DC Announces Multiple ‘Before Watchmen’ Comic Series. Finishes Taking Crap On Legendary Comic.

DC has announced their shameless pillaging of one of the finest stories ever told today with the unveiling of Before Watchmen. Pretty disgusting stuff, but fuck it shouldn’t be surprising.

Hit the jump for details and artwork.

Comics Alliance:

This morning,  DC Comics announced its  long-rumored  new  Watchmen  project, a prequel titled  Before Watchmen  that expands on the characters and world of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s seminal 1986 comic book, which was adapted into a 2009 movie. Featuring a variety of top-tier writers and artists across the comics industry, it will expand on the history of the world of  Watchmen  and of many of the book’s most popular characters.

Seven miniseries have been announced on  DC’s Source blog:

RORSCHACH (4 issues) — Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo

MINUTEMEN (6 issues) — Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke

COMEDIAN (6 issues) — Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones

DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) — Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes

NITE OWL (4 issues) — Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert

OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) — Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee

SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) — Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner

The list of talent is packed with names of some of DC’s most popular and talented creators, and original  Watchmen  editor Len Wein will not only be writing Ozymandias, but also “Curse of the Crimson Corsair,” a pirate tale that will be illustrated by Watchmen colorist and appear as a two-page backup across the various  Before Watchmen  titles.

With the exceptions of Wein and Higgins, none of the creators involved in this initiative were involved in the original production of  Watchmen. This announcement does clear up where quite a few popular creators, such as Jae Lee, J.G. Jones and Amanda Conner, have been working for the past year or so since ending other projects.

The publishing event will be capped off with Before Watchmen: Epilogue, a single issue by multiple writers and artists that will presumably bridge the gap from the prequel to the original series.
Thoughts? Reactions? A part of me wants to proclaim that you have to be suffering from a momentary consumption of Full Douche to be a creator that signs onto this. I mean, fuck JMS in general. But I really like Azzarello. Whatever. Resigned sign.