Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: Alan Moore, Watchmen

Alan Moore's Ten-Year-Old Thoughts On Comics Goes Viral, Again

Ten years ago, Alan Moore was stopped on the red carpet at Fright Fest, which was to show three of his Show Pieces films with Mitch Jenkins.

Ten years ago, Alan Moore was stopped on the red carpet at Fright Fest, which was to show three of his five Show Pieces films with Mitch Jenkins. And the interviewer, Russell Nelson, asked him about comics, Watchmen, superheroes, graphic novels and the like. And Alan Moore says what he usually says when asked such things.

"If you remember, in the 80s, there were tons and tons of headlines just saying Bam! Sock! Pow! Comics have grown up! And, like, they hadn't. There were about three or four halfway decent comic books and the rest of it was still the same juvenile rubbish that had been produced for the last 40 or 50 years. What the comic boom of the 80s did was grant a license to a lot of people not to have to actually grow up. By calling them graphic novels, which was a term that I hated, because they're not particularly graphic, and they're certainly not novels, usually they're 12 issues of She-Hulk stapled together. That is not a novel. What I think happened was that a lot of people, who were just interested in the adventures of Green Lantern, even though they were 35 or 40. Having Watchmen gave them away saying, oh, I'm not emotionally retarded, I am reading… this is a graphic novel that is for adults, no, it's not. It's the same comics that you've been reading for ages. I would feel happier about it if graphic novel actually meant something more than it does at the moment, which is big expensive comic and that's pretty much all it means."

This clip (the longer and even more entertaining version can be found here) went viral on Twitter/X over the last couple of days. And the responses have been interesting, as always. Though it's also enlightening to read what his daughter Leah Moore wrote in 2019, five years after that video was filmed.

Rob Liefeld: "Here for all the mindless rubbish Alan!! "

Rian Hughes: Alan Moore is right in that the much-heralded '90s "adult comic" boom turned out to be an extended adolescence, with all the downsides that implies.

Andy W. Clift: Alan Moore. One of the greatest writers of our time. Has more than earned the right to say what he likes about superhero comics. Just as you have the right to disagree with him. Case closed.

Travis Gibb: ohhhhhh Alan Moore. I love that you are never wrong and you are never right. You have found this amazing wizard-like balance of being wrong and right at the same time and its is the most charming thing in the world. LONG LIVE THAT TALENTED SOB!!!

Marc Laming: Alan Moore is quite clearly right, you just don't like what he's saying…

Spider-Nerd: I really can't blame Alan Moore for thinking the way he does simply because if what happened to him and Gibbons with Watchmen happened with me, I'd think the exact same way

Zayd Kirmani: Alan Moore wakes up super early just so he can get extra time to be a hater. It's so ironic watching this man lampoon the art that brought him out of poverty. Not to mention highly ironic coming from a guy who believes he's a warlock and can speak to one of his characters.

Ben Schwartz:  "much as i love his superhero comics, alan moore knows that "love and rockets," "eightball," "raw," "palestine," "american splendor," "jimbo," "neat stuff," "ernie pook's comeek," "life in hell," and a lot more were around back then. he's projecting here."

Kenny Keil: "Alan Moore wrote Watchmen. He also wrote a Kool Aid Man origin story. You can't pin him down in a single take. Right or wrong he keeps it interesting and I dig that"

Robert MacQuarrie: "Do we really have to go through the whole rigamarole of Alan Moore getting mad at people who aren't doing him any harm and have people try to twist themselves into knots trying to defend him? Because I'd rather not do this for the upteenth time."

GuerrillaBöy: I absolutely agree at Alan Moore on this call out on this nerds that thinks they're more mature and not "emotionally retarded" by reading something like Watchmen. It's 100% okay to enjoy and be honest with yourself that you love to read juvenile rubbish, i do this myself .

ComicPrintingUK: The greatest hater in the comic book world, and it's not close. I aspire to this level of disdain for the medium and its consumers…. The difference – I think – between Alan Moore & yer da who just thinks comics are daft is that Alan Moore knows what *could* be and he's very disappointed that they aren't that.

Gwendolyn M.J. Stone: "I think this is why Grant Morrison continues to be among the best of the medium. Because while folks like Mark Millar are shithead man-babies and Alan Moore turned into a cynical, pretentious curmudgeon…. Grant embraced the nature of comics with open arms and not an ounce of shame, malice, or false pretense of what the medium was or could be. Yes, it's silly, yes it's nonsense. But that's the beauty of it. Why be so glum? Alan will always have a place in the culture because of the wonderful work he contributed to it. But this notion of  "I'm a grown up, this bullshit is for children and R-slur, mrrrgggghhh" is just sad and loses sight of the beauty of comics…… I agree with him that the name "graphic novel" is stupid though. Like any time I see Alan Moore talk about comics, he just reads like a guy that would cut off his own nose to spite his face."

Samir: Thing is when I met Alan Moore all those years ago. He was loveliest and kindest gentlemen with all his fans who were queuing for hours to get his works signed. 'Sigh'… The reality is to quote the king 'Comics will break your heart'. It echoes a lot of the time…

El infame Sergacabra: I do think Alan Moore saying comics are for kids has more to do with how frustrating it is to talk to grown readers who purely want to project escapist fantasies vs his actual views of the potential of the medium

Comic Book Herald: Always stings when Alan Moore stares directly in my eyes and addresses me, personally

David Dunlop: "When you read the incredibly off Alan Moore takes on here, you realise why he chose to focus on and write big boy books instead of wasting anymore of his time on kids' books for men in denial…"

Matthew Essary: "Alan Moore was right, is right, and always will be right about the subject of comics and perceived maturity."

Xavier Mendoza: "Huh. I think this is the first time I've agreed with him on this stuff. Either I misjudged Moore when I was younger or I too am becoming a bitter, cynical old man, jaded by the medium I once loved. Maybe a bit of both."

Justin McElroy: Alan Moore wrote a comic about how superheroes are sad, pathetic and emotionally stunted, and people just interpret it as "wow superhero comics can be for grown ups". Now those people wonder why he can be antagonistic toward comics in general.

Dan Schkade: "I'll cop to not being the biggest fan of the term "Graphic Novel." I agree with Alan Moore that they really aren't novels, in the sense that they operate as their own artform rather than a "novel with pictures." HARRY POTTER has pictures. ASTERIOS POLYP is much more than that."

Dan Whitehead: 2024 Journalism Challenge: ask Alan Moore about literally anything other than bloody superheroes.

But maybe there is no  better comment than the following:

H4rry M4c: "he seems salty that the MCU took off and DC was shit"

I bet Alan Moore feels really stupid after being called out so effectively by Harry, there. Moving on…

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