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Each of the seven prequels being printed under the banner “Before Watchmen” will feature a different character from the bestselling graphic novel. The plan is to publish one book every week over the summer with a one-shot epilogue completing the event. The creative teams announced were as follows:

- 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

There will also be a serialized back-up from Len Wein and John Higgins titled “Curse of the Crimson Corsair” running throughout the books.

“It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee in a statement released this morning. “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.”

Watchmen writer Alan Moore

When contacted by the New York Times original series writer and creator Alan Moore called the move “completely shameless” saying it was reminder of the “draconian contracts” he signed with DC back in the 1980s. “As far as I know, there weren’t that many prequels or sequels to ‘Moby-Dick’. ”

Some people may remember  back in 2010, Alan Moore told Wired that DC offered him the rights to Watchmen if he would give his blessing on prequel and sequel projects. At the time Moore told Wired “… I don’t want Watchmen back. Certainly, I don’t want it back under those kinds of terms.”

While Alan Moore has always been adamant about not wanting other creators to touch the world of Watchmen he may not have always been against the idea of a sequel. Moore stated back in 1985 before the original series was published that if Watchmen were to do well, he and Gibbons might create a twelve issue prequel series titled “Minutemen” but that idea never come to fruition. After falling out with DC Entertainment over the ownership rights to his work Moore has since become a constant criticizer of the mainstream comic book industry as a whole.

Though also not involved in the new series, Watchmen co-creator and artist Dave Gibbons had a more positive approach. having this to say; “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.”

Rorschach Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo

After over 100 issues, William and Dane sit down and welcome writer Matt Fraction back to the show as they close out 2011. This one has it all: Casanova, Fear Itself, variant endings, the inner workings of Marvel editorial retreats and more: there’s plenty of Fraction-related-awesome for everyone.

You can stream the episode or subscribe in iTunes.

Full show notes after the break.

Between the Between the Panels: Issue #135 – Matt Fraction Interview 
Run time: 1:02:42

• Episode start
• 6:09 – Defenders
• 21:56 – Casanova
• 41:49 - Invincible Iron Man
• 48:05 – Avengers vs. X-Men
• 52:44 – For God and Country

Here’s our first interview with Matt as well as our Casanova special from earlier this year.

GQ has the entire ‘For God and Country‘ comic in case you missed it. Also, you can pre-order Mike Doughty‘s The Book of Drugs on Amazon.

Remember to join our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, and visit Instock Trades to get your copy of The Mighty Thor!

What did you think of the episode? Sound off in our comments below!

In the heat of the New 52 relaunch, we had the pleasure of sitting down with writer Sterling Gates to chat for over a hour about his work. From Hawk & Dove to Captain Victory, there’s plenty of great stories and insights into Gates’ career. Also, we discuss a little book we enjoyed called Supergirl. Don’t miss this one folks!

You can stream the episode or subscribe in iTunes.

Hit the jump for the full show notes.

Between the Panels: Issue #133 – Sterling Gates Interview
Run time: 1:28:54

• Episode start
• 1:07 – Hello and Welcome
• 24:04 – On Getting into Comics
• 41:44 – Supergirl
• 56:01 – On Characters and the New 52
• 1:13:25 – Captain Victory

Remember that time Rob Liefeid was in a Levi’s ad?

Also, if you haven’t checked out last week’s release of Captain Victory, here’s a preview.

Remember to join our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, and visit Instock Trades to get your copy of Who is Superwoman?

What did you think of the episode? Sound off in our comments below!

Is this thing still on?

I am not sure how many of you are still paying attention to us. I know it’s only been a bit over a month since we posted anything here, but it feels much longer than that. Maybe that’s because the last time we posted an episode was about three months ago, outside of this appearance on Media Junkyard from a couple of weeks ago.

It always seems that Fall has a habit of just derailing anything Dane and I try to do podcast wise. It happened to us a little bit last year, but it has been bad this year. More on that later.

So. How do you start back into the process of running a website and a podcast after you’ve had the year I’ve had? Short answer? I’m not quite sure. For now, I just have all these random thoughts in my head related to comics, music and other general things (however, I’ll just stick to comics this time around). I haven’t had the time or the venue to really sit down and talk them out. I found myself with some free time this evening and decided it would be best to write it all it, if not for anyone but myself.

Here’s some context on where I’ve been, what I’ve been doing and what’s next.

You’re still here? Okay. Here we go.

I’ve been reading a lot of 4th Letter recently. Gavok, David Brothers, and the rest of the fine folks at the site have inspired me to consider my writing style and how I approaching the running and maintaining of this site. I’m not going to transform the site in any major way, but depending on how this post is received may determine the future of some content I have been thinking about. I’m tired of copy and paste ‘journalism.’ I think that’s part of the reason I’ve been reluctant to come back and write. I started Between the Panels to do comics differently. I never had plans to be the Lester Bangs of comics, I’m not that talented enough to do that, but I did want to bring something unique to how we covered the industry.

And I feel I’ve failed in that aspect. And yet I don’t know how I would go about fixing that. But I’m not going to let that stop me.

Rick Remender‘s Uncanny X-Force is quietly having one of the best story arcs of the year. After reading a bunch of issues of X-Force for a X-Men related episode that was supposed to happen over the summer, I found myself incredibly interested in what Remender was building and jumped into the Dark Angel arc. I never expected Archangel to be such a compelling villain, but he is. Using the Age of Apocalypse world as backdrop has created some truly compelling storytelling that is creating a true sense of consequence.  I never expected to find myself so compelled by the relationship of Fantomex and Psylocke, but I’m constantly rooting for them. The arc is coming to a close soon, so grab the issues if you can still find them and check it out. Also, Jerome Opeña‘s art is darkly beautiful and fits the tone perfectly.

Over the past couple of months, I find that I keep coming back to two books over and over again. I’ve tried getting into Starman several times, but the first three omnibi sit on my shelf and taunt me. I’ve heard so many amazing things about the series that I wanted to put it away until I could give it the proper time it deserves, but life continues to get in the way. I sat down a couple of weeks ago and read through the first couple of issues and was completely drawn in. I think what I love the most about the series is how James Robinson turned Opal City into a living, breathing city. Growing up in South Carolina, I’ve never had the knowledge of what it’s like to live in a big, sprawling city like Opal and thus held this notion that my surroundings weren’t good enough. This lead into an idea that I had to leave where I was from in order to attain this ‘big city’ desire. A large portion of that has gone away with age and maturity, but I’d like to think that these first issues of Starman had a role in play in that as well. Opal isn’t Gotham or even Metropolis, but it isn’t trying to be. Opal is Opal. The people that live in that city love it and would, in the case of Ted Knight, die to defend it.

The other book is Casanova. We’ve talked a bit about Casanova on the show, but Matt Fraction‘s work on Avaritia, the third arc in the series, has impacted me in a unexpected way. Again, David Brothers has an excellent analysis on just what in the first issue works so well, but here’s a quick outline of the first two issues:

Casanova is having to go around extinguishing complete timelines in order to correct the mistakes of Newman Xeno. Since there’s no good way to find him, it’s just easier to destroy the entire timeline in order to save everyone. That works until Cass discovers the true identity of Xeno, and then is dropped in to kill him at which point it becomes personal. And here’s where Avaritia becomes personal to me:

Cornelius Quinn is dying. Of cancer.

Just a little over a month ago, my father passed way. Of cancer.

Towards the end of Avaritia I, Cass begins to truly  process and understand what’s going on around him. There’s this amazing panel were Cornelius and the rest of E.M.P.I.R.E. are discussing what to do next. The word balloons are there, but are totally empty. People are talking but Cass isn’t listening. He pulls out Sasa Lisi’s domino mask and looks at it. It’s a reminder that he’s not alone.

And that’s what I connected with. That’s the part that killed me. That’s why keep coming back to this issue. Sometimes it does feel like I’m alone, that no one has a true handle how I’m feeling, but that’s not the case. And sometimes it’s the little momentos and moments that remind me of that.

To wrap this up and bring it back to Between the Panels, Dane and I had a conversation last night about what we want Between the Panels to be. We feel that recently we’ve been playing to what the people want and not producing a podcast we want to listen to. Over the past year I’ve realized that if I’m going to do something creativity, it needs to be on my terms. Anytime a project begins to play to the masses, it historically hasn’t ended well.

Where do we go from here? Again, I don’t know, but I do know I want it to be something that I’m interested and engaged in doing. Some people may stop listening. Some people may start listening.

But at the end of the day, I know Dane and I will be making something we’re interested in doing. And frankly, that’s all that matters.

Paramount Pictures has released a shorter version of The Avengers trailer that runs in theaters after the Captain America credits. While the full trailer contains more footage from the Joss Whedon helmed superhero team-up, this teaser does give us our first chance to get a real good look at Captain America and Thor’s new costumes. We also catch quick glimses of Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner and Jeremy Renner‘s Hawkeye. So what are you waiting for? Check out the trailer and screenshots after the break!

:::SPOILER WARNING:::

The following video contains major spoilers for the ending of Captain America, proceed at your own risk.

Click here to go watch the HD version over at Yahoo! Movies

The Avengers Assembled

Chris Evans as Captain America

Chris Hemsworth as Thor

Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow

Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury

Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner

The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Josh Pence, Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, and Nestor Carbonell. The film is set to release on July 20, 2012.

After ten years of reading his adventures in comic form, I’ve been incredibly eager to see Hal Jordan’s sliver screen debut. After a long wait, Green Lantern was finally released this past Friday. Did it live up to my expectations or fall short of what I had imagined it to be? Find out after the break.

In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil’s might, Beware my power… Green Lantern’s light!

After hearing this oath, one can’t help but to feel powerful and ready to take on anything we might face. While we may never have to fight giant monsters, Hal Jordan faces a variety of challenges that require him to be without fear. Now, I’m a HUGE Green Lantern fan, but I didn’t have high hopes for the film due to the trailers and footage I had previously seen. However, I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it for what it was; a summer action movie.

The film does a great job at setting up the whole Green Lantern universe and its many characters that non-comic readers won’t know. The entire cast makes this world feel that much more alive, Ryan Reynolds was funny as Hal and Blake Lively nailed the strength of Carol Ferris.

As for the plot, I wished there was more to it. At times, you can follow it all and it makes sense, but other times it takes you out of the experience and the world of the film. For the 1 and 45 minute run time, they crammed a lot into it. Yet, while I felt they did the best they could, I think another 15 minutes of story could have helped to flesh out some of the lesser story parts. I really thought the all the CGI would bring down the movie for me, but it didn’t bother me. In fact, it actually works for Green Lantern since its such a “Star Wars” like universe.

As a fan and comic reader, I wish they had kept the film closer to comic origins. I had hoped Geoff Johns’ role as producer would have made the story more along the original origin, but this wasn’t the case. The film was left open for an obvious sequel, but this has already been talked about before the release of this film. As a movie fan, I give it a four out of five. As a comic fan, I give it a 3-and-a-half out 5. I hope they stick a little closer to the source material for the next one.

Now that you’ve read my thoughts, what did you think of Green Lantern? Sound off in our comments below.

This is it folks, the biggest comic book news since Disney bought Marvel.

Today via The Source Blog DC Comics announced it is relaunching their entire line of Superhero titles and will be the first of the “Big Two” (DC and Marvel) to publish same day releases of their digital and print comics. These changes will spin out of DC’s summer event Flashpoint ending on August 31st with only two issues being released on that date: Flashpoint #5 and the newly announced Justice League #1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. After August 31st expect an onslaught of new books as DC will continue to release fifty-two new issue #1s. As far as what this means to our rebooted characters and timelines DC Comics’ Dan DiDio was quoted as saying that the reboot would give them “…a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today’s audience.” In an industry often stagnant and stuck in its ways I for one salute DC for making a bold and daring move forward but only time will tell if this gamble will pay off.

Read the full press release and sound off in the comments after the break.

DC COMICS ANNOUNCES HISTORIC RENUMBERING OF ALL SUPERHERO TITLES AND LANDMARK DAY-AND-DATE DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION

This year, change is in the air at DC Comics.

On Wednesday, August 31st, DC Comics will launch a historic renumbering of the entire DC Universe line of comic books with 52 first issues, including the release of JUSTICE LEAGUE by NEW YORK TIMES bestselling writer and DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns and bestselling artist and DC Comics Co-Publisher Jim Lee. The publication of JUSTICE LEAGUE issue 1 will launch day-and-date digital publishing for all these ongoing titles, making DC Comics the first of the two major American publishers to release all of its superhero comic book titles digitally the same day as in print.

DC Comics will only publish two comic books on August 31st: the final issue of this summer’s comic book mini-series FLASHPOINT and the first issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE by Johns and Lee, two of the most distinguished and popular contemporary comic book creators, who will be collaborating for the first time. Together they will offer a contemporary take on the origin of the comic book industry’s premier superhero team.

In the hours, days and weeks to come, we’ll have more news about the other titles. Tomorrow, we’ll hear from Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee about this momentous occasion. Keep checking THE SOURCE for updates about the other first issues.

This year, make history with us.

You can stream the episode or subscribe in iTunes.

You can also buy a special edition art print to benefit Autism Speaks.

What did you think of the episode? Sound off in our comments.

In conjunction with the theatrical release of Thor, Between the Panels will begin selling art prints celebrating comics and comic book movies. Our first print honors the God of Thunder and a good cause with all profits going to charity.

Our Thor prints come in two variations. The first, “Brothers” featuring Thor and Loki, is our Autism Speaks variant and will go on sale this Sunday. The profits from this print will be donated to Autism Speaks. After this special variant ends its week-long sale, our regular edition “God of Thunder” Thor print will stay on sale until we sell out.

Here are the details on each:

11″ by 17″
Hand Signed & Numbered by Artist Dane Davenport
Limited Edition of only 25
$20

(In the case of the “Brothers” Autism Speaks variant,  we will stop selling it early if we sell out of our run of 25 before the week is over).

Hit the jump to see the full size prints for yourself and get ready for the hammer to drop on Sunday!