With the upcoming release of Watchmen in theaters, Alan Moore was interviewed by Adam Rogers of Wired magazine about everything but the film it seems. Moore is no stranger to controversy regarding his work being brought to the silver screen and on every single translation has demanded his credit be removed. For those not in the know, that's From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta, and the current Watchmen. One saw his influence in The Dark Knight as well, with Christopher Nolan giving Heath Ledger a copy of The Killing Joke, also written by Moore, as a reference for his character.
Considered one of the more influential writers in the medium, he's credited by many comic enthusiasts as having altered the medium in a very fundamental way with the introduction of more serious tones into his books. Watchmen, in particular, exemplifies this. It should also be noted that he was not the only one, and almost simultaneously, Frank Miller was using similar themes in books like The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. It was the maturation of the medium, a new dawn for adult-oriented themes to be explored, and the birth of the modern age of comics.
At this point, you're probably wondering about the title of the blog, and possibly a little bored. In order to understand the context of the forthcoming letter, it's necessary to provide a bit of a prelude. With that out of the way, I'll also offer some links:
Alan Moore Wired Interview (I'll mostly be referring to the first page)
Alan Moore Wikipedia Entry
An Interview From Youtube
These links serve to flesh out the character of Alan Moore himself, a eccentric legend who has devolved into a semi-coherent, more gandalfian than Gandalf shadow, full of anti-american sentiment and bitterness toward the medium that fostered his popularity.
Dear Alan,
I've followed and admired your work for years, first discovering you through early Swamp Thing issues and later, more prominently, with Watchmen, and The Killing Joke. If I were pushed to produce a top ten of all things comic-dom, you'd undoubtedly make more than one appearance.
Now go fuck yourself. Seriously, what happened to you? Have you so completely lost touch with your audience that you now choose to condescend them?
I can appreciate the desire to not see your work sullied by a weak film adaptation. I can even respect the anger that you direct at Hollywood and the individuals you feel have wronged you there. What I cannot ignore is the bitterness you show for your audience, your supporters, especially when you've made several anti-american statements. I'm referring of course to your comment on the V for Vendetta film, "Those words, 'fascism' and 'anarchy,' occur nowhere in the film. It's been turned into a Bush-era parable by people too timid to set a political satire in their own country."
Aside from being more of a stab at your audience than the filmakers, this statement is completely untrue. America has a long history of political and social satire, more recently to the point of exhaustion. While often characterized as a listless and lazy lot, one would hope I'd not have to explain the dangers of stereotyping to an accomplished writer such as yourself.
Sadly, this isn't the only example. More recently, in your interview for Wired, purportedly for the Watchmen film, but in reality a venue to shill your latest work, you're quoted as characterizing the archetype of the superhero as "...I wonder if the root of the emergence of the superhero in American culture might have something to do with a kind of an ingrained American reluctance to engage in confrontation without massive tactical superiority."
Even more incredulous is your previous statement: "It has occurred to me that the superhero really only originates in America. That seems to be the only country that has produced this phenomenon."
I confess I don't even know how to address the idea of Americans needing superheroes as some sort of massive inferiority complex. It's too Freudian to even bother with, and negated by the fact that your premise is entirely fallacious. Instead, I'll tackle that.
The idea that the superhero is an American creation is such a failure of the imagination, I'm still wondering if you were misquoted. Since our first ancestor was painted slaying a woolly mammoth, the superhero was born. The Greeks had Jason, Achilles, and Hercules to name a few. The English, Beowulf. And most overlooked as such, The Jews (and later a large percentage of the world) had Jesus.
Not to mention, in your more recent work, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, you use literary characters that not only draw direct correlation to modern superheroes, but can be characterized as such themselves. The Invisible Man, Dr. Jeckyll/Hyde, Mina Harker, Dracula's "Bride" all ring true with the modern superhero.
More important than your inability to have any sense of history for a medium you helped mature (other than a very narrow history of the content of your own works), I can no longer abide your rabid sentiments towards your fans. Would it surprise you to learn that a large percentage, if not a majority of your work is purchased by Americans? I'm not sure how alienating your audience is any form of reprisal to the difficulties you had with U.S. publishers.
As for the Watchmen movie, I find it unfortunate that you choose not only to not participate, but to disavow. I've read your recent work, and while entertaining, your greatest work is behind you. I would think any chance to spur an entire new generation into reading this opus 23 years later would be worth jumping at. You clearly state in the article that you don't feel the film can ruin the original content, and with that, I agree. So, why then, cast such a pall over the whole affair? Do you plan to relinquish any profits received from sales brought on by the movie? In a declining comics market, I think not.
You were once something, and though now you are not nothing, you are certainly something else entirely. It's clear from the interview that you appreciate the work you did on Watchmen, just not so clear that you want others to. A rebellious attitude in your youth is in its way noble, but in your mid 50s, with former co-creators puzzled, and your threats to remove your name from all work you don't own, you grow tiresome.
So seriously, go fuck yourself. But only after you read this.
Sincerely,
Greg
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