threshold. I was on a panel
with Amanda last month, and I was describing a scene in which [the
character] Parker is in a phone booth. Amanda jokingly said, "What's a
phone booth?" I looked out to the audience, and I could see some of the
younger audience members trying to figure out what a phone booth is.
Most of my design cues come straight out of the era. I make sure I'm
evoking that in a seeming way, but in a stylized fashion. That entails a
lot of kooky stuff, I get right into the weeds with it. I think, "It's
1940. These guys are all in costume, but polyester wasn't invented yet
and spandex isn't available. They're wearing wool, like old hockey
jerseys. And their logos would look like old crests on felt." Once you
get into those kinds of details, it can go on forever.
Did you ever test a wool superhero costume for verisimilitude's sake?
I know a few people who are into that, but it's really not my bag. But
in terms of a character exercise, that sort of stuff is essential. One
of the challenges of The Minutemen was that they were designed to look
gaudy and â€" in a couple cases â€" a little silly. The question
was, "How do you make this look functional and real while staying inside
Dave Gibbons' design parameters?" You begin examining details like,
"Nite Owl's hoodie, that could actually be brown leather."
Each of these books have a very different creative pedigree. Were you
involved in any sort of Watch-confabulation with the other writers and
artists?
We had a summit meeting for the project. I've never been to one of these
things, but they happen all the time apparently. We all began discussing
the characters we working on, and it became clear very early on that we
were ready to tackle different angles of this world.
And while we were looking for a certain unity to the books, what we came
to is that each book's complete uniqueness is the glue that holds them
together. That's maybe the best creative reflection of the world Alan
and Dave created. I'm privy to seeing the work now, and it in no way
feels like eight event-driven books that are all locked together. It
feels like eight separate statements â€" that's what binds them
together. They do overlap and refer to each other to a degree, but not
in a story-dependent way.
This might be a stretch given Alan Moore's feelings about this
project , but did you consult either Alan or Dave when tackling
Before Watchmen?
No. But to be quite honest, there's so much transcribed conversation out
there that it's easy to tap into the creative intent. I've never met
Alan. I know he enjoyed me for a peer. I heard that once from a
dependable source, and I think that's wonderful. I have met Dave. He's
one of the true gentlemen of the business and an incredible talent. I do
know that it's silly to think this way, but I'm assuming, one way or the
other, they'll look at Minutemen. I'm just trying to do my best work and
hope they don't think it's terrible.
Before Watchmen: Minutemen is out June 6, and Before Watchmen: Silk
Spectre #1 is in stores June 13.
Contact Cyriaque Lamar:
Email the author
Comment
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We Come from the Future
Newer Stories…
watchmen 8:00 AM How do you write Watchmen comics without Alan Moore?
Darwyn Cooke fills us in
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
panel discussion 12:01 PM Calm Down, Before Watchmen Won’t Be
the End Times for Comics Creativity
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
batman 1:00 PM See Watchmen, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing
Spider-Man and The Avengers in All Their Toy Fair 2012 Glory
quote of the day 11:00 AM Alan Moore sums up everything
that’s wrong with the entertainment industry
Monday, February 13, 2012
star wars 3:25 PM The Best (And Weirdest) Science Fiction Toys from
Toy Fair 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
alan moore 9:10 AM Alan Moore announces new League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen comic, featuring the Mountains of Madness
Thursday, February 2, 2012
watchmen 2:20 PM Just how exactly did the Watchmen prequels ruin your
day?
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
watchmen 4:20 AM DC Comics unveils full list of Watchmen prequels
Thursday, January 19, 2012
dc comics 4:45 PM Behold, the new DC Comics logo
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Watchmen 2 9:35 AM Is this the Silk Spectre from Watchmen 2?
Sunday, December 25, 2011
watchmen 6:35 AM First Watchmen 2 artwork leaks (UPDATED)
Saturday, December 24, 2011
concept art 9:30 AM Fiction’s favorite doctors get their
heads stuck in Futurama’s jars
Thursday, December 1, 2011
please god no 11:48 AM We Warned You: Watchmen 2 is really
happening.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
daily 10 10:16 AM 10 Great Prison Breaks from Science Fiction and
Fantasy
Saturday, October 22, 2011
watchmen 8:30 AM Is Watchmen 2 being considered yet again?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
sci fashion 2:14 PM Britain’s Latest Superhero Fetish Looks
Like Zack Snyder’s Ultimate Fantasy
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
triviagasm 3:05 PM Science Fiction and Fantasy Characters Who Lost
Their Mystery (but Stayed Cool)
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
daily 10 10:10 AM The 10 most awesomely ludicrous ways to stop
bullets
Sunday, July 31, 2011
watchmen 8:05 AM Alan Moore’s 1985 interview about Watchmen
gave no inkling it’d be a smash hit
Monday, July 18, 2011
rant 2:00 PM Movie trailers are becoming a crashing bore
Monday, May 30, 2011
concept art 8:00 AM Victorian paper silhouettes of famous (and
infamous) scifi characters
Friday, May 6, 2011
Moore's Code 9:20 AM Comic Legend Alan Moore Teases Video Game
Project
Saturday, April 2, 2011
concept art 9:00 AM Hidden camera photos reveal the secret lives of
scifi toys
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
madscience 2:00 PM How does a homemade Rorschach mask change
color?
Friday, December 24, 2010
io9 flashback 9:00 AM 8 Superhero Movies That Broke The Mold (Please
Copy Them!)
Saturday, December 18, 2010
concept art 7:00 AM Superheroes photographed through the ages
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
disasterzone 2:50 PM The End Is Near! A collection of the greatest
end-of-the-world signs
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
found footage 5:35 PM The absolute greatest future dystopia where
liberals have won
Friday, November 12, 2010
interviews 10:41 AM The high cost of being River Tam’s stunt
double
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
actors we love 5:30 PM Why Jeffrey Combs is our ultimate avatar of
sexy weirdness
Monday, October 4, 2010
sculpture 2:10 PM Watchmen, the Space Jockey from Alien, and Stephen
Hawking à la Lego
Sunday, September 26, 2010
triviagasm 4:35 PM A brief video history of owls in science fiction
and fantasy
Thursday, September 23, 2010
chris nolan 6:22 PM Chris Nolan is meeting with a short list of
possible Superman directors
Saturday, September 18, 2010
comics 10:25 AM Grant Morrison talks Pax Americana, his "updated"
Watchmen
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
concept art 6:30 AM The lost concept art from Paul
Greengrass’ Watchmen
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
watchmen 11:49 PM Watchmen Concept Art
Saturday, September 4, 2010
concept art 9:00 AM Fictional business cards to fill your scifi
Rolodex
Thursday, July 22, 2010
comics 9:00 AM Alan Moore: DC "offered me the rights to Watchmen
back."
Friday, June 4, 2010
crazy ideas 12:30 PM Could the Avengers approach have worked for
Watchmen?
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
tabletop games 10:30 AM Inevitable, the Board Game of Insane
Supercomputers, Zombies and Sociopolitical Satire
Friday, April 16, 2010
design 12:36 PM Comic Book Classics, Re-imagined as Dime Store
Paperbacks
More Stories…
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DON'T TAZE MY GRANNY!
BEWARE OF OL' JEEZL PETE.
2012-THE YEAR OF THE ROBBY.
us in
Come June, DC Comics will release Before Watchmen, a series of comic
book prequels to author Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons' classic
superhero deconstruction Watchmen.
The thing is, neither Moore nor Gibbons are involved with this project,
and Moore just happens to be outspokenly against it . This leaves
some of the comic industry's biggest heavyweights, such as Eisner
Award-winning writer/illustrator Darwyn Cooke, to tackle Before
Watchmen's scripts and art.
Cooke â€" who's gained substantial acclaim for such retro-tinged
reads as DC: The New Frontier and his graphic novel adaptations of
Richard Stark's Parker novels â€" will be on creative chores for two
Before Watchmen miniseries. He's writing and drawing the backstory of
the flamboyant World War II-era superheroes the Minutemen and scripting
the early adventures of the martial artist vigilante Silk Spectre.
io9 spoke with Cooke about crafting a project many comic fans thought
would never, ever happen. Also, check out an exclusive first look at
artist Amanda Conner's ( Power Girl, The Pro) psychedelic cover for
Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #2.
How and when did you decide to work on Before Watchmen?
Darwyn Cooke: I can remember being approached a few years back by [DC
Comics Co-Publisher] Dan DiDio. My initial response was "absolutely
not." The reason for that was simple â€" I consider Watchmen a
magnificent book, and I just didn't see doing anything that could live
up to it, especially after all of this time. Dan did his best at that
point to get me on board. He let me know he wanted me to handle the
Minutemen, but I just couldn't see it, so I passed.
When you do this stuff for a living, ideas come through your head day in
and day out. It was close to a year later, I suppose, the idea for the
Minutemen fell into my head. I sat down, plotted a treatment, and it
really got me excited. There was something there I could bring to the
party, but it didn't contradict anything Alan and David had done. It fit
perfectly into the scenario they had set up for these characters, so I
contacted Dan and told him, "Count me in."
And how did you end up writing Silk Spectre?
That was a slightly different process. I was fairly certain that my only
involvement would be with the Minutemen. Dan was very happy with where
that was heading and wanted me to look into taking on the other
characters. I really didn't want to do that. I thought I had enough on
my plate. He mentioned Nite Owl and Silk Spectre to me. When you're
dealing with a piece of work as brilliant as Watchmen, you're looking
for areas where the story wasn't focused on.
I started to think about how most of what we see of [Laurie Juspeczyk,
Silk Spectre's civilian identity] is a reflection through the eyes of
the men she's with. I started thinking about how neat it would be to
look at Laurie just as a person. And coming up against the limitations
of my abilities, I realized I couldn't pull that off myself
convincingly.
I went to Dan with my idea and I said, "I'm prepared to write this, but
only if Amanda Conner will draw it." I made Amanda a condition of [this
project] â€" that bounced it back into Dan's court, and luckily
Amanda was enthusiastic about it. She's doing the work of her life on
this book.
Your Minutemen art we've seen so far definitely evokes that 1940s-1960s
aesthetic of your other work. Could you talk about some of the design
cues that informed Minutemen?
The Minutemen's story takes place in the past. I've had a certain
amount of experience with stories like that. It's very important to be
as authentic as possible to the era in order to immerse the reader. The
world we live in has definitely crossed a threshold. I was on a panel
with Amanda last month, and I was describing a scene in which [the
character] Parker is in a phone booth. Amanda jokingly said, "What's a
phone booth?" I looked out to the audience, and I could see some of the
younger audience members trying to figure out what a phone booth is.
Most of my design cues come straight out of the era. I make sure I'm
evoking that in a seeming way, but in a stylized fashion. That entails a
lot of kooky stuff, I get right into the weeds with it. I think, "It's
1940. These guys are all in costume, but polyester wasn't invented yet
and spandex isn't available. They're wearing wool, like old hockey
jerseys. And their logos would look like old crests on felt." Once you
get into those kinds of details, it can go on forever.
Did you ever test a wool superhero costume for verisimilitude's sake?
I know a few people who are into that, but it's really not my bag. But
in terms of a character exercise, that sort of stuff is essential. One
of the challenges of The Minutemen was that they were designed to look
gaudy and â€" in a couple cases â€" a little silly. The question
was, "How do you make this look functional and real while staying inside
Dave Gibbons' design parameters?" You begin examining details like,
"Nite Owl's hoodie, that could actually be brown leather."
Each of these books have a very different creative pedigree. Were you
involved in any sort of Watch-confabulation with the other writers and
artists?
We had a summit meeting for the project. I've never been to one of these
things, but they happen all the time apparently. We all began discussing
the characters we working on, and it became clear very early on that we
were ready to tackle different angles of this world.
And while we were looking for a certain unity to the books, what we came
to is that each book's complete uniqueness is the glue that holds them
together. That's maybe the best creative reflection of the world Alan
and Dave created. I'm privy to seeing the work now, and it in no way
feels like eight event-driven books that are all locked together. It
feels like eight separate statements â€" that's what binds them
together. They do overlap and refer to each other to a degree, but not
in a story-dependent way.
This might be a stretch given Alan Moore's feelings about this
project , but did you consult either Alan or Dave when tackling
Before Watchmen?
No. But to be quite honest, there's so much transcribed conversation out
there that it's easy to tap into the creative intent. I've never met
Alan. I know he enjoyed me for a peer. I heard that once from a
dependable source, and I think that's wonderful. I have met Dave. He's
one of the true gentlemen of the business and an incredible talent. I do
know that it's silly to think this way, but I'm assuming, one way or the
other, they'll look at Minutemen. I'm just trying to do my best work and
hope they don't think it's terrible.
Before Watchmen: Minutemen is out June 6, and Before Watchmen: Silk
Spectre #1 is in stores June 13.
Contact Cyriaque Lamar:
Email the author
Comment
Discussion Threads
Featured
All
Start a new thread
Show earlier discussions
In order to view comments on io9.com you need to enable JavaScript. If
you are using Firefox and NoScript addon, please mark io9.com as
trusted.
Follow watchmen on io9
We Come from the Future
Newer Stories…
watchmen 8:00 AM How do you write Watchmen comics without Alan Moore?
Darwyn Cooke fills us in
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
panel discussion 12:01 PM Calm Down, Before Watchmen Won’t Be
the End Times for Comics Creativity
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
batman 1:00 PM See Watchmen, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing
Spider-Man and The Avengers in All Their Toy Fair 2012 Glory
quote of the day 11:00 AM Alan Moore sums up everything
that’s wrong with the entertainment industry
Monday, February 13, 2012
star wars 3:25 PM The Best (And Weirdest) Science Fiction Toys from
Toy Fair 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
alan moore 9:10 AM Alan Moore announces new League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen comic, featuring the Mountains of Madness
Thursday, February 2, 2012
watchmen 2:20 PM Just how exactly did the Watchmen prequels ruin your
day?
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
watchmen 4:20 AM DC Comics unveils full list of Watchmen prequels
Thursday, January 19, 2012
dc comics 4:45 PM Behold, the new DC Comics logo
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Watchmen 2 9:35 AM Is this the Silk Spectre from Watchmen 2?
Sunday, December 25, 2011
watchmen 6:35 AM First Watchmen 2 artwork leaks (UPDATED)
Saturday, December 24, 2011
concept art 9:30 AM Fiction’s favorite doctors get their
heads stuck in Futurama’s jars
Thursday, December 1, 2011
please god no 11:48 AM We Warned You: Watchmen 2 is really
happening.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
daily 10 10:16 AM 10 Great Prison Breaks from Science Fiction and
Fantasy
Saturday, October 22, 2011
watchmen 8:30 AM Is Watchmen 2 being considered yet again?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
sci fashion 2:14 PM Britain’s Latest Superhero Fetish Looks
Like Zack Snyder’s Ultimate Fantasy
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
triviagasm 3:05 PM Science Fiction and Fantasy Characters Who Lost
Their Mystery (but Stayed Cool)
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
daily 10 10:10 AM The 10 most awesomely ludicrous ways to stop
bullets
Sunday, July 31, 2011
watchmen 8:05 AM Alan Moore’s 1985 interview about Watchmen
gave no inkling it’d be a smash hit
Monday, July 18, 2011
rant 2:00 PM Movie trailers are becoming a crashing bore
Monday, May 30, 2011
concept art 8:00 AM Victorian paper silhouettes of famous (and
infamous) scifi characters
Friday, May 6, 2011
Moore's Code 9:20 AM Comic Legend Alan Moore Teases Video Game
Project
Saturday, April 2, 2011
concept art 9:00 AM Hidden camera photos reveal the secret lives of
scifi toys
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
madscience 2:00 PM How does a homemade Rorschach mask change
color?
Friday, December 24, 2010
io9 flashback 9:00 AM 8 Superhero Movies That Broke The Mold (Please
Copy Them!)
Saturday, December 18, 2010
concept art 7:00 AM Superheroes photographed through the ages
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
disasterzone 2:50 PM The End Is Near! A collection of the greatest
end-of-the-world signs
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
found footage 5:35 PM The absolute greatest future dystopia where
liberals have won
Friday, November 12, 2010
interviews 10:41 AM The high cost of being River Tam’s stunt
double
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
actors we love 5:30 PM Why Jeffrey Combs is our ultimate avatar of
sexy weirdness
Monday, October 4, 2010
sculpture 2:10 PM Watchmen, the Space Jockey from Alien, and Stephen
Hawking à la Lego
Sunday, September 26, 2010
triviagasm 4:35 PM A brief video history of owls in science fiction
and fantasy
Thursday, September 23, 2010
chris nolan 6:22 PM Chris Nolan is meeting with a short list of
possible Superman directors
Saturday, September 18, 2010
comics 10:25 AM Grant Morrison talks Pax Americana, his "updated"
Watchmen
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
concept art 6:30 AM The lost concept art from Paul
Greengrass’ Watchmen
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
watchmen 11:49 PM Watchmen Concept Art
Saturday, September 4, 2010
concept art 9:00 AM Fictional business cards to fill your scifi
Rolodex
Thursday, July 22, 2010
comics 9:00 AM Alan Moore: DC "offered me the rights to Watchmen
back."
Friday, June 4, 2010
crazy ideas 12:30 PM Could the Avengers approach have worked for
Watchmen?
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
tabletop games 10:30 AM Inevitable, the Board Game of Insane
Supercomputers, Zombies and Sociopolitical Satire
Friday, April 16, 2010
design 12:36 PM Comic Book Classics, Re-imagined as Dime Store
Paperbacks
More Stories…
About
Help
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Legal
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Subscribe
Send a tip
mobileleaptop
_
/'_/)
,/_ /
/ /
/'_'/' '/'__'7,
/'/ / / /" /_\
('( ' Fuck /' ')
\ You' /
'\' _.7'
\ (
\ \
DON'T TAZE MY GRANNY!
BEWARE OF OL' JEEZL PETE.
2012-THE YEAR OF THE ROBBY.
robert
Apr 9, 2012, 7:16:04 PM4/9/12
to
Duggy
Apr 11, 2012, 5:59:58 PM4/11/12
to
===
= DUG.
===
Duggy
Apr 12, 2012, 3:24:42 AM4/12/12
to
On Apr 10, 9:16 am, robert <rjs2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> whats this crap?
Can you read?
===
= DUG.
===
> whats this crap?
Can you read?
===
= DUG.
===
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