More variant cover art + Storylines for Before Watchmen
In an interview with Great Britain's newspaper "The Guardian," DC Comics publisher Dan DiDio revealed some new information about the storylines of various the Before Watchmen comic books.
Artwork for two more variant covers was also released: Minutemen #1 variant (featuring Hooded Justice) and a variant cover for Comedian #1. Both covers are by artist Jim Lee.
The Comedian cover and the basic info about the storylines are behind the cut (just in case you don't want spoilers).
In the prequels, DiDio revealed, the Silk Spectre comic is a coming-of-age story about a girl in the late 60s who rebels against her mother; the Comedian's back story will take a look at "turbulent times in the government"; Nite Owl's is "almost a father and son-style story as one man hands the mantle of Nite Owl to the other"; and Dr Manhattan's a time-shifting journey through history. Rorschach's story, predictably, is "extremely violent."
The Ozymandias prequel "is basically the string that ties it all together, from his story of how he first formulates his idea of how to save the world to the moment when he decides to execute that plan," and the Minutemen miniseries will chronicle "the final days of the Minutemen and how that team really came apart." The first book in the series, Minutemen #1, is out on 6 June, with a new issue to follow each week.
DiDio is hopeful the books might just help save the struggling comics industry. "Honestly, it dates back to when we started the 'New 52' line of books and relaunched the entire DC universe. The industry we saw was fading, for several reasons, whether the strength of the product or the fact there's been so many other distractions taking people away from buying comics. We saw our sales not just in DC but across the industry starting to flag a bit and we knew we had to do something about it, take some dramatic steps in order to reinvigorate our fan base and get people excited about comics again," he said.
"Once we reintroduced our line it gave us the strength to say we should look at other things that we knew would excite the fans. When you have a product like Watchmen that is as worldwide known as it is, and the fact there are millions of copies in print, we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't go out and say, 'is there other ways we can grow new material from this?' We went out and reached the original creators and they had passed, but we still believed this was the right choice to make. And in doing so we went out with the strongest creators possible, so while you may question the decision you can't question the quality of the product and the quality of the people behind the product."
To read the entire interview with DiDio, go to:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/18/before-watchmen-dc-comics-defends-prequels
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In a second article, reviewing some of the Before Watchmen comics, ComicBookResources.com revealed the following about Minutemen #1. "The story begins with Hollis Mason writing 'Under the Hood' and he begins to tell his story when he pulls from a storage box the now iconic team picture of the Minutemen. This moment instantly connects the reader to "Watchmen" while transporting you back in time to the creation of that first super team."
CBR had this to say about Ozymandias #1: "The story clearly gives a look in to the enigmatic personality of Adrian Veidt and his early life as a child prodigy, setting him up for decades of personal success."
About Nite Owl #1, CBR said, the story depicts Daniel Dreiberg as "something of the ultimate fan boy, with the original Nite Owl Hollis Mason playing the role of father figure and mentor, depicting Dreiberg's journey from fan to hero."
Comedian #1: "Comedian is a player involved in the middle of the biggest news stories of the '60s and the cast of historical characters that make an appearance in this book reads as a Who's Who of the time. The presence of the Vietnam War hangs over every page of this book as the Comedian's role in politics and war is played out."
Source: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=38731