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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
It wasn't that DC "scammed" him, it was that they had made a deal that the rights to Watchmen would revert to Moore and Dave Gibbons when it fell out of print. And this was during a time when graphic novels weren't really a thing, so that seemed like a good deal. Unfortunately, Watchmen then made graphic novels a thing by being one of the best-selling graphic novels of all time, so DC has made sure that it never falls out of print.
Of course, Moore is often one to hold grudges — he refused to work for Marvel after Marvel had threatened a lawsuit against the publisher of Marvelman. But then again, when Marvel went and bought the rights to Marvelman in order to publish Moore's Miracleman work, Moore agreed to let them publish it...as long as they didn't use his name. (He is credited only as "The Original Writer.")
Edited by alliterator on Apr 20th 2019 at 11:29:56 AM
Constantly re-releasing Limited Special Collectors Ultimate Editions of Watchmen ensures that it never goes out of print, making DC the only one to profit while Moore gets nothing.
It's one thing if it just happened to peak in sales, it's another if DC keeps making sure it never leaves the peak.
Edited by Tuckerscreator on Apr 20th 2019 at 11:51:52 AM
I mean, imagine if your book is finally being published and you only get 8% of the profits — but once the publisher is done with it, all the rights will revert back to you, so you can get 100% of the profits. And, at the time, nobody really publishes the type of book you've made, so you're sure that this thing will fall out of print in a year or two at most. But instead of that, it becomes a smash success and so never falls out of print.
I mean, yeah, Moore signed the contract himself, but nobody knew how successful it was going to be or how popular graphic novels would become. DC didn't so much scam him as exploited the loophole that was already there.
Edited by alliterator on Apr 20th 2019 at 11:55:54 AM
Moore has reason aplenty to be angry with DC and Marvel as companies (as Tucker pointed out), but I find his anger often misdirected at the artists just trying to tell their stories and get by within the system.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."Yeah. That's kinda a thing. He should be mad at DC (and apparently Marvel), but he apparently also mouths off some artists for cribbing his ideas or something. I'm not totally clear.
He's kinda a grumpy old man now.
One Strip! One Strip!Endgame won’t be the conclusion of Phase 3, instead FFH will close out Phase 3[1]
x4 I'd say plenty: he is one of the most influential comics writer to ever live, his should be studied and analyzed by everyone even remotely interested in comics.
That all said, I don't think Moore as he is now really merits that much attention.
And I don't see DC as in the wrong when it comes to Watchman, at least from a business standpoint: Moore lacked vision to assume his work wouldn't make any success, and that's all there is to it.
Should've hired a lawyer.
Edited by HailMuffins on Apr 20th 2019 at 6:48:18 AM
At the time the Watchmen contract was signed, neither Moore nor DC had any reason to expect the book would stay in print for more than a few years. Even if they could have predicted its immense popularity, at the time, a comic book staying in print for decades on end simply did not happen; it just wasn't how their publishing model was set up.
So DC didn't "scam" Moore out of the rights to Watchmen. Their contract with him was made in good faith. That a clause in the contract, coupled with changing business models and the perennial popularity of Watchmen, has allowed them to hold onto the rights for so long is, from their perspective, a happy accident.
All I'll say is that Alan Moore has no right to complain about anyone else taking from his work when one of his most famous works involved turning Harry Potter into the Columbine Antichrist and Winnie the Pooh into a man-eating rapist monster.
Sooooo bugger off.
My various fanfics.But yes, Moore criticizing people for using other people's characters is a bit hypocritical, especially since Moore wrote outright porn
featuring Dorothy, Alice, and Wendy.
Edited by alliterator on Apr 20th 2019 at 6:06:09 AM
I'm surprised more people haven't gotten Ant-Man mileage out of this line:

He's still pretty bitter huh?
I mean, even when other writers try to be respectful, he just seems to hate their stuff on principle.
One Strip! One Strip!