Back when ‘Before Watchmen’ was first announced, the planned event was to contain seven titles and one epilogue. Despite the rabble and hoopla among fans and the industry, sales look for the prequel series seem to be doing well, so now, it looks like DC is looking to extend the event with a brand new title, but which character is left to explore?
According to Blastr, DC announced at Fan Expo in Toronto that Moloch the Mystic would be getting the ‘Before Watchmen’ treatment in a two-issue series from ‘Nite Owl’ and ‘Dr. Manhattan’ scribe J. Michael Straczynski and ‘100 Bullets’ artist Eduardo Risso. When we were first introduced to Moloch in the original ‘Watchmen’, he was a villain at the end of his rope. He was also seen in glimpses in a few of the other ‘Before Watchmen’ titles, but now he gets a whole series to himself for us to explore his life of crime before getting viciously interrogated by Rorschach or having a heart to heart with The Comedian.
In an interview with Comic Book Resources, JMS revealed that Moloch had been in the works from the beginning:
“In our early conversations, Dan [DiDio] indicated that he really wanted to explore Moloch because he’s central to the mythology of the original “Watchmen,” even though only see him at the end of his life, and the rest is just a few facts and dates tossed around in text or dialogue. He would’ve liked to have included this from the git-go, but felt that everybody was maxed out on what was already on our plates. Fortunately, I got my scripts finished, done and in before anybody else, and long before they were due, so when I was done Dan asked if I’d be willing, and of course I said yes.”
The first issue of ‘Before Watchmen: Moloch’ hits shelves on November 7th, and the second comes out December 26th.
Are you looking forward to delving more into the life of Moloch the Mystic or do you see this as DC milking this cash cow for all it’s worth? Sound off in the comment section!
