Comics NEWS! DC announces Watchmen sequel!! (sort of)

Here's something will definitively annoy old fans..but no doubt please the always demanding younger crowd.

They did it! DC Comics finally did it!!
They're gonna produce more WATCHMEN material!

That's right! Alan Moore timeless classic is finally getting a sequel...in the form of various prequels!!

DC Entertainment has announced that this summer they will publish all-new stories to expand on the acclaimed series. They understand that there will be some controversy with this decision but have decided to take the plunge. DC Comics will put out seven inter-connected prequel mini-series which will "build on the foundation of the original WATCHMEN." All titles will be under the BEFORE WATCHMEN banner.

Oh, my...

Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee said:

It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant. After twenty five years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original.

Getting a bit pro-active regarding this cult classic they own?

Wanting to cash-in on the success of an Alan Moore tale? Who do they think they are... Hollywood? XD

Why did all these sort of things keep happening under DiDio/Lee??

Anyways, they're not kidding around when they're talking about expanding this classic.
They have unied an all-star cast of creators to work with these characters.
And are planning quite a lot of upcoming titles, such as:

- 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

I see lots of personal favorites of mine amongst these names.
Though that doesn't make this whole idea any better honestly..

Each week, these issues will also feature a bonus back-up tale to follow.

Called "Curse of the Crimson Corsair", and written by original series editor Len Wein with art by the original series colorist John Higgins.

This seems to be the only part of this whole experience that I've been actually liking.

There will also be a single issue named BEFORE WATCHMEN: EPILOGUE, by various writers and artists as well as a another Crimson Corsair story by Wein and Higgins.

I suppose you won't heard any comment coming from Alan Moore regarding all this.
He likes to create stories and enjoy expanding them sometimes, as long as he's in complete control of all this.
(like with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Tom Strong)

Though Dave Gibbons, the original artist on WATCHMEN and its co-creator already said the following:

The original series of WATCHMEN is the complete story that Alan Moore and I wanted to tell. However, I appreciate DC's reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work. May these new additions have the success they desire.

My own opinion? Honestly I'm not liking this at the moment...
Why does everything need to get a sequel? Why all these remakes? Why all that?
Simply because some people nowadays wanna make some money out of something that isn't theirs, something with proven success, something they can "ride" alongside to see how much they'll make out of it.

Some of these comics might turn out fun. Even great perhaps. But it was greed that started it all.

Blah :/

Outcast Studios - LIVE DRAW NIGHT December 2011

http://outcaststudios.com/forums/

Hi guys!
Yesterday evening was my 4th participation in the Outcast forums all-new "Live Draw Nights" for this quarter!
(You can find all my previous blogs by either following my meme tag or checking out the following links for the LDN February 2011, LDN May 2011 & LDN September 2011)

This weekend was yet another rude sessions of sketching, sketching and even more sketching!
Like before, I tried to keep my Twitter account updated as I went along.

If you're just joining me and don't know in what this LDN art jam challenge consists, it was roughly 4 hours long of various challenge thrown at us.
It's kinda like being in a "virtual convention" with various online members of the Outcast forums, getting various different challenges every hour and having to quickly (either digitally or traditionally) draw a lot of random characters.
It's a real challenging practice.
It was fun to get all together and draw, draw, draw! Keep our senses sharp and our hand fast. A great way to work your skills if you will!

Like the previous times, we had a great time. Various characters and fun ideas during the night.
Just trying to keep up is a fun challenge in itself!~

Now, let's dig into yesterday's entries!
Hour ONE
HOUR ONE was a nice warm-up.
Simply, 10 minute/sketches coming for an hour!

We started with one of Outcasts' own creations, The Checkeredman!
Great way to get things started.

The Batwoman!
Since we only had 10 minutes for these, I decided to go the simplistic route

Le Marquis, from a French bande dessinée, from what I gather.
Never heard of the guy. Fun design though.

Dr. Manhattan.
Fun one to draw I gotta say.

Leonidas from 300, with obligatory meme, if you please!

...and that was the last one for this "HOUR".

[BREAK!! BREAK!! EVERYONE TAKE A BREAK!!]
This was the time to walk around a sec'. 10 minutes break for everyone at this point.

Hour TWO
Hour two consisted in two 30 min. sketches.
With a twist!
2 selected characters fighting random foes.

The first random subject was Blueberry & Lone Wolf (and Cub)  versus Violent Cowboys!
Was getting carried with this one..
I had this epic western scene pictured in my mind.

..and the 2nd drawing was Lobo & Judge Anderson (from Judge Dredd) against, I quote, "homicidal telekinetic Toddlers", I kid you not.

[BREAK!! BREAK!! EVERYONE TAKE A BREAK!!]

Hour THREE
HOUR THREE - It consisted in a longer 50 minutes drawing of Ghost in the Shell's main protagonist.

Motoko Kusanagi.
The idea was to either emulate this reference pic of a cosplayer or simply the character she was representing.

[BREAK!! BREAK!! EVERYONE TAKE A BREAK!!]

Hour FOUR
Fourth - and last final hour.
A drawing with a twist!
The subject was a steampunk'd version of one of the proposed characters. We had a whole hour for this one.

I decided to select the DK2 Batman & Robin, just for kicks

And that was all for this night!
Our next session will be in March, from what I gather.
All in all, it was a pretty fun challenge to keep up with :D


Why don't ya try joining in the fun for next time. (log in the outcast studios or even, try to keep up even if you don't follow these forum boards!)

Hope you enjoy these!
Until next time~

Dave Gibbons - Digital Drawing

At the wacomeurope's youtube channel there's some very neat videos of artist Dave Gibbons drawing methods.

The man himself with a fantastic funny sculpt of Rorschach from monkeywiz's blog.

I really like the guy, one of my favorite artists and a very good writer too!
He's the other half behind the Watchmen, wrote my favorite issues of the Green Lantern Corps current run and worked on the artwork and graphics of the adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky for example.

If you want to check out his instructive videos, are interested in this artist's techniques or are just curious about drawing, hit the players below~