Alan Moore, the mind behind some of the most iconic comics turned movies like "Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta" has been talking about the state of the superhero comics and films in the 21st century. He says that he no longer likes the genre and that he finds its vast audience of adults "alarming."
The comic writer and producer discussed the topic in detail with The Guardian saying "I haven't read any superhero comics since I finished with Watchmen."
"I hate superheroes. I think they're abominations. They don't mean what they used to mean. They were originally in the hands of writers who would actively expand the imagination of their nine-to-13-year-old audience. That was completely what they were meant to do and they were doing it excellently," he continued. "These days, superhero comics think the audience is certainly not nine to 13, it's nothing to do with them. It's an audience largely of 30-, 40-, 50-, 60-year old men, usually men. Someone came up with the term graphic novel. These readers latched on to it; they were simply interested in a way that could validate their continued love of Green Lantern or Spider-Man without appearing in some way emotionally subnormal."
Moore seems to be taking an issue with the fact that most of these comic book heroes, in their original conception, were designed to teach broad lessons to an audience of young children. They've since evolved with that audience and now both the films and the comics are playing for an adult crowd.
"This is a significant rump of the superhero-addicted, mainstream-addicted audience. I don't think the superhero stands for anything good. I think it's a rather alarming sign if we've got audiences of adults going to see the Avengers movie and delighting in concepts and characters meant to entertain the 12-year-old boys of the 1950s," Moore said.
Tell us what you think. Are you a comic book or super hero film fan who disagrees with Moore? Are you perhaps a fan of both mediums who disagrees with the iconic writer? Comment and share your thoughts with us below.
