COMICS: Dave Gibbons Dismisses BEFORE WATCHMEN As "Not Really Watchmen"

COMICS: Dave Gibbons Dismisses BEFORE WATCHMEN As "Not Really Watchmen"

The artist who created the original Watchmen with Alan Moore has dismissed DC's recent prequels, Zack Snyder's adaptation and just about every other spin-off as, "not canon," and, "not really Watchmen". Hit the jump for his comments in full.

By JoshWilding - Jul 28, 2012 09:07 AM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Comics
Source: Eurogamer

In a lengthy video interview with Eurogamer - which you can watch in its entirety below - artist Dave Gibbons was asked to share his thoughts on DC's Before Watchmen prequels. Also talking about his role in the Zack Snyder helmed big screen adaptation, Gibbons (who is currently working with Mark Millar on The Secret Service) dismissed that and just about every other non-Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons related piece of Watchmen media.



"It was a little bit out of my control, but they actually paid me quite a lot of money to be a consultant on it. I looked at two of the cut scenes and drew over a bit of artwork to show how I would draw it. That’s what they paid me… well, I’d be embarrassed to tell you how many thousand dollars for. But I was a distant consultant."

"I didn’t have a lot of input in it. To me anything to do with the movies – as far as I’m concerned, what Alan and I did was the Watchmen graphic novel and a couple of illustrations that came out at the same time. Everything else – the movie, the game, the [laugh] prequels – are really not canon. They’re subsidiary. They’re not really Watchmen. They’re just something different."

"So I was quite happy to say with the video game, yeah, I like that, and I don’t like that, and, that’s okay, because it wasn’t really anything that impinged on what we’d done creatively."


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comiccow6
comiccow6 - 7/28/2012, 9:43 AM
First! Yes! Okay, I get that the movies and video games aren't canon, but not the prequels? Whatever, I'm not reading them.
BarnaclePete
BarnaclePete - 7/28/2012, 9:48 AM
Then I guess all the Spider-Man comics not written by Stan Lee aren't canon either.
OrganizedChaos
OrganizedChaos - 7/28/2012, 9:50 AM
yep, this clears things up.....
BarnaclePete
BarnaclePete - 7/28/2012, 9:56 AM
I just find it funny that these guys gained success by using characters that other people created and yet when it comes to someone else using their's they get all up in arms about it. It goes both ways.
UncleJimmy
UncleJimmy - 7/28/2012, 10:02 AM
I think Alan moore knows best on this subject. he wrote a self contained story and did not want anything to do with any other developments.
Gibbons is a whore who sold out.
Watchmen as a graphic novel is GOLD. maybe be the best ever made. No one can or will come close to its legacy with these prequels and the film looking back [frick]ed up way to much stuff...
Its up to the individual reader what Is cannon I guess.
Like the original movie highlander (1985) watchmen the graphic novel is best viewed as a standalone imo, but if you want more and dont mind the lower quality of sequels/prequels they are out there and all the power to you if you enjoy them.
FoxForce5
FoxForce5 - 7/28/2012, 10:05 AM
Gibbons seemed to have a different opinion about the movie in a bunch of interviews when it was coming out.
UncleJimmy
UncleJimmy - 7/28/2012, 10:07 AM
@foxforce5
its like I always say.. people in the film industry pander to each other. if he said it sucked we wouldnt pay to see it would we :P

TheStranger
TheStranger - 7/28/2012, 10:08 AM
I am so tired of these people getting butthurt over somethin like this. Just because something is written by the original authors doesn't mean it isn't canon. There is maybe a handful of comic books still alive today that are still done by the original authors and more than likely none that have been going for 2 decades now.
VictorHugo
VictorHugo - 7/28/2012, 10:33 AM
Well, artists need to eat, books need to be sold.

Dismissing other people´s works (the folks from the movie and the prequels) is simply selfish.
VictorHugo
VictorHugo - 7/28/2012, 10:35 AM
PS: still, Watchmen is just another DC affectionated fanfiction. :P

Gromblidor
Gromblidor - 7/28/2012, 10:36 AM
I am reading the Minutemen series and I like it. Whatever Gibbons, you pastel painting fairy.
storyteller
storyteller - 7/28/2012, 10:41 AM
It's not his work and I doubt he intends to return to Watchmen so what do you want him to say?
AnditsOn1
AnditsOn1 - 7/28/2012, 10:58 AM
He is just saying everything watchmen not done by him and Alan Moore is not watchmen....arrogance?
coolguy
coolguy - 7/28/2012, 11:02 AM
I like te prequels so far and we haven't even gotten to the two I look forward to most yet.
thisguy81
thisguy81 - 7/28/2012, 11:05 AM
Anyone who thinks Alan Moore never wrote anything thinking about possible movies, shows or merchandise need to read his proposal for Twilight of the Superheroes. He opens the pitch by explaining just how much merch and spin-offs they could sell based off his one "self-contained" story, in great detail.
poop23
poop23 - 7/28/2012, 11:08 AM
I don't really blame him. I can't really consider the movie to be 100% watchmen
MrSundayMovies
MrSundayMovies - 7/28/2012, 11:23 AM
Like any addition to source materials you can choose to ignore it. AVP, Superman 3 & 4, whatever it is you can make up your own mind.
Cross
Cross - 7/28/2012, 11:36 AM
what a bastard. So he accepted the money to be a part of watchmen movie and now he is bitching like a whore. Alan moore is a huge dirty douchebag but atleast hes not a sell out like this moron. Yeah every single character in watchmen based on some other character so basically they can adapt stuff but they don't want anyone else to do the same? Selfish much. And how is zack's watchmen not watchmen enough. The guy followed it from panel to panel. Heck the movie even suffered cuz it was too accurate. Any ways this guys a douche and dc can do what ever the [frick] they want with it, if they didn't want it they should have published it themselves.
SimyJo
SimyJo - 7/28/2012, 12:01 PM
I suppose if its not really Watchmen then perhaps he wasn't due those royalties he was paid and should return them?.
Gigacrusher45
Gigacrusher45 - 7/28/2012, 12:07 PM
How is the movie not canon when it's telling the same story??? Yes I understand there's changes in the movie but I wouldn't use the phrase "not canon".
blackscienceman
blackscienceman - 7/28/2012, 12:24 PM
@darkmetal could you post marvels figures for the last couple years?? because im pretty sure with the age of the digital comic, sales for most comic book companies will be at an all time low.
DukeAcureds
DukeAcureds - 7/28/2012, 12:30 PM
Yes, Gibbons! Good one, mate!
He hates my fashion sense, every time he sees me at a con, but he's still bloody gold.
He's sai the magic word for us oldskool fanboys. It ain't canon. You can pay me any money you'd like, yes, thank you very much. But actually? I do not consider an of this canon. Brilliant.
I did actually love the movie, though. It was a love letter to the original series. Fairplay to Snyder on that score.
I didn't realise that the "prequels" were in the movie continuity, though. Not that I wll ever read them, it just struck me as strange. Is that what he meant?
DukeAcureds
DukeAcureds - 7/28/2012, 12:35 PM
barnaclepete@ The difference there is that Stan Lee considers all the oter storiescanon. I would however contest any Silver Surfer comic not written by Stan. That's different.
UncleJimmy
UncleJimmy - 7/28/2012, 12:36 PM


@XavierLehnsherr
on the surface to many the first two-thirds of the film was accurate. it really wasnt though, I dont think snyder understood many of the underlying themes in the Graphic novel and alot of the big payoffs were cut out.
the ending was way off and made the entire theme of the first half of the movie and all of the book moot.
snyder really didnt grasp it to me.

if you havent read the book run, dont walk to the comic book shop and grab it. the film is a 6-7 out of 10 at best, the book is an 11. ;)
Destroyer14
Destroyer14 - 7/28/2012, 12:42 PM
The Watchmen movie was fantastic and a definition of 'adaption.'
golden123
golden123 - 7/28/2012, 12:46 PM
@Darkmetal: Ummmm...Your chart shows that, currently, sales are higher, than they ever have been, in the four months preceding the new 52.
kamikazeturtle
kamikazeturtle - 7/28/2012, 1:14 PM
What a bitch move. He acted so supportive of the movie because they tossed a lot of cash at him and now he's changing his tune because, what, he just feels like being a pompous douche? I don't get this high and mighty dissing going on with the Watchmen world. Yes, the quality will probably never be as high, and yes, there are surely peoplr involved who just want to make money. But there are plenty doing it because they love the original material. And that's pretty damn flattering for any artist. That's what an artist should want to achieve, for people to be inspired by their work, to want to explore and know more about the world they created.
Thegoddamnbatman52
Thegoddamnbatman52 - 7/28/2012, 1:20 PM
This dude is just mad because he didn't want his work expanded apon like Moore, but they need to stop bitching and accept that they don't own watchmen and before watchmen is canon weaker they like it or not and that's what really pisses them off,
Kyos
Kyos - 7/28/2012, 1:25 PM
Had I not known Watchmen the comics I would have loved the hell out of Watchmen the movie. Sadly (luckily?) I had, and therefore must disagree with all who say it was incredibly close to the scource material. It wasn't.

I wish they had either taken far more liberties or stayed as close to the book as many folks believe they did.
REDSTORM
REDSTORM - 7/28/2012, 1:54 PM
Holy crap somebody in DC must've pissed in his oatmeal for him to change his tune completely.
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