Moore stated in 1985 that if the
Watchmen limited series was well-received, he and Gibbons would possibly create a 12-issue prequel series called
Minutemen featuring the 1940s superhero group from the story. DC offered Moore and Gibbons chances to publish prequels to the series, such as ''Rorschach's Journal
or The Comedian's Vietnam War Diary'', as well as hinting at the possibility of other authors using the same universe. Tales of the Comedian's Vietnam War experiences were floated because ''
The 'Nam was popular at the time, while another suggestion was, according to Gibbons, for a "Nite Owl/Rorschach team" (in the manner of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), and also in the sense that the original Charlton characters Blue Beetle and The Question had worked together as a team from time-to-time). Neither man felt the stories would have gone anywhere, with Moore particularly adamant that DC not go forward with stories by other individuals. Gibbons was more attracted to the idea of a Minutemen'' series, because it would have "[paid] homage to the simplicity and unsophisticated nature of Golden Age comic books—with the added dramatic interest that it would be a story whose conclusion is already known. It would be, perhaps, interesting to see how we got to the conclusion." In 2010, Moore told
Wired that DC offered him the rights to
Watchmen back earlier that week, if he would agree to prequel and sequel projects. Moore said that "if they said that 10 years ago, when I asked them for that, then yeah it might have worked ... But these days I don't want
Watchmen back. Certainly, I don't want it back under those kinds of terms." DC Comics co-publishers
Dan DiDio and
Jim Lee responded, "DC Comics would only revisit these iconic characters if the creative vision of any proposed new stories matched the quality set by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons nearly 25 years ago, and our first discussion on any of this would naturally be with the creators themselves." Following months of rumors about a potential
Watchmen follow-up project, in February 2012, DC announced seven prequel limited series under the "Before Watchmen" banner:
Rorschach,
Minutemen,
Dr. Manhattan,
Comedian,
Silk Spectre,
Nite Owl, and
Ozymandias. The books were written by
J. Michael Straczynski,
Brian Azzarello,
Darwyn Cooke, and
Len Wein, and drawn by
Lee Bermejo,
J. G. Jones,
Adam Hughes,
Andy Kubert,
Joe Kubert, and
Amanda Conner. Every issue featured a two-page installment of the backup series "Curse of the Crimson Corsair" written by Len Wein and drawn by original
Watchmen colorist
John Higgins. The backup was inspired by the
Tales of the Black Freighter story within a story from the original
Watchmen. A
Before Watchmen: Epilogue one-shot was announced but never published. Gibbons stated, Moore criticized the project, calling it "completely shameless", and stated he was not interested in monetary compensation, but rather “What I want is for this not to happen.” Moore elaborated, ==Titles==