Given that WATCHMEN was basically an "Elseworlds" story of the Charlton characters, I still fail to see what the big deal is. Moore simply changed the names of the characters and told his story, telling it quite well with the collaboration of Dave Gibbons. DC told him they would give it to him only if they could no longer make money off it, and since he told the story so well they continue to make money off of it. I think the "Northampton pothead" -- to use someone else's term -- is just jealous because no one is interested in his actual original creations, just his versions of others' characters. And it shouldn't be hard to come up with ideas for decent stories on "Earth-W"; I did as soon as it came out.