Famed a collection of short stories entitled Illuminations, Moore goes into surprising depth regarding his revulsion for the very concept of superheroes, making the comparison that the industry follows similar methodology to drug dealers, and stating that it may be responsible in part for the rise of fascist ideologies across Britain and America in recent years.
In our interview, Moore analyzes his own impact on the industry, saying that after he wrote Watchmen - a work which many critics point to as the best-made and most influential story in the history of the medium - the industry decided that the future of superheroes was in "these really dark, depressing characters in post-apocalyptic dystopias.” Moore asserts that "it was once people had said 'comics aren’t just for kids,' they seemed to decide that that meant that comics aren’t for kids at all," and that the market instead looked to create comics "purely for the addicted adults that formed their reader base back in the ‘60s, the ’70s, the ‘80s, the ‘90s." Moore continues:
I have come to feel that superheroes are sinister for a number of reasons. ... I don’t think that these people who are addicted to this stuff, they don’t seem to be satisfied with the hit that they’re getting, but that’s a common complaint among addicted people, y’know? ... There’s a kind of diminishing returns, and particularly if the stuff itself isn’t as good as it used to be
'Third-Rate Superhero Comics' Promote QAnon Logic, Says Moore
Moore compares superheroes to the videogame Candy Crush, arguing that they have been rendered colorful distractions without real substance - "a color combination and a chest emblem," and indeed that there are genuinely "addictive" elements to how superhero aesthetics are constructed. However, Moore doesn't just accuse modern superhero narratives of being empty, but of being actively harmful to culture. He continues that the influence of superheroes has manifested itself in the culture at large in increasingly dangerous ways, spreading the idea of big, simple problems which can only be solved by the intervention of over-powered individuals. Moore notes that figures including Elon Musk and Donald Trump have promoted themselves as real-life superheroes, and that the underlying philosophy of "longing for a quick fix" is in part responsible for the rise of the alt-right in America. Moore says:
When you get that actually playing out in peoples’ political thinking, then you get something like QAnon. You get a completely invented, imaginary threat that we can only get saved from by a completely invented, imaginary hero. It’s when you’ve got the thinking that pervades third-rate superhero comics actually being allowed to govern consensus reality, the one that we all have to live in, that’s when you’re going to get things like the January the 6th Capitol Invasion, you know?
Moore's Superheroes Were Always Meant to be Monsters
Wherever fans land on Moore's comments, it's hard to deny the influence of superhero media in modern culture, as franchises like the MCU have become cultural juggernauts. While it may appear superficially ironic that one of the individuals said to be responsible for championing realism in comics laments how comics have influenced real-life, Watchmen was always a reflection on how real superheroes would be "horrifying and grotesque." The story's big twist, with Ozymandias unleashing a clichéd supervillain plan to trick the world into unity, is undercut as both a horrifying act and one which is unlikely to last for long.
After a career which redefined superheroes in the public imagination and influences comic writing to this day, Moore's comments can't be easily ignored, especially when rendered in his typically insightful style. Stay tuned for Screen Rant's full interview with Alan Moore, coming soon.
