I, Christopher Woerner, love the way he sounds like a comic book supervillain in that last sentence.

And now we have an answer: ZCult-FM

Alan Moore had a story to tell, he could have told it with his own characters and released it as a creator-owned work through Eclipse, First, Renegade, or any number of other publishers. But he chose to sell it to DC anyway, with the standard reversion clause that the rights would revert to him if and only if the work stopped generating revenue. Revenue that he himself, as creator, would continue to share.

If he was screwed it was by himself, for whoring out his talent. And now we're supposed to feel sorry for him?!?!? Fanboy, please.

You're talking about things in very distant hindsight.

And the feeling sorry is left for DC Comics, which apparently wants nothing new to offer.

I wouldn't say nothing new comes from Marvel or DC, just not nearly enough. 50-50 would be a good ratio of new to familiar, instead of the 95-5 we currently get from the big two. Before Watchmen is at least less used up than the ten Batman books or 14 X-Men books we get every month.

I think you're making an awfully subtle distinction.

And I honestly can't see how expectations of ownership enter into it. The reason Moore is in the position he's in is because he signed a contract that had the "as long as it stays in print DC keeps the thing," clause. A far less dirty trick than most we could site, and certainly not as shady as Marvel's back of the check fine print crap. Or Marvel/Disney's recent over-reaching counter suit against Gary Friedrich, designed purely to intimidate the entire creative community in the comics industry.

Oh no, I get that, I'm talking about now, how can someone make the decision to shun certain artists now, just for Before Watchemn, despite our knowledge that others are more deserving of a good ol' shunning? It just seems unfairly arbitrary to me.

Or as you put it much better...

Exactly. Why now, is all I'm asking. And why just the help?

As far as I'm concerned the movie adaptations of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was as bad or worse crime than Before Watchmen.

And why shun the artists and writers working on Before Watchmen, if anyone wants to protest Before Watchmen, shun DC. I mean if you are going to shun anything, wouldn't that at least be more fair? DC is the entity publishing the thing. But I agree with Gerald, I think it's because it's the easier choice.

One comic shop owner I know, he won't sell Ghost Rider books unless you special order them. Because of the how Marvel/Disney handled the whole Gary Friederich suit and counter suit. What does that actually accomplish? It's Marvel that you want to protest, if any given GR book gets canceled it won't have any effect on them at all.

Moore was actively involved in the negotiation of optioning LoEG into the LXG movie.



Look up the word "scab" as it relates to labor. That's not exactly what this is, as there was no organized strike of this project, but that's a similar idea.



Oh, indeed.



Or Nic Cage movies, since he could have fixed the whole situation with just the loose cash in his wallet.

Was he responsible for the final product? That's the crime I'm talking about.

My point is that anyone who is actively shunning the "scabs" while not actively shunning DC comics, seems to me to be taking the easy choice, making a pretty empty gesture and being a bit unfair or hypocritical.

I'm just saying you can't decide to shun the workers and NOT shun DC too.

But if you choose to shun DC AND anyone working on Before Watchmen too, it becomes a slippery slope argument, because then shouldn't it follow you should shun anyone currently working for DC comics? Aren't they complicit, how are they NOT "scabs" too? Isn't the marketing department promoting the thing?

And then it would naturally follow that you should shun anyone who ever worked for DC comics that never got screwed or never fought for things to change? But how do you know who to fairly shun at that point? Maybe some workers attempted to improve things behind the scenes? The only sure thing is DC as a corporation, decided to publish BW, so shun DC.

And if you shun DC shouldn't you shun Marvel too, they are arguably no better. And therefore anyone who works there too, etc...