Before Watchmen’s Len Wein: “It’s About Time.”

Len Wein, legendary comic book creator and the editor of the original Watchmen miniseries by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, was perhaps one of the most surprising additions to the Before Watchmen creative staff when the project was announced back in September. Writing not only the Before Watchmen: Ozymandias miniseries with artist Jae Lee at the drawing board, but also a Curse of the Crimson Corsair backup feature, drawn by Watchmen letterer John Higgins, he’s literally one of only two people (with Higgins) whose name will appear in the masthead of every Watchmen and Before Watchmen issue ever printed.He’s also a guy who’s almost as iconic as Moore, and who has had well-documented disagreements with Moore dating back to when the pair were working on Watchmen together (he didn’t like Moore’s ending). Bringing Wein on board to tell his story almost seemed like they were taking the Moore controversy by the horns—and while it’s likely no other creator will be as vocal and controversial as J. Michael Straczynski, Wein doesn’t mince words when it comes to the writer of the classic maxi-series.When DC approached Wein about working on Before Watchmen, the veteran writer and editor told ComicBook.com that “I said, ‘It’s about time.’ Alan had the opportunity for a quarter of a century to do some of these stories and he decided not to.”